Mayor Boris Johnson has unveiled the preferred route for the £20bn Crossrail 2 scheme, which will run north-south through London.

As expected, the route does not extend as far as Fulham, instead reaching a new station in Kings Road in Chelsea before crossing the river to Clapham Junction.

Plans for Crossrail 2 will now be examined by the transport department before a public consultation on more detailed proposals.

If final permission is granted in 2017, work could begin 2019 – one year after Crossrail is opened.

Already consultants like Arup, Atkins and Parson Brinckerhoff have been approached to work up outline designs for the project.

The mayor says that a second Crossrail scheme is vital to support the capital’s growth, and claims that more than half the cost could be met from sources other than the taxpayer

Crossrail 2 would run from Cheshunt in Hertfordshire to Epsom in Surrey, with the central section going through tunnels from Wimbledon to Tottenham Hale and New Southgate.

It would drastically cut journey times through the city - for example, it would take just 14 minutes to go from Wimbledon to Tottenham Court Road.

Boris Johnson, said: "Crossrail 2 is a vital project not just for the capital, but also for the regions from which people travel in to London on packed trains each day of the week. With London’s population soon to surpass its previous 1939 peak of 8.6m, and with more people travelling by Tube and rail than ever before, we need additional rail capacity to support future growth."

Confirmation of the preferred route however is not such good news for people in Fulham. Crossrail 2 was originally based on the Chelsea Hackney, or Chelney, line, the route of which has been protected since 2008 by a Government safeguarding direction. According to existing maps, this line would have run to a new station around Dovehouse Green in Kings Road then onto Parsons Green, where it would share tracks with the District Line and continue to Wimbledon.

As we reported last year, this change of plan has come despite the fact that a report by London business organisation London First on the need for Crossrail 2 predicted that by 2031 there could be very severe crowding levels on a number of key tube routes, including Fulham to Earls Court on the District line. You can reads this full story here.

 

November 7, 2014