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Fears grow that Tories would delay Crossrail
Joe Murphy and Nicholas Cecil23 Jul 2009
Doubts have emerged about whether the Conservatives will keep London's giant Crossrail project on track and completed on time.
Amid claims that Mayor Boris Johnson and shadow chancellor George Osborne are at loggerheads over the future of the £16billion scheme, fears are growing that a future Tory government could seek savings by delaying or trimming the east-west rail project.
Mr Osborne's office failed to dispel the fears today when asked by the Standard for a commitment that the scheme will carry on to its timetable of completion by 2017. Instead of a statement with Mr Osborne's authority, the response was a statement from a Tory party spokesman: "There is no change to our position that Crossrail is an important piece of infrastructure for London. That is why we backed it."
The statement left open the possibility of Crossrail going ahead on a later timetable or with some lines or services axed. Insiders have revealed that the Mayor and Mr Osborne had dinner with Tory leader David Cameron at his home earlier this week. Tory sources insisted it was a collegiate event and not an attempt to patch up any disputes.
Gordon Brown gave the final go-ahead to Crossrail two years ago and construction has begun, with laws passed enabling the Mayor to raise funding from London businesses. But there have been reports, including in today's Guardian, that the project may have to be trimmed due to pressure on finances.
Transport Secretary Lord Adonis has pledged it will not be cut and today announced his proposal to extend Crossrail to Reading. He said plans to electrify the rail line to Swansea "make it possible to extend Crossrail, which could bring significant benefits, giving Reading and the wider Thames Valley direct rail access to London and the City".
A spokesman for Mr Johnson said he was absolutely behind Crossrail.
Baroness Valentine, chief executive of business group London First, said: "Crossrail and the Tube are almost as fundamental to London as clean drinking water. Londoners will find it hard to support a party that by failing to invest in the Tube and Crossrail sentences them to decades of transport misery."
Reader views (13)
To Bob in Cheam, if you'd ever commuted on the east to west lines in rush hour you'd know the need for another rail link.
- Kev, South Woodford, 09/11/2009 12:04
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You say ‘fears grow’! Whose fears are those? Not of the people in London. Some secret force must be propelling the propaganda that Crossrail is an aspect of our emotional equilibrium! Surely not the needed answer to the existing transport problems and priorities in London! Scrap Crossrail. Save public money!
- Muhammad Haque, London United Kingdom, 09/11/2009 11:04
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Crossrail is not just about connecting the West End, City and Docklands, Frank from London. It will enable cross-London travel without having to change trains and endure the Tube, will give thousands the chance of working in our wonderful Capital City on a fast and 21st Century railway, and will link St. Pancras, the gateway to the Continent, with the rest of civilisation.
Why the Tories want to scupper the chance of getting more cars off the road and provide more flexability is beyond me. Anyone who travels daily on the delapidated Tube East-West will know this project is desparately needed, and it's not just the rich who will benefit - it will give the poorer the chance to be commutable into London, will provide many thousands of jobs, and, above all, will just be more convenient.
- Rod, Epping, UK, 09/11/2009 11:04
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Crossrail doesn't help anyone except greedy bankers in the City and Canary Wharf. Now they've been cleared out no-one will use it and it will be a whiter elephant than the Dome and the Olympics. This country doesn't have the money to build it, the next decade is going to see people have to work a lot harder to get this country back on track, and they need to buck up and get on with it, not moan about their journey to work everyday. If it's that bad don't work in London.
- Frank, London, 09/11/2009 11:04
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The reality is that the next government is not going to find out the true state of our finances until McClown and Co have been dragged out of Downing Street, there is absolutely no chance of getting the truth out of them before then.
It is a certainty that we are in a far worse mess that NuLiebour will admit. No party aspiring to government is in a position to make firm manifesto commitments until they know how much cash is available. All that they can do in the mean time is to make statements about where their priorities lie.
There is no doubt that uninterrupted cross-London rail travel would be an advantage to the wider economy, as would being able to travel directly between Heathrow and Gatwick without using the world's largest car park aka the M25. However, the rail termini in London and other major cities are a throwback to pre-1948 rail nationalisation, and LHR/LGW have been there for over 75 years. I won't be holding my breath waiting for improvements to be made, by the Tories or anyone else.
- Keith Lonsdale, Doncaster, 09/11/2009 11:04
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Jinks, London - one of those professional protesters are you? Certainly looks like it.
- Rogan, Irving, 09/11/2009 11:04
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Boris should scrap Crossrail as it was Red Ken's idea and come up with his own proposal. When he is prime minister he can open it.
- Ruth, Westminster, London, 09/11/2009 11:04
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This project is a vital piece of investment for the future prosperity of the country. I do hope that the Conservatives have finally accepted the need for a modern rail system. Not making this investment will further delay any improvement in the economy.
- Mike Constable, Islington, London, 09/11/2009 11:04
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1. No matter what, scrap the SE London section, with additional tunnels and no perceiveable value there is no point in developing this part of the network. It leads to a tip full of festering garbage at Woolwich and Abbey Wood, the consumers do not justify our funding !
2. Make the Heathrow leg filly funded by BAA, including the highly expensive flyover for train access. Or if no funds, scrap this access route. Why should the people of London fund the Spanish privately owned BAA?
3. Drop the Maidenhead access route, just more rich commuters that are not funding this project through extra demand on their council tax, Londoners are subsidising wealthy commuters, its not on !
4. Scrap the entire project, the country cannot afford it, London certanly cannot afford it or the Olympics for that matter, most Londoners do not want it. Lets have a referendum right now - mind you it might well be fixed, or completly ignored.
5. Hold a protest to make your feelings known, but of course you would probably want others to do that for you - you get what you deserve, if you take some form of action ou get some sort of results, no action - no result !
- Jinks, London, 09/11/2009 11:04
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Crossrail can be a vital part of the upgrade to London's delapidated underground infrastructure.
As much of the upgrade work on the tube was suspended (for how long?) following the Metronet debacle, things will only get worse. Once in place, Crossrail can take the pressure of the overloaded northen section of the circle/hammersmith & city line and the eastern parts of the central line, consequently reducing the impacts on those lines when we do finally get around to fixing them properly.
The south eastern branch provides a useful link to Canary Wharf (love it or loathe it) and will be especially important when the Jubilee line goes belly up (everybody knows that the DLR and river boats cannot cover for the Jubilee Line when that happens).
Finally we need to remember that hundreds of millions of pounds of contracts have been let and work has already started. In the current economic climate most of the people employed on this project would be on the dole.
There may be an argument for delaying the fit out of some of the stations (say Bond Street and Custom House) but the money saved would be fairly small compared to the cost of the overall project.
- Keith, London, 09/11/2009 11:04
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The M25 was going to solve all the transport problems, wasn't it? But it was conceived as just one part of a larger scheme, 70 years ago heaven help us, that assumed that people liberated to the new towns from the congestion of the centre wouldn't immediately start trying to pile back in.
Who is going to question the assumption that millions of people have to stuff themselves into a small area every working day? Until that happens, even a successful piece of infrastructure will only be a temporary solution, and crossrail doesn't look like being even that. Making Red buses free, possibly paid for like a utility, might be a much more efficient use of money.
We are facing public spending cuts of 30% When is this going to sink in?
- Mdj E10, london uk, 09/11/2009 11:04
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"Crossrail is an important piece of infrastructure for London"
Really? How? It runs from East to West London, don't we already have tube lines that do exactly that?
- Bob, Cheam, 09/11/2009 11:04
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Crossrail may or may not be something to benefit London.
The fact is that there has to be cuts in spending and as London manages without Crossrail currently it can go on managing without it for a few more years until the next government get the countries finances healthy again (if this is ever possible). There are more important things to spend taxpayers money on.
- Dereck, London, England, 09/11/2009 11:04
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