The signals at GO

The Crossrail Bill authorises the construction of the new cross-London rail line linking London’s main business centres and Heathrow. It will run from Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east to Heathrow and Maidenhead in the west via Canary Wharf, Liverpool Street, Bond Street and Paddington. Carrying up to 78,000 passengers an hour each way at peak times— twice as much as the existing Jubilee line — it will provide 40 per cent of the extra rail capacity needed to cater for London’s growth.

The Bill authorises the works and land acquisition necessary to build Crossrail, including depots and work sites, sets up a planning and heritage regime for the project, deals with the regulation of services on the rail lines it uses and allows for transfer of ownership. The project is being promoted by Cross London Rail Links Limited, which is currently jointly owned by the Department of Transport and Transport for London (TfL) but which will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of TfL.

The Bill is hybrid as it affects private interests as well as including general powers. It goes through a select committee stage in each House, a parliamentary form of public inquiry, in which those who are affected may petition against the Bill. A number of significant changes have been made in response to recommendations by the Commons select committee, notably the inclusion of an additional station at Woolwich, moving the location of the main depot from Romford to Old Oak Common in west London and a different tunnelling strategy, allowing a reduction in the number of major work sites.

The Bill has now completed its select committee stage in the Commons and following report and third reading will move to the Lords, where it will again go through a select committee stage in addition to normal public Bill procedure. Assuming the Bill receives royal assent in summer 2008, construction of the main works should start in 2010, commencing operation in 2017.

The Bill does not deal with funding, which was announced as part of the comprehensive spending review on 9 October 2007. The estimated final cost of £16bn will be met by government grant, fare revenue and business contributions. Further legislation will be needed, now expected in the 2008-09 session, to introduce supplementary business rates, which will enable the Mayor to raise part of the funding from London businesses.

Irving Yass is Director of Policy at London First.