Crossrail

v • d • e Crossrail 1
Legend Maidenhead Taplow Burnham Slough Langley Iver West Drayton Heathrow Terminal 4 Heathrow Central Hayes and Harlington Southall Hanwell West Ealing Ealing Broadway Acton Main Line Paddington Bond Street Tottenham Court Road Farringdon Liverpool Street Whitechapel Canary Wharf Custom House Connaught Tunnel River Thames Woolwich Abbey Wood for Thamesmead Stratford Maryland Forest Gate Manor Park Ilford Seven Kings Goodmayes Chadwell Heath Romford Gidea Park Harold Wood Brentwood Shenfield

Crossrail is a project to build major new railway connections under central London. The project's name refers to the first of two routes proposed by Cross London Rail Links Ltd, based around an east-west tunnel from Paddington to Liverpool Street station. The second route is the Chelsea-Hackney line.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown officially approved the Crossrail project on 5 October 2007,^[1][2] after a funding deal covering the first line was worked out with various public and private sources.^[3] The Crossrail Act received the Royal Assent on 22 July 2008. In late 2008 the final funding agreement, which committed full finance for the project, was signed.

The first trains are due to run in 2017. 10-coach trains, roughly 200 metres long will run at high frequencies of up to 24 trains per hour (tph) in each direction during the peak periods through the central tunnel section, complementing the existing north-south Thameslink route. Crossrail ticketing is intended to be integrated with the other London transport systems, with Oyster Card Pay As You Go being valid on the entire line. Travelcards will be valid within Greater London with the exception of the Heathrow branch, which will continue to be subject to special fares. Crossrail has often been compared to Paris's RER system due to the length of the central tunnel. Crossrail will be integrated with the London Underground and National Rail networks, and it is expected that Crossrail will appear on the standard London Underground Map.

Background

The Crossrail line is based around a new set of east-west tunnels under central London connecting the Great Western Main Line near Paddington to the Great Eastern Main Line near Stratford. An eastern branch diverges at Whitechapel, running through Docklands and emerging at Custom House on a disused part of the North London Line, then under the River Thames, to Abbey Wood. Trains will run from Maidenhead and Heathrow in the west to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east, taking over the existing stopping services on those routes.

The principal works are:

• The central tunnels, with new subterranean stations at Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street, Whitechapel and the Isle of Dogs, each offering interchange with the London Underground, National Rail or the Docklands Light Railway.
• Another pair of tunnels, running under the Thames at North Woolwich and including a new station at Woolwich. This connects the reused former part of the North London Line with the North Kent Line.
• Most existing stations on the route will receive platform extensions, and a significant number will be completely rebuilt.
• All new lines will be electrified at 25 kV AC 50 Hz, and overhead electrification will be installed between Heathrow Airport junction and Maidenhead.

The House of Commons Select Committee made an announcement of interim decisions in July 2006 which called on the Promoter to add a station at Woolwich. The Government initially responded that it will not do so as that would jeopardise the affordability of the whole scheme but a subsequent agreement has made this possible.

There are proposals to extend the line to Reading and Gravesend. Both routes have been safeguarded by the DfT, although it has been made clear that there is currently no plan to extend Crossrail beyond the current scheme.^[4] Extending Crossrail to Reading is looking more attractive since the Government has announced that the Great Western Main Line will be electrified to Swansea in Wales.^[5]

Technical details

The tunnelled section of the line will be about 22 km (13.75 miles) in length: a difficult and expensive piece of engineering, because of two factors: London’s geology, and the extensive tunnelling that already exists in central London. Its twin circular tunnels will have an internal diameter of 6 m (19.7 ft),^[6] compared with the 3.8 m (12.5 ft) diameter of existing deep Tube lines. Rather than the fourth rail electrification used by the London Underground or third rail on the existing North Kent line, Crossrail will use 25 kV, 50 Hz AC Overhead Line, as on the Great Eastern Main Line and the Great Western Main Line as far as Heathrow. The central tunnelled section will weave between existing Tube and road tunnels.^[7]

Rolling stock

Sixty five new trains are planned to be constructed for use on Crossrail. It is intended that these will be five-car electric multiple units, which will operate in pairs coupled together, forming ten-car trains. These are planned to have speeds up to 160km/h (100 mph) on the surface parts of the route and up to 100km/h (60 mph) in the tunnels.^[8] It is envisaged, as part of the government's rolling stock plan, that the stock for Crossrail will be similar to the new rolling stock planned for the Thameslink Programme and will displace other types of multiple unit currently used on the Great Eastern and Great Western routes for use elsewhere on the network.^[9]

Dropped routes

Various routes have been included in earlier drafts of the Crossrail scheme, but no longer feature. These include:

• Paddington to Kingston upon Thames via Richmond was part of the "preferred route" published in 2003, but was dropped in 2004 due to a combination of local opposition, uncertainty over the route, cost and an insufficient return on the envisaged investment. This would conceivably have run either overland or via a tunnel to the existing track through Gunnersbury and Kew (which would no longer be used by the District Line), and thence to Richmond and Kingston on existing mainline track.
• A south-eastern route beyond Abbey Wood to Dartford and Northfleet, connecting with High Speed 1. This was rejected due to the need to share track with existing services, leading to potential performance pollution. However much of this route has been revived in the safeguarding directive for Abbey Wood-Gravesend.
• A north-western route to Aylesbury, taking over Chiltern services. This originally used the Dudding Hill Line, and later involved a new tunnel. Other branches in this direction to High Wycombe and Watford Junction were also proposed. None of these made it past the 2003 route consultation.

Previous proposal

A report by a committee chaired by David Barran in 1974 recommended, alongside the development of the Fleet Line to Fenchurch Street and the River Line project, two new deep-level railway lines, one linking Paddington and Liverpool Street, via Marble Arch and Ludgate Circus; and another linking London Bridge and Victoria. The cost of these two links, along with the re-opening of the Snow Hill tunnel to form Thameslink, was estimated at £300 million.^[10]

An east–west route was again proposed in the early 1990s^[11]. A Bill was introduced into Parliament, promoted by London Underground and British Rail, and supported by the government, but was rejected by the Private Bill Committee in 1994.^[12] This service even went as far as preparatory work on rolling stock, with concept drawings for what was planned to be Class 341 trains released. A number of alternative routes on the west side were considered, including regional services to Amersham and Watford in the north-west, Reading in the west. All have now been dropped in favour of the core proposal.

Current status

A hybrid bill for the scheme received the Royal Assent on 22 July 2008.^[13] The Bill is accompanied by an Environmental Impact Statement, plans and other related information.^[14] The bill gives Cross London Rail Links the powers necessary to construct the line.

On 4 December 2008 it was announced that Transport for London and the Department for Transport had signed the Crossrail Sponsors’ Agreement. This commits them to financing the full cost of the project, alongside contributions from Network Rail, BAA and the City of London. The accompanying Crossrail Sponsors' Requirements commits them to the construction of the full scheme.

In 2009 building work commenced. First of all preparatory work was started at Tottenham Court Road station as this is one of the critical sites, with work expected to take seven years to complete. Buildings (including the Astoria Theatre) have been compulsorily purchased and demolished. Work on the route itself officially began on 15 May 2009 with the commencement of piling works at the future Canary Wharf station.^[15]

On 7 September 2009 the project received £1bn in funding. The money is being lent to Transport for London by the European Investment Bank.^[16]

Controversy

Some East London politicians objected to the scheme, which they saw as an expensive west to east commuter service that will primarily benefit City and Docklands businesses and bring enormous disruption to East London.^[17] As a result, the tunnelling strategy was changed to remove excavated material by barge from Leamouth rather than the originally proposed complex conveyor system in Mile End.

Some freight train operating companies, including English, Welsh and Scottish Railway Ltd (EWS), opposed the current plans because they claimed that they would use up much of the remaining rail capacity within the London area and do not provide the necessary extra capacity on connecting lines. This would make it harder to route freight services from the southern ports to the north and will increase freight transit times. EWS reserved its right to pursue legal action, citing violations of both UK and EU law.

There had been complaints from London music fans, as the redevelopment of the area forced the closure of a number of historic music venues. The London Astoria,^[18] the Astoria 2, The Metro, Sin nightclub and The Ghetto have been demolished to allow expansion of the ticket hall and congestion relief at Tottenham Court Road station in advance of the arrival of Crossrail.

There was considerable annoyance in Reading that Crossrail would terminate at Maidenhead, not Reading.^[19] However both the promoters and the government had always insisted that there was nothing to prevent extension to Reading in future if it could be justified. In February 2008 it was announced that the route for an extension to Reading was being protected.^[20] This has become more likely now that the government has announced that the Great Western Main Line will be electrified all the way to Swansea. Parties are in discussion to establish whether it now makes more sense to take Crossrail all the way to Reading as the line will be electrified to Reading and beyond.

The threat of diseases being released by work on the Crossrail project was raised by Lord James of Blackheath^[21] at the passing of the Crossrail Bill. Lord James told the House of Lords Crossrail Bill select committee that 682 victims of anthrax had been brought into Smithfield in Farringdon with some contaminated meat in 1520 and then buried in the area. On 24 June 2009 it was reported that no traces of anthrax or bubonic plague had been found on human bone fragments found during tunnelling work for the Crossrail project.^[22]

Management aspects

Crossrail Limited is the company responsible for creating Crossrail. It was jointly owned by Transport for London and the Department for Transport until December 2008, when full ownership was transferred to TfL. Crossrail has a £15.9 billion funding package in place^[23] for the construction of the line. Services will begin in 2017 providing there are no delays caused by unexpected legal, construction or financial difficulties.^[24]

Authorisation

To give legal authorisation to Crossrail, a Hybrid Bill went through Parliament. In February 2008 the Bill moved to the House of Lords where it was debated, amended and scrutinised by a Committee of peers. The Act received Royal Assent on 22 July 2008 as the Crossrail Act 2008.

In November 2008, while announcing an agreement for a £230m contribution from BAA, transport minister Lord Adonis confirmed that funding was still in place in spite of the global economic downturn.^[25]

Prime Minister Gordon Brown started the construction of Crossrail on 15 May 2009.

Stations

West of Paddington

Maidenhead Branch

• Maidenhead
• Taplow
• Burnham
• Slough
• Langley
• Iver
• West Drayton

The route from the following stations is also protected, as of October 2009

• Reading
• Twyford

Heathrow Branch

• Heathrow Terminal 4
• Heathrow Central

The Maidenhead and Heathrow branches join at Airport Junction, between West Drayton & Hayes and Harlington.

• Hayes and Harlington
• Southall
• Hanwell
• West Ealing
• Ealing Broadway
• Acton Main Line

Central section (tunnelled)

Due to the size and positioning of new platforms required for these stations some will be directly connected to multiple underground stations.

• Paddington (additional facilities)
• Bond Street (additional facilities)
• Tottenham Court Road (major reconstruction)
• Farringdon (additional facilities) - also connects to Barbican
• Liverpool Street (additional facilities) - also connects to Moorgate
• Whitechapel (additional facilities)

East of Whitechapel

Romford Branch

• Stratford
• Maryland (at first not included, but on 7 August 2006 selective door opening was agreed so that the station will be accessible on the route).^[26]
• Forest Gate
• Manor Park
• Ilford
• Seven Kings
• Goodmayes
• Chadwell Heath
• Romford
• Gidea Park
• Harold Wood
• Brentwood
• Shenfield

Abbey Wood Branch

• Canary Wharf (new station under construction) Formerly called 'Isle of Dogs'
• Custom House (additional facilities)
• Silvertown (not expected to be opened straight away, but a possible station at a later date)
• Woolwich (new station)
• Abbey Wood for Thamesmead (existing tracks will need re-alignment)

These stations are on the protected route extension to Hoo Junction as of October 2009:

• Belvedere
• Erith
• Slade Green
• Dartford
• Stone Crossing
• Greenhithe for Bluewater
• Swanscombe
• Northfleet
• Gravesend

Alternative proposed routes

Aylesbury Branch

This branch would have taken over Metropolitan and Network SouthEast lines from Baker Street and Marylebone to Aylesbury (including Chesham branch). Crossrail would run via the Dudden Hill line or a tunnel to Neasden Junction, where it would run to Harrow using the fast mainlines. The fast lines north of Harrow would be exclusively used by Crossrail trains. A new station would have been built at Northwood to allow an interchange between Met and Crossrail lines. The Metropolitan line would have terminated at Rickmansworth instead of Amersham. A few NSE services to Aylesbury left would have been routed via High Wycombe and Princes Risborough.

• Harrow on the Hill - For Metropolitan Line to Uxbridge and inner-London sections of the Met.
• Northwood
• Moor Park - For Metropolitan Line to Watford
• Rickmansworth
• Chorleywood
• Chalfont & Latimer - For Crossrail shuttle to Chesham
• Amersham
• Great Missenden
• Wendover
• Stoke Mandeville
• Aylesbury

Richmond Branch

This branch would have taken over the District line from Turnham Green to Richmond, and then to Kingston in tunnel. However, opposition from residents and politicians in Richmond, the expected cost and an insufficient return on the envisaged investment caused this proposed route not to be pursued in the hybrid Bill

• Turnham Green
• Gunnersbury
• Kew Gardens
• Richmond
• Kingston

Hounslow Branch

Following the decision to halt progress on development on a Richmond branch, Hounslow council have attempted to get a route from Paddington through to Hounslow using an existing railway route (so no tunnelling is required).

• Acton Central
• South Acton
• Brentford
• Syon Lane
• Isleworth
• Hounslow

Maidenhead to Reading extension

The Great Western Electrification project, announced in July 2009, will complement the Crossrail project and provide electrification to the Great Western Main Line westwards from Maidenhead to Reading and beyond. The UK Government and Transport for London are now considering extending Crossrail services from Maidenhead to Reading from the outset.^[27]

Chelsea-Hackney line (Crossrail line 2)

Cross London Rail Links Ltd has inherited London Underground's aborted "Chelsea-Hackney Line" plans, sometimes also referred to as the "Merton-Hackney". A route for this has been safeguarded since 1991, and a 2007 consultation to renew the safeguarding gives the following route:^[28]

• Wimbledon to Parsons Green, using the existing Wimbledon branch of the District Line
• Chelsea : new station
• Sloane Square Following a campaign by the local borough council, this interchange with the Circle and District Lines was reintroduced in the safeguard.
• Victoria: interchange with Victoria, District and Circle Lines. Southern and Southeastern
• Piccadilly Circus: interchange with Bakerloo and Piccadilly Lines
• Tottenham Court Road: interchange with Northern and Central Lines and Crossrail Line 1
• King's Cross St Pancras: interchange with Piccadilly, Victoria, Hammersmith & City, Northern, Circle and Metropolitan Lines, National Rail and Eurostar
• Angel: interchange with Northern Line
• Essex Road: Interchange with First Capital Connect
• Dalston Junction: interchange with East London Line extension of London Overground
• Hackney Central: new station with interchange to North London Line
• Homerton: interchange with North London Line
• Leytonstone: interchange with Central Line
• then taking the Epping branch of the Central line from Leytonstone to Epping, although previously the line was intended to take over the Central Line to Hainault.

Currently this line is known as the Chelsea - Hackney line and will not be built until after Crossrail. The current scheme is somewhat vague as to whether it will be built to National Rail or London Underground standards and take existing commuter services. The route protection also includes a branch south from Victoria Station underneath Battersea Park in the direction of Clapham Junction although not reaching that station.^[29] Clapham Junction is shown as an interchange with Crossrail 2 on TfL's East London Line route map.^[30]

See also

• Rail transport in the United Kingdom
• Great Western Main Line upgrade
• Thameslink, existing North-South line through central London
• Heathrow Airtrack

References

External links

• Crossrail - official homepage
• Crossrailnews - news and updates on Britain's largest transport engineering project
• The text of the Crossrail Act 2008 as enacted retrieved from the Office of Public Sector Information
• Documents deposited with the Crossrail Bill
• Transport Briefing Crossrail news - regularly updated news of Crossrail developments
• Transport Plans for the London Area - detailed history of Crossrail proposals
• alwaystouchout.com - Detailed information and news about the current proposal
• BBC News Online - 20/06/04 - Government backs £10bn Crossrail
• BBC News Online - 20/06/04 - Will Crossrail beat the Tube?
• BBC News Online - 13/02/05 - Crossrail link 'to get go-ahead'
• BBC News Online - 22/02/05 - First Crossrail bill for Commons
• BBC News Online - 07/04/05 - Election holds up Crossrail bill
• BBC News Online - 17/05/05 - Crossrail plan in Queen's Speech

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