Crossrail is a project to build major new railway connections under central London. The project's name refers to the first of two routes which are the responsibility of Cross London Rail Links Ltd. It is based around an east-west tunnel with a central section from Paddington to Liverpool Street station. The second route is the Chelsea–Hackney line. The project was approved in October 2007 and the Crossrail Act received Royal Assent in July 2008. The final funding agreement, which committed full finance for the project, was signed in late 2008.
The first trains are due to run in 2017, with services complementing the enhanced north-south Thameslink route. 10-carriage trains will run at frequencies of up to 24 trains per hour (tph) in each direction through the central tunnel section.
Robert Stephenson proposed to extend the main line from Euston terminus through a tunnel under Gower Street and Covent Garden to the Savoy Wharf on the Thames in 1836. Plans were not progressed due to the limitations of steam trains.
The Central London Rail Study of 1989 proposed an East-West Crossrail (now 'Crossrail') and in 1991, a Bill was submitted to Parliament for the scheme. The bill was rejected in 1994 due to the recession at the time.
In 2001 Cross London Rail Links, A 50/50 joint venture company was formed to develop and promote the scheme and also a Wimbledon-Hackney scheme. In 2003 and 2004 over 50 days of exhibitions were held to explain the proposals at over 30 different locations.
The Crossrail Bill 2005, a Hybrid Bill went through Parliament. The Crossrail Bill Select Committee met between December 2005 and October 2007. The select Committee announced an interim decision 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 it would jeopardise the affordability of the whole scheme but a subsequent agreement has made this possible.
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. The Bill is accompanied by an Environmental Impact Statement, plans and other related information. The bill gives Cross London Rail Links the powers necessary to construct the line.
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.
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.
Services will begin in 2017 providing there are no delays caused by unexpected legal, construction or financial difficulties.
In April 2009 Crossrail announced that 17 firms had secured 'Enabling Works Framework Agreements' and these companies would now be able to compete for packages of enabling works.
The threat of diseases being released by work on the Crossrail project were originally raised by Lord James of Blackheath 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.
Invitations to tender for the two principle tunnelings contracts were published in the Official Journal of the European Union in August 2009. 'Tunnels West' was for twin 6.2 kilometres (3.9 mi) long tunnels from Royal Oak through to the new Crossrail Farringdon Station with a portal west of Paddington. The 'Tunnels East' request was for three tunnel sections and 'launch chambers' in east London.
By September 2009 preparatory work for the £1billion developments at Tottenham Court Road station has begun, with a number of buildings (including the Astoria Theatre) being compulsorily purchased and demolished.
In March 2010 contracts for the second round of 'enabling work' were awarded to a number of civil engineering companies including 'Royal Oak Portal Taxi Facility Demolition', 'Demolition works for Crossrail Bond Street Station', 'Demolition works for Crossrail Tottenham Court Road Station' and 'Pudding Mill Lane Portal'.
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 tunnelled section of the line will be about 22 kilometres (14 mi) 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 metres (20 ft), compared with the 3.8 metres (12 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.
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 western section is to be built at the surface with the main route running from Maidenhead to Action Main Line Station with a underground spur to Heathrow. The main route will include upgrading all the stations: Maidenhead, Taplow, Burnham, Slough, Langley, Iver, West Drayton, Hayes and Harlington, Southall, Hanwell, West Ealing, Ealing Broadway and Acton Main Line.
The central tunnels run from Acton Main Line station to Whitechapel with further tunnelling to Stratford Station and to Canary Wharf.
There will be 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, London Overground or the Docklands Light Railway. Due to the size and positioning of new platforms required for these stations some will be directly connected to multiple underground stations.
This section runs underground from Whitechapel as far as Stratford and then at surface level for the rest of the route on an existing route.
The section runs underground from Whitechapel to Canary Wharf and then at surface level as far as Abbey Wood. This section running under the Thames at North Woolwich and including a new station at Woolwich. It connects the reused former part of the North London Line with the North Kent Line.
The following 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
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 160 kilometres per hour (99 mph) on the surface parts of the route and up to 100 kilometres per hour (62 mph) in the tunnels. 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.
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.
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.
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:
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. Clapham Junction is shown as an interchange with Crossrail 2 on TfL's East London Line route map.
Crossrail will be built by Crossrail Limited which 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 for the construction of the line.
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. 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, 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 tube station in advance of the arrival of Crossrail.
There was considerable annoyance in Reading that Crossrail would terminate at Maidenhead, not Reading. 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. 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.
In February 2010, Crossrail was accused of bullying residents whose property lay on the Crossrail route into selling for far less than the market value. A subsequent London Assembly report was highly critical of the insensitive way that Crossrail had dealt with compulsory purchases and the lack of assistance given to the people and businesses affected.
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.
An east–west route was again proposed in the early 1990s. 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. 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.
Various routes have been included in earlier drafts of the Crossrail scheme, but no longer feature. These include:
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.
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
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).