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Crossrail stations may be scrapped in £5bn cuts threat
Paul Waugh and Pippa Crerar27 May 2010
Crossrail could be slashed by £5 billion under drastic plans being considered by the Government.
In the worst-case scenario, Bond Street or Tottenham Court Road stations for the planned east-west rail link may be axed as part of a package of reforms, sources close to the scheme suggested.
Other options for lowering the £16.9 billion bill include cutting the number of train carriages and scrapping extensions to Maidenhead in the west and Abbey Wood in the east.
Mayor Boris Johnson, Transport for London boss Peter Hendy and City Hall chief of staff Sir Simon Milton were meeting Transport Secretary Philip Hammond for crunch talks this afternoon.
A senior TfL source said: “The Mayor is in there now making the case for continued investment in London's transport network, including Crossrail.
“TfL and London's business community are absolutely clear that Crossrail is vital. We understand that these are straitened economic times but London is not the same as the rest of the country. We've had a Conservative administration here saving money over the last two years.”
The project, scheduled for completion in 2016, aims to ease congestion and slash journey times in the capital, with a high-speed tunnel connecting Heathrow, central London, the City and Canary Wharf.
Building magazine today claimed that an internal Crossrail team, under instruction from ministers to save money on the scheme, is understood to be considering dropping either the planned Tottenham Court Road or Bond Street station.
The Department for Transport said the report was “pure speculation” and Mr Hammond told the Standard: “Our challenge is to deliver Crossrail as it was designed at the lowest possible cost.”
A source close to the process said: “The team is being asked to look at the whole scheme. If you took out both spurs and reduced the platforms and stations then they're looking at £4 billion-£5 billion of cuts.”
Mr Johnson last week said Crossrail had to mount a “Stalingrad defence” to guarantee funding.
Steven Norris, former Tory MP and Transport for London board member, said he believed axing a central station and the spurs were being looked at.
“The Government needs to understand the difference between the kind of spending that fills ad pages in the Society Guardian and genuine investment in the country.
“If you're going to cut Abbey Wood or Maidenhead you might as well shelve the whole lot. It only makes sense to dig the tunnel if you do the whole scheme. It's like planning to buy a new car without an engine.”
Shadow transport secretary Sadiq Khan said: “This is bad news for London's ability to bounce back from the recession.”
Reader views (18)
This would be a huge mistake. I agree with all those who have called for full completion of Crossrail after the years (decades even) of work that have gone into determining its scope and detail. If we want to have any hope of getting out of the economic doldrums, London must be competitive, and at the moment, transport-wise, it's not.
- Simon, Stratford, London, 28/05/2010 10:36
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"The most logical cuts, which could be finished at a later date, would be the second entrances at Bond Street, TCR, Farringdon and Liverpool Street.- Alex Mckenna, South Woodford"
I understand your argument, in particular the stations in tunnels are more expensive than the running tunnels.
I hope they don't choose to leave busy stations with entrances at one end only and blighted surface sites for 12 years to come.
A project this big has to be done properly, and savings sought from improved materials and construction techniques, if there are any.
- Alan Griffiths, Forest Gate, LONDON, 28/05/2010 08:57
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The most logical cuts, which could be finished at a later date, would be the second entrances at Bond Street, TCR, Farringdon and Liverpool Street. As planned, each one has an extra station, in effect; complete with surface buildings, escalators, lifts and stairs. These are far more costly than the surface lines to the suburbs. The line could be opened without them, and provide 90% of it's benefit and save billions.
- Alex Mckenna, South Woodford, 28/05/2010 08:30
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I can understand maybe cutting the spur to Reading because it is outside of London, but not Woolwich and Abbey Wood. If you look at the London Underground map, South East London has hardly any links. Why? Why was it not considered? South East London is part of the capital and the nearest underground station to residents in the Greenwich and Bexley boroughs is in the relatively isolated North Greenwich. Getting to North Greenwich station is painful with over-crowded buses. I have to get a packed South Eastern train to work into Central London everyday and it is very slow, stops at LOTS of stations and then spends ages waiting outside London Bridge station because there are too many trains and not enough platforms. Don't even mention the problems caused when most routes are closed because of exploding gas cylinders at Deptford and New Cross! Please do not cull the South East London link. It does not make sense in the long run and it is not fair. South East Londoners always get a raw deal. If it does not go ahead I'll have to buy a car to improve getting around, which is not the ideal solution.
- James, Bexley, 27/05/2010 23:08
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Cutting the SE spur to Abbey Wood would be crazy. Thousands upon thousands of homes have been built in SE London, Kent, and the general Thames Gateway area due to promises of transport improvements since the 70s and almost every big scheme has been cancelled. Originally the Jubilee line in the 70s was supposed to terminate at Thamesmead not Stratford. There's even an extra plaform built at N. Greenwich when it was finally extended in the late 90s for future extension. That plan is long dead. The road bridges east of Tower Bridge for SE London have all been cancelled, and now this. All while house building has been shooting up based upon improvment promises. The area is already very deprived with high unemployment due to poor transport. BUILD THE SODDING THING.
- James, SE London, 27/05/2010 20:07
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"Make do and mend" is the classic British disease. Cuts now will only lead to future expense. Crossrail is an investment for the capital. Lets get it built, and properly.
- rjb, London, 27/05/2010 19:56
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As a symbolic gesture, I suggest the Mayor voluntarily reduces his salary to £1.
This would be a powerful signal to central government and the TFL bureaucracy that he is serious about maximising value for money and will give him the moral high ground in fighting for Crossrail. He describes his £250k from writing for the Telegraph is "chicken feed", so he hardly needs a £143k mayoral salary.
Sacking all his taxpayer funded political advisors and spin doctors would also be smart politics.
To raise serious cash for Crossrail, how about:
* Keeping the western extension to the congestion charge
* Abandoning the Borismaster
* Leave the bendy buses in place
These are all frivolous spending pledges which are unaffordable in the current climate.
- Keith, Bromley, 27/05/2010 19:28
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The extensive Cross-Rail building works in Oxford Street are already far-advanced:
Surely, it cannot be stopped now!-
The Astoria Cinema has been demolished,
and Soho Square is littered with Cross-Rail works.
Boris killed Cross-River Tram, losing £19 million.
The C-Zone Western Extension exists, yet the £55 millions Income will be lost from next December.
Millions LOST in the Costs of Abandoning the BENDY-BUSES.
The UN-NECESSARY, very expensive New 'Routemaster' is WASTEFULLY, costing MILLIONS MORE.
To NOW threaten to SHORTEN THE CROSS-RAIL ROUTE is TOTAL LUNACY!!!
- Ernest Beeching, London, 27/05/2010 19:02
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The underground part has to be done properly from the start - you can't add a station later! Omitting one station in the West End and causing perpetual overcrowding at the other one (where people will be forced to change to the overloaded Central Line) would be really stupid.
If money has to be saved, losing the "extension" to Maidenhead won't hurt so much. People can change trains at Hayes or Paddington, and the line can be extended later. Similarly to the East.
- Nigel, London, 27/05/2010 18:26
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Why not look at something like a convertible bond Boris, or something similar along private funding lines, but definately not PFI. As long as the yeild is reasonable I don't see why it wouldn't attract large support.
- Jose Luis, London SW18, 27/05/2010 17:44
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Just scrap the lot and use the big holes as car parks.
- Kimberley, London, 27/05/2010 17:39
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I think there's a lot of scaremongering going on here, if they are going to axe some stations, I doubt that it would be TCR or Bond St.
If they need to cut it back then fine but they should build it so that it doesn't then become prohibitively expensive to extend/improve it later on.
The platforms should be built for future growth, you can't extend an underground platform easily once the service is running but you can add more carriages at a later date.
Unfortunately though a lot of the politicians involved lack common sense when it comes to public transport because they're totally out of touch with it.
- Will, Oval, 27/05/2010 17:22
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Oh gawd not again! History has shown us that cutting back public transport schemes always leads to problems in the long run!
It's almost like a repeat of the Victoria Line in the 60's, cheap tunnels, basic stations with small platforms and a shortened route... which have been it's downfall with today's huge passenger numbers.
- Ryan, London, 27/05/2010 17:09
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Oh dear not again,
They agree a price to build the Crossrail, plus a little bit extra in case it goes over budget. And now we have to cut back on some of the stations to keep within the budget. Why do start to think that this will end up as a Crossrail link of single track, with stations at each end like Paddington and Liverpool Street, and a shuttle service that makes the Waterloo & City line look like an express service.
- Gazza, London, 27/05/2010 17:09
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The Government needs to either continue with it or scrap it!....Oh enough is enough! No more messing around with this project have a backbone forget half measures we know what required - do it or don’t!
- James, London, 27/05/2010 17:06
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What a load on speculative nonsense. Has anyone spotted the bloody great holes at Tottenham Court Road or Canary Wharf? Cut TCR and the south eastern spur? You're having a laugh!
Crossrail will be built. It will be built in full beacause the funding is in place. Any fule can see that! What Philip Hammond, Boris etc have to make sure is that this fanatsic railway - which will revolutionise travel in London - is delivered on time and within budget.
Stop knowcking it and get on and build it. 20,000 jobs depend on it and London's economy will be nearly £50 billion better off when it finished.
- Luke, London, 27/05/2010 17:04
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Agree; how about 6+ million Londoners all chip in £25 each and we get this built properly, then get small businesses to pay £150 each, SME's £500, and the banks and hedge funds a few million each. In fact, let's set up a JustGiving Page. The countless meetings to discuss 'cost efficiencies' will probably cost £25 million alone! People power; just build it ourselves.
- We need a new line!, London, 27/05/2010 16:59
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Please do it properly. A halfhearted job will cost more in the long run. For example, the DLR stations have been extended twice over to accommodate 2, then 4, and now to 6 carriages.
- East Londoner, London, 27/05/2010 16:17
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