Should we cross question the logic of crossrail scheme?

Question

The plans for crossrail don't allow for a large amount of railfreight growth in London during and after the construction of crossrail. Is it really worth the hassle and hard earned cash?

Answer 1

Crossrail the child of the 70's designers has kept a number of people employed for almost 40 years now, each couple of years the project is talked about and quickly disappears once figures and cost are put about, like the High Speed upgrades of the East and West Coast, Thameslink 2000, and other projects talked about, they all sound good until the problems of money, infrastructure, building, etc, etc, come into the frame, quite frankly its a wonder that the HS1 line came into being so fast (remembering that it is 10 years late as well).

Answer 2

Well at least it's an underground railway infrastructure project in the centre of London, which is desperately needed.  Before the extension of the Jubilee Line I think you'd have to go back 20 years or so - perhaps more - to finds the last significant improvement on the Underground.

So I think it's worth it for the sake of passengers even if, as you say, there are unlikely to be any freight benefits.

Answer 3

Crossrail is a desperately needed passenger service. It has no more relevance to freight than the London Underground. What must not happen, however, is that its use of existing facilities east and west does not impede rail freight growth. But both are needed.

Answer 4

Cross Rail will speed up  numerous journeys to and from and across central London, stimulate economic growth in the areas it serves, reduce congestion and pollution, and should be just one of several new rail and Underground lines for London. The amount of people using the railways has risen by 50% in the past 10 years in Britain and much of this growth has ocurred in South East England.