Crossrail Cross London Rail Link, United Kingdom

Transport for London and the Strategic Rail Authority have become partners in a project to build the Crossrail (east–west link) cross london rail service. This service will provide London with a direct route between east and west and a connection to Heathrow Airport. The idea is to take the pressure off the London Underground service by investing in a complete rail link, including railtracks, signalling, traffic control system, etc.

CROSSRAIL PROJECT AND THE STRATEGIC RAIL AUTHORITY (SRA)

In 1999, the Transport Minister asked the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) to carry out a review of the issues relating to rail travel on an east-west axis across London. This review covered the relief of overcrowding on current rail and underground services including the improvement in dispersal from rail termini and the increase of opportunity for journeys to be made with fewer changes than required at present; the improvement in reliability and punctuality of rail services by relieving congestion at termini; release of capacity at existing termini for additional services; increase of opportunities for the regeneration of deprived parts of the London area. Finally, a scheme was required which would improve access to Heathrow Airport from the City and east London.

TWO-PHASE REVIEW

The review was split into two phases; the first phase was largely qualitative and identified that there were three key themes in planning rail provision on an east-west axis. These are congestion, utilisation and regeneration. The second phase identified the key objectives in dealing with the problems that were identified in the first phase. The report produced by the SRA recommended the building of a new east-west Crossrail link.

CURRENT LONDON TRANSPORT SYSTEM

The current rail system in London is near to capacity in terms of the central London termini and the underground. This has created a fragile system where the slightest problem impacts across the whole of the network. Passengers experience frequent delays, sub-standard interchange facilities and overcrowded trains, platforms and termini.

RAIL TRAFFIC GROWTH

The SRA expects growth in demand for passenger and freight to continue to increase. They expect peak hour growth to be around 15% in the next 20 years and off-peak travel to double in the same period. Freight is planned to increase by 80% within the next decade but will only do so if served by a convenient and cost effective network.

NEW CROSSRAIL CROSS LONDON ROUTE

The proposals to reduce congestion based upon upgrades of the existing infrastructure were examined. None of the options would provide effective relief of overcrowding in Central London. This could only be achieved by new cross London links.

The SRA looked at a number of different routes and they were all found to be economically viable. The Crossrail project is based on the most promising route; the new route will include the building of a new tunnel to connect Liverpool St and Paddington Stations. The new tunnel will include stops at Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, and Farringdon Stations. The service through the new tunnel will provide London with a direct train service between east and west and a connection to Heathrow Airport.

The proposals for the Crossrail project envisage 24 trains per hour service, which would provide significant additional capacity to the current system. This is emphasised when compared to a traditional ten trains per hour suburban service

CROSSRAIL PROJECT COSTS

The estimated cost of the project is $5.7 billion, which will be made up of an estimated $75 million spent on platform lengthening, $775 million spent on the six tracking of the Great Western Railway and $4.2 billion on the building of the new link itself.

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