Key Benefits
The Crossrail Bill would grant powers for the construction and maintenance of Crossrail: a new east-west railway linking Maidenhead and Heathrow with Shenfield and Abbey Wood through new tunnels under central London.
Provide the country with a world-class, affordable railway, delivering high capacity main line rail services to and through the heart of the City and West End of London and the South East of England;
Provide a new fleet of trains, operating a 24 trains-an-hour peak service in both directions through central London, carrying nearly 200 million passengers a year;
Add at least £20 billion to UK GDP; overall, the benefits (including the estimate of wider economic benefits) exceed costs by around 2.5 to 1;
Significantly increase the capacity of the rail network into and across London (increasing peak east-west capacity by 40%, adding 21% to total rail capacity to the City and 54% to Canary Wharf), relieve congestion and overcrowding on the existing National Rail and Underground networks, meet the substantial growth in demand for travel in the capital expected over the coming decades, and improve accessibility;
Provide improved east-west rail access into and across London from the East and South East regions and support local and national Government policy for economic development and regeneration, particularly in the Lee Valley and Thames Gateway, attracting an additional 80,000 jobs to regeneration areas;
Help to improve international links and tourism - joining to the city centre: Heathrow, London City Airport (at Custom House), Stansted Airport (at Liverpool Street), Gatwick and Luton Airports (at Farringdon), and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (at Stratford);
Facilitate the continued sustainable development of London's primary finance and business service activities, located in both the City and Docklands, including employment growth of up 30,000 jobs by 2026;
Have a total route length of approximately 120km, with 21km of tunnels in the central route section, which link with the existing rail network at either end (with improvements and modifications), and serve 38 stations, with 8 new sub-surface stations, and 27 upgraded and reconstructed surface stations.
Outline planning permission (10 year time limited) and a bespoke planning regime;
Compulsory purchase powers (5 year time limited);
Powers to vary railways regulation to ensure that Crossrail can be constructed and services run on Network Rail's network. It is proposed that these powers are cut back in the House of Lords if the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) approves appropriate long term access rights for Crossrail on the national rail network;
Power to nominate an undertaker of the works;
Power to devolve the project to the Mayor of London.
Aside from the railway powers and devolution, the Bill is based closely on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act 1996. |
