Fulham could miss out on the benefits of Crossrail 2, the new fast rail route through London proposed this week by business group London First.

The £12 billion scheme being proposed by the London First business group would run from Hertfordshire through Central London to Surrey once it opened in the early 2030s.

The line has been mooted since the 1970s, and is included among long term aims in Mayor Boris Johnson's London Plan.

It 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 run from Victoria to Sloane Square, 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.

However, the new Crossrail 2 route proposed this week takes a different direction, missing out the link to Fulham and instead going either over or under the river from Kings Road to Clapham Junction.

This is despite the fact that London First's new report on the need for Crossrail 2 predicts 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.

London First have confirmed this change of route. A spokeman said: " Parsons Green was identified as part of the original route but this new proposed route takes account of how much London and its transport network has changed since the Chelsea-Hackney route was first proposed."

The organisation points out that as the District Line tube is now much more heavily used, there is no spare track for another service to share, and says the line would benefit from reduced congestion as people further out switched to Crossrail 2.

London First also emphasises that this report is the beginning of the debate, not the end of it, and the various route options will now be debated at length and TfL will be doing formal consultation.

At the launch of the new report, former Transport Secretary Lord Adonis, who chaired the task force which prepared the proposals, said: "We urge the Mayor and central government to take forward preparations for Crossrail 2, including a credible funding plan embracing the public and private sectors, with a view to construction in the 2020s."

February 8, 2013