Tube link 'delayed until 2010'

Doubts surfaced today over the £1billion East London Line project to extend the Tube through south and east London. Government officials working on the scheme were reported to be close to announcing a four-year delay which would push the opening date back to 2010.

This would cast doubt on whether a section of the route, linking Clapham Junction to the Tube network, could ever be built.

Labour promised the extension in its 2001 manifesto and the then transport secretary Stephen Byers

gave the go-ahead in October of that year with a promise of "better integration of public transport services, improved rail access and quicker journeys for many people".

However, the hunt for private funding is said to have run into difficulties, forcing officials to consider the cheaper option of building the line in stages.

One key problem on the route has been surmounted. The Bishopsgate Goods Yard - which campaigners backed by Prince Charles and English Heritage fought to save - has been demolished in preparation for construction work.

Transport Commissioner Bob Kiley has said that London Olympics in 2012 would "grind to a halt" without the new line in place.

It would run under the Thames along the route of the existing East London Line with southern extensions to West Croydon, Crystal Palace and Clapham Junction, and a northern link through Hackney to Highbury and Islington.