I'm amazed no-one has yet mentioned the Future of Transport paper and
statement by our Darling today.

Crossrail has been approved, with a Hybrid Bill to deposited in
parliament as soon as possible - BUT funding has NOT yet been agreed.
The government "will work with the Mayor and London businesses" to agree
funding.

Perhaps more positively, the East London Line Extensions, which already
have planning permission, now also have a funding agreement - TfL's
£2.9bn borrowing plans for the period up to 2009/10 have been approved.
These plans include construction of the ELLX so we can be reasonably
sure that this project is going ahead.

The borrowing plans also cover the DLR extension to Woolwich, DLR
capacity enhancement, East London Transit and Greenwich Waterfront
Transit, which therefore all have the go-ahead subject to successful
consultation.

In other news, everyone else in the country is going to be extremely
upset at London as tram projects in Manchester, Leeds and South
Hampshire have been axed. The only real good news for them is that local
authorities will be given greater bus franchising powers.

I should also mention national road user pricing - DfT wants to develop
it on a local level before going national with it (although that could
take 15 years' time anyway).

--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

On Tue, 20 Jul 2004, Dave Arquati wrote:

Crossrail has been approved, with a Hybrid Bill to deposited in
parliament as soon as possible

Do we know anything more about the details of the route, or will we have
to wait for the bill for that? Or is it pretty much decided now?

No mention of Crossrail 2, i take it ...

tom

--
I know you wanna try and get away, but it's the hardest thing you'll ever know

Perhaps more positively, the East London Line Extensions, which already
have planning permission, now also have a funding agreement - TfL's
£2.9bn borrowing plans for the period up to 2009/10 have been approved.
These plans include construction of the ELLX so we can be reasonably
sure that this project is going ahead.


I see no confirmation yet that there will be enough funds to build ELLX.
After the years of delay I'm fulling expecting this to be shelved.

M.

marcb wrote:

Perhaps more positively, the East London Line Extensions, which already

have planning permission, now also have a funding agreement - TfL's
£2.9bn borrowing plans for the period up to 2009/10 have been approved.
These plans include construction of the ELLX so we can be reasonably
sure that this project is going ahead.

I see no confirmation yet that there will be enough funds to build ELLX.
After the years of delay I'm fulling expecting this to be shelved.

M.

TfL have borrowing plans set out for those £2.9bn which are allocated to
various projects, £1bn of which is for the ELLX. Ken is determined to
get it built; he has planning permission and now he has been given
permission to borrow the money. The plans are well-advanced and now the
cash will be availabke. What's the problem? Have a little optimism :-)


--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

Tom Anderson wrote:

On Tue, 20 Jul 2004, Dave Arquati wrote:


Crossrail has been approved, with a Hybrid Bill to deposited in
parliament as soon as possible


Do we know anything more about the details of the route, or will we have
to wait for the bill for that? Or is it pretty much decided now?

No route confirmation yet; I've just posted about the Montague Report
which seems to prefer Heathrow & Maidenhead to Shenfield & Ebbsfleet
(i.e. getting rid of Kingston and having Maidenhead instead). I
personally doubt the Kingston branch will survive; it's expensive and
appears to be unpopular - in fact it appears to be producing the only
true opposition to Crossrail.

No mention of Crossrail 2, i take it ...

Nope - I don't think even CLRL realistically believe this will happen
anytime soon. The main reason the SRA support the Kingston branch is for
relief to Waterloo, so I don't think they believe it will happen either.
It's hard enough to build Crossrail 1 (and Thameslink 2000).

--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

Dave Arquati wrote:
Tom Anderson wrote:

On Tue, 20 Jul 2004, Dave Arquati wrote:

Crossrail has been approved, with a Hybrid Bill to deposited in
parliament as soon as possible

Do we know anything more about the details of the route, or will
we have to wait for the bill for that? Or is it pretty much
decided now?

No route confirmation yet; I've just posted about the Montague
Report which seems to prefer Heathrow & Maidenhead to Shenfield &
Ebbsfleet (i.e. getting rid of Kingston and having Maidenhead
instead).

Darling latched on to this in his statement today: "On the basis of the
Review's work, it is clear that the case for a limb to Richmond/Kingston
is relatively weakly developed, and that an extension on the western
side to Maidenhead might provide a better solution. This would be a key
change, and would align directly with key Review concerns about the
scale and deliverability of the project and number of interfaces it has
with the national railway."

Incidentally, I don't think it's a case of Maidenhead instead of
Kingston. The difficulties of getting BAA to give up HEx and of sharing
tracks with FGWL's slower diesel trains have led CLRL to develop the
Maidenhead proposal, using trains that would otherwise have reversed at
Paddington.

I personally doubt the Kingston branch will survive; it's
expensive and appears to be unpopular - in fact it appears to be
producing the only true opposition to Crossrail.

There is some opposition to it, mainly in Richmond and to some extent in
Chiswick, but I wouldn't say it was "unpopular" in general. Also,
Montague shows that it has an excellent benefit/cost ratio. But I agree
that it may well not survive (like it's main supporter, the SRA).

--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

In message , Richard J.
writes

Darling latched on to this in his statement today: "On the basis of the
Review's work, it is clear that the case for a limb to Richmond/Kingston
is relatively weakly developed, and that an extension on the western
side to Maidenhead might provide a better solution. This would be a key
change, and would align directly with key Review concerns about the
scale and deliverability of the project and number of interfaces it has
with the national railway."

Incidentally, I don't think it's a case of Maidenhead instead of
Kingston. The difficulties of getting BAA to give up HEx and of sharing
tracks with FGWL's slower diesel trains have led CLRL to develop the
Maidenhead proposal, using trains that would otherwise have reversed at
Paddington.

Surely once you're running trains to Maidenhead, it would make sense to
extend them a couple of stops to Reading, where there's a far greater
range of connections and plenty of bay platforms to terminate them.
--
Spyke
Address is valid, but messages are treated as junk. The opinions I express do
not necessarily reflect those of the educational institution from which I post.

In message , Spyke
writes
Surely once you're running trains to Maidenhead, it would make sense to
extend them a couple of stops to Reading, where there's a far greater
range of connections and plenty of bay platforms to terminate them.

The problem is the extra cost of the electrification. Presumably it's
not regarded as cost effective to extend it from the Heathrow branch to
Maidenhead *and* beyond to Reading (although I'm sure the very first
Crossrail proposals *did* have that as an option).
--
Roland Perry

Dave Arquati wrote:

marcb wrote:

Perhaps more positively, the East London Line Extensions, which already

have planning permission, now also have a funding agreement - TfL's
£2.9bn borrowing plans for the period up to 2009/10 have been approved.
These plans include construction of the ELLX so we can be reasonably
sure that this project is going ahead.

I see no confirmation yet that there will be enough funds to build ELLX.
After the years of delay I'm fulling expecting this to be shelved.

M.

TfL have borrowing plans set out for those £2.9bn which are allocated to
various projects, £1bn of which is for the ELLX. Ken is determined to
get it built; he has planning permission and now he has been given
permission to borrow the money. The plans are well-advanced and now the
cash will be availabke. What's the problem? Have a little optimism :-)

--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

Well, I've just got this so maybe a little optimism is worthwhile. I'll still
belive it when i see it.

Dear name

As promised, I wish to keep you up to date with fast moving developments.
Today (Tuesday 20 July 2004), Ken Livingstone , the Mayor of London,
announced that he would deliver phase 1 of the East London Line Project using
prudential borrowing arrangements that have been agreed by the government.

Phase 1 will provide extended services between Dalston Junction in the north
and New Cross, Crystal Palace and West Croydon in the south. This could br
delivered by June 2010 which is in good time to support a successful Olympic
bid.

Phase 2 will feature the link to Clapham Junction and the northern extension
along the North London Line to Highbury & Islington.

Over the next few days the existing website will be brought upto date to
reflect these significant developments and provide you with greater detail of
what is proposed.

Your patience in this matter is greatly appreciated.

Yours

Peter

Peter Boxell
Head of Communications
East london Line Project

And this release is on the ellp site:


Mayor of London

news release
Office hours: 020 7983 4070
Out of hours and weekends: 020 7983 4000
www.london.gov.uk
GLA/2004/ 269 July 20 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Mayor statement on East London Line extension

Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, today confirmed he has reached an
agreement with the Government on Transport for London's borrowing limits that
will allow TfL to proceed with constructing the East London Line extension. This
follows Alistair Darling's statement on the Government's five year transport
plan and transport Spending Review.

The Mayor said the agreement, which will enable TfL to go ahead with the East
London Line extension, transit schemes in East London and Greenwich and
extensions to the DLR and its services were a major boost to London's 2012
Olympic bid. He also strongly welcomed the announcement that the Government
would be proceeding with the Hybrid Bill to allow the construction of Crossrail.

However, the Mayor warned that the great majority of the extra funding announced
in the transport Spending Review would be going to Network Rail to deal with the
disastrous consequences of rail privatisation.

As a result TfL had not secured the extra revenue resources that its successful
track record merited and would face some difficult decisions in finalising its
business plan.

Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone said:

"It's excellent news that the Government has accepted my proposal that TfL
should take over construction of the urgently needed East London Line extension
and agreed the borrowing approval we need. The first phase of this project is a
big boost for everyone in east and south London who have campaigned for this
vital new tube line. It also shows the Government's and my total commitment to
London's Olympic bid.

"But today's announcement also shows just how much rail privatisation is still
costing us all. The legacy of rail privatisation is swallowing up resources that
should ideally have been available to invest in and build on our proven
successes. That has denied TfL the resources it needs to proceed with its full
plans for making more improvements to transport in London. As a result, we will
face some difficult decisions in finalising the TfL Business Plan."

ENDS

For further information contact Sam Hart in the Mayor's Press Office on 020 7983
4714. For out of hours media enquiries please call 020 7983 4000

For non-media enquiries please call the Public Liaison Unit on 020 7983 4100