11/10/2013 00:00
TW
0

by MONITOR
AFTER more than ten years' stop-go consideration it seems that the massive Crossrail project to relieve London's transport problems is to go ahead. This week the City of London Corporation approved unanimously its contribution of about 300 million pounds to put alongside similar commitments already made by British Airports Authority and Canary Wharf in response to the government's view that these entities will benefit greatly from the project. The bulk of the total cost of 16 billion pounds will be met by the government and the proposal will now be included in its impending Comprehensive Spending Review.

Crossrail is a 74-mile route running overland from Maidenhead via Heathrow to Paddington, then underground through central London to Farringdon, Liverpool Street and Whitechapel, with spurs to Stratford and Woolwich via Canary Wharf. It will be the biggest transport infrastructure project in the UK since the Channel Tunnel; its scale is such that 400 people have been working on its plans and 300 million has already been spent. Although Crossrail was first proposed in 1989 it met parliamentary opposition and was not seriously reconsidered until 2000 when the Strategic Rail Authority recommended it as the best solution to London's transport overload. Even then, it was not formalised until the Queen's Speech of 2005, with the result that it will not be ready for the 2012 Olympics; completion by 2015 is an optimistic target with 2017 a more realistic one.