On May 19, 11:44*pm, Mwmbwls wrote:
On May 19, 10:39*pm, Michael Bell wrote: As reported in the Guardian it might come down to a choice between
keeping the current network going and getting Crossrail built. What a
choice! Once you've started these huge projects, interest charges
start to build up, (as they did in the Channel tunnel) and so it
becomes desperately urgent to finish the job and get the revenue in.
Meanwhile the old parts of the tube stop working! I am glad I am not
Boris Johnson!

The story moves on:
http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.u...ets/advertiser...

quote
PM may shelve £16bn Crossrail over cost fears
19 May 2008
EXCLUSIVE by Ted Jeory

PRIME Minister Gordon Brown is "more than likely" to shelve the £16
billion Crossrail project for several years, even when it receives
Royal Assent this summer, a senior figure in the scheme has warned.

A highly placed source in Crossrail's management team fears the PM
will put the cross-London 'super tube' rail link on hold amid
increasing concerns about the effect of the credit crunch on the
economy.

Crossrail bosses are bracing themselves for the bad news, expected
within a few months.

The Crossrail Bill completed its final round of scrutiny before a
House of Lords select committee last week, paving the way for a final
reading in the Commons and Royal Assent in July.

But although Downing Street finally gave the nod to a £16bn funding
package last October, Crossrail chiefs fear the deteriorating economic
climate, spiralling Olympic costs and the election of Tory Boris
Johnson as Mayor of London will persuade Mr Brown to delay
construction.

The source said: "It's only my opinion and not the corporate line, but
my strong feeling is that in the current circumstances, the Government
will more than likely delay the project by a few years. There's quite
a few of us who think that.

"But once we get Royal Assent, the Act will last for 10 years, so
we'll still be able to start the engineering fully at any time before
that runs out."

Revealing frustration with political and civil service meddling, he
added: "Unfortunately, it's yet another example of how this country
seems not to be able to run major projects.

"The Treasury never seems willing or capable of being accountable for
these things."

If Mr Brown does pull the plug, it will be a devastating blow to the
Corporation of London and for Canary Wharf Group, the two
organisations which stand to gain the most from Crossrail.

Preparations for a new Isle of Dogs station at West India Quay were
expected to start early next year, along with compulsory purchase
schemes in Bond Street and Tottenham Court Road in the West End.

As Chancellor, Mr Brown was said never to be a huge fan of Crossrail
and believed businesses, particularly the City and Canary Wharf,
should foot a larger share of the bill.

Mr Brown is likely to feel reluctant about another major project for
the capital, with London now in the control of the Conservatives and
with mutterings in the rest of Britain about the scale of public money
being ploughed into the Olympics.

But although Crossrail's communications manager Ian Rathbone
acknowledged the project was at the mercy of others, he said there was
a determination to carry on.

He added: "We will be continuing with the programme that we have laid
out.

It seems likely that Crossrail construction will be delayed.

If this happens I believe it could have unfortunate consequences for
London's, financial and general, wellbeing.