A budget Crossrail 2
However desirable, at £27 billion to £32bn, I have to ask if Crossrail 2 is really necessary given the current environment, with desperate public debt levels and a growing ‘waiting list’ for scarce rail investment funding.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has recently asked for DfT assurances on Crossrail 2 funding, but even he would probably agree that pressures on social care and social housing investment in London would trump any rail wish list. Cheaper options need to be considered:
Extending the Victoria Line north from Seven Sisters/Tottenham Hale up to Northumberland Park and Cheshunt is eminently doable, as would be a southward extension from Brixton to Wimbledon via Herne Hill and Tooting.
The Piccadilly Line is currently ‘only’ running at a maximum of 21 trains per hour (tph). Improved signalling could increase this service to 30, 33 or even 36tph.
Again, it’s easy to imagine Piccadilly Line extensions in the north from King’s Cross to Islington/Hackney and Finsbury Park to Alexandra Palace/New Southgate. To the south west, some additional Piccadilly Line services could be extended to Wimbledon along the current District Line.
Crossrail is ‘only’ planned to operate at 24tph, but ought to be able to run at 30/33/36tph levels, similar to the ‘RER’ service evident in Paris.
Construction of a simple chord at Old Oak Common, linking the Great Western suburban lines to the Willesden Junction-Richmond line would allow South Western lines from Shepperton/Hampton Court/Epsom/Chessington through running direct onto Crossrail without any tunnelling required. To the north east, Crossrail services could also be extended from Stratford to Broxbourne/Harlow/ Stansted via the Lea Valley Line and Tottenham Hale.
Admittedly the above thoughts pale when stood against a full Crossrail 2 20tph scheme as currently envisaged. But such an eye-watering price tag ought to prompt our planners to look at ‘budget’ alternatives that could still offer millions of extra seats through central London, but at a fifth of the engineering cost.