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Politics will determine this matter, not common sense or the transport requirements of those who would use the route.

In addition, why, why, why is the whole route - New Cross to Whitechapel - closed and for so long?

- David Davies, London

Boris has shot himself in the foot with the announcement yesterday with the announcement today of millions of pounds for guess what TRANSPORT UPGRADES the difference being these go to tory voters in outer London and not kens supporters in south London.

Problem is all those tory voters who need to travel through South London to get to work no wonder GB has a smile on his face Boris will help deliver London to Labour.

- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex

The existing line is closed because it's being ripped up and completely replaced by main-line standard track and signalling, extended to Dalston Junction (and later to Highbury & Islington) at the north and West Croydon/New Cross/Crystal Palace at the south. It's on time and on budget, apparently, and will be a staggeringly better system when finished. It would be even better if it was extended as planned to Clapham Junction, and given the expressed desire of the DfT and Mayor to spend through the recession, that this is even in doubt is scandalous. The DfT just found the money to move the A11 road duelling forward, after all, and Boris has no trouble finding money for his vanity projects.

- Tom, London, UK

Whatever happens please reopen this river crossing. The last useless closure was made worse by the ridiculous intervention of English Heritage.
New Cross, Rotherhithe, Shadwell and Whitechapel may be poor but don't deserve YET ANOTHER 2 YEAR closure of the crossing.
BTW There is NO "replacement bus service" across the river.

Actually - why on earth is the existing line closed ?

- Simon, London

The work to build Thameslink will mean the present service that operates between London Bridge and Victoria will no longer be possible once work at London Bridge starts. This means that this link is vital to provide a replacement service link.

The government has given a massive block grant to Boris Johnson for TFL and other transport upgrade work and its Boris Johnson's job to allocate spending on projects.

Boris should stop wasteing money on Blue Peter bus competitions or consultations on the C-Charge zone when there is no money to implement changes. (Well if he cant afford this project then he cant alter the c-charge unless he splits the zone in two and INCREASES the charge to fund this project!)

Of course, unlike the Dagenham Dock DLR project this line does exist, perhaps Boris should get Wandsworth Council to chip in by raising their Council Tax?

Failure to deliver this project will prove that the post of Mayor of London which involves billions in capital expenditure is NO JOB FOR A PART TIME NOVICE!!

- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex

The DfT are being ingenuous concerning the extension to Clapham Junction - they have after all already authorised a new flying junction at Silwood for the extension. The East London Line phase two extension is integral to enabling the Thameslink rebuilding programme to work properly by allowing the diversion of South London line trains from Victoria to London Bridge to be diverted when London Bridge is rebuilt. The suggestion that the work be done now came from Network Rail as part of the local Route Utilisation Study therefore it is not unreasonable that Network Rail or in this case its paymasters the DfT should pay.

- Bob Robinson, Parsons Green

How much money is Boris wasting on finding a new Routemaster and what is the point of that project? There is nothing wrong with the double deckers on most of our streets, I use them almost every day. Boris has ended all transport improvements in South London in one fell swoop and is trying to end this one but point the blame at the government. If Ken were still around we wouldn't be in this situation. Who are the idiots who voted for Blobby Johnson?

- Dylan, London

If Boris hadn't scrapped the deal with Venezuelan oil companies for subsidised fuel (which would be worth over £20m to TfL now) perhaps he wouldn't have had to go cap in hand to the government for the £15m.

- Jim, London

The "East London line extension" existed as a viable rail route in the past, and the track was only lifted about 60 years ago. If you walk the area, you can see the roadbed of the lifted track (south of Surrey Quays) as it branched off the East London branch SW to join the London Bridge to Wandsworth Road branch. Of course, as with many of the other removed lines in this country, the cost of putting them back is a mass-multiple of what the cost would have been to leave them in place. Rail lines all over the country pulled up in the short-term political thinking of the 1960s, and now being re-built at a huge multiple of what the cost would have been to simply maintain them. Examples are the 8 miles of second track that had to be relaid near Probus on the Penzance line, and the 10 miles of second track that had to be relaid north of Bicester, the latter costing £60million! The U.K. had the most environmental-friendly transportation system in the world, and threw it all away.

- Phil Jones, London UK

Boris Johnson making a big issue over this as the Government is already providing more than half of the funding needed for phase two of the East London line extension.

is maybe he need some more money for him self to put under is mattress

- Andy, London

Just 15.5 Million short to 'deliver significant benefits for a relatively deprived area' and you can't find it? You got to be kidding ... Everyone in the South of London should be outraged and make their voices heard. Boris, you are not getting away with this one!

- Carsten, London

So he can find an additional £12m per year to cover the increased operating costs of operating double decker buses on three former bendy bus routes, despite the fact that passengers will receive slower, more crowded journeys, but he can't find a one-off amount £15m that funds a crucial project?

Cut the funding for the vanity routemaster project, and plough the cash into something more useful that actually brings benefit to Londoners, rather than just making our city look pretty.

- Mark Lee, Vauxhall

Can we please stop mentioning the Olympics? Massive improvements are needed in public transport as it is a daily nightmare for many people. A fortune could be saved by reducing the middle men and making sure thiose working on the project do a fair day's work for a day's pay. To many, these days, seem to spend more time watching other work and chatting on mobiles!

- Michael, London

Support this and dump Crossrail

- Jan, London

Still no new station to interchange at Brixton I see. Pity.

- W R Stevenson, London SE26

Boris has bent over backwards to cut the cost to the DfT of this project. It would be of huge benefit to South London and by completing the Overground orbital railway it benefits 20 of London's boroughs. All this for £100 million, of which the DfT is only being asked for £15 million. Please, please Mr Hoon give Boris the money, he deserves it having dumped the daft Cross River Tram Link which was due to cost £455 million !!!

- Keith Turnbull, london

This is exactly the sort of thing that the government OUGHT To be spending on in the face of a recession. It'll be cheaper to get the job done now, with the contractors desperate for work, and there will be a hidden extra saving in that it will keep some workers off the dole. Most important, the infrastructure will be there to support the economy when the recession ends, rather than a job un-done acting as a brake on the economy.

If they can't find the money, why not scrap ID cards? Or that massive NHS computerisation scheme that doesn't work, and will serve mainly to leak patient confidential data to blackmailers?

- Nigel, London

Did not Mr Brown say that he wanted to spend his way out of recession, well here is an opportunity for him only 15 Billion , oops silly me, 15 million to help the deprived south Londoners see how the other half live.

- Mr S.Port, London

This is beyond a joke now - TfL found £9m within days of taking office for police on buses despite bus crime reducing, so Boris could get a good headline. Boris is committed to spending unspecified millions a year extra through scrapping bendy buses, despite the myths around safety and unpopularity now being exposed as false. Allegedly huge sums have been saved by scrapping almost every future transport scheme in London. Fares are going up at RPI+1% every year. £140m is to be spent providing a few thousand bicycles in inner London only. However, a mere £15.5m for a hugely useful project is apparently beyond them? Where's all the money gone, Boris?

Tell you what - the Venezuelan oil for advice scheme is worth, on current exchange rates, just over £21m a year. That would pay for the half-price fares scheme plus most of the shortfall. Perhaps, with Obama in the White House, we could help him restore better relations between both parts of the Americas?

- Tom, London, UK

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