So Crossrail is definitely going to happen. Last week the Mayor of London and the Prime Minister announced that the new east-west cross-London rail link had been given the go-ahead - expanding London’s rail capacity by ten per cent. Crossrail will have twice the capacity of the Jubilee line and follows on the back of news earlier this year that proposals for an Uxbridge Road tram had been axed.The Crossrail scheme was also considered by the last Conservative government in the early 1990s but they shelved plans for it on cost grounds. Mayor Livingstone has now secured the necessary £16billion investment into the capital’s infrastructure which will see a staggering 200 million customers using the new rail link per year. It will be Europe's largest civil engineering project. I for one believe Crossrail to be vital to support London’s economic future. It will help to maintain the City as a world-leading finance centre and is expected to generate an additional 30,000 jobs. The first trains are expected to run on the new line by 2017.
Ken Livingstone should be rightly pleased. He said "In the seven years since I have been Mayor, delivering Crossrail has been by far the most important transport project I have sought to deliver, working together with London’s businesses and the government. This decision is a tremendous combined achievement for all those who worked for it and a vital one for Londoners and the long-term economic future of our city. This new east-west cross-London rail link will be the largest addition to the capital’s transport system for more than fifty years and will touch the lives of millions of Londoners making it easier for commuters, shoppers and those travelling to the City, Heathrow and East and West London".
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