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'Crossrail' is a major railway project which would provide a frequent high-capacity rail link across London from east to west. See below for information on Crossrail and the views of West London Friends of the Earth.

The Crossrail project received one of its biggest boosts to date in November with the announcement in The Queen's Speech of the necessary Parliamentary Bill on the project and marks the closest it has come to fruition so far: "My Government recognises the importance of modern, effective and safe transport to meet the needs of the public and the wider economy. A Bill will be brought forward to authorise the construction of Crossrail."

Note: A Bill is hybrid if it affects both public and specific private interests but it still has to go through a series of Parliamentary procedures before the final stage of becoming an Act of Parliament and therefore giving permission for construction to begin. The Bill would include the layout of the proposed route, describe the construction work needed and identify areas of land (both temporary and permanent) required for work to be carried out.

See below for the proposed route.

Crossrail - Western part

Crossrail - Eastern part

Friends of the Earth Views on Crossrail

Friends of the Earth is generally supportive of the Crossrail project. We strongly support schemes which will improve public transport and which reduce reliance on cars, with all their downsides of congestion, danger, air pollution, global warming and economic costs.

However, we have the following reservations about Crossrail:

• While new tracks are provided in the central area, the scheme does not provide new track capacity to the east or west. The fundamental obstacle to providing better train services in west London is the fact that there are only two tracks each way west from Paddington.
• The most important priority for public transport is to to provide for local needs. For example, to enable people to travel a few miles to get local jobs, to shop locally or to visit local place of entertainment. Crossrail, conversely, is designed to help people to get away from their locality, or pass through it, quickly and efficiently.
• The cost, at about £10 billion, is very high. This sum of money could be used to fund a large number of alternative local public transport, walking and cycling schemes.
• The West London tram, at £460 million, is (arguably) a much better investment as it would provide a step change in local transport facilities at a fraction of the cost.

More information

For more details of the Crossrail project and the issues around it, see Corporation of London article. (But be cautious about opinions expressed - the interests of West London and ordinary people do not necessarily coincide with the City of London.)

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Dec 04