The £18bn Elizabeth line was designed for an ever-growing city. After Brexit and Covid, it looks like a white elephant. In the tangle of west London's railway junctions - out Willesden way, where trains creak around tight curves, attempting to circumvent the London termini - I recently came across lines of new carriages waiting for work. I think it was at that famous railway placename Old Oak Common, where the smoke from the locomotive sheds once lay black across the sky. Several long sidings were filled with them: new, in a livery of shining white, with the London Transport roundel emblazoned on their sides in purple and crossed with the words ELIZABETH LINE. The sight gave me a stab of longing for a time of greater certainty, pre-Brexit and pre-Covid, when the most problematic aspect of Londons future, the levels of inequality among the population apart, was its apparently unstoppable growth.
(Permalink) Crossrail Elizabeth Line

Transport for Londons reputation has been badly damaged by the projects delays and budget overrunsTransport for London is in a fix. On the one hand it is the most lavishly funded transport organisation in the country. On the other, it is stretched to breaking point operating probably the most extensive and sophisticated network of trains and buses in Europe. Crossrail, the £15bn-plus joint venture with the Department for Transport to build a new rail line across the capital, is making matters worse.
(Permalink) Crossrail HS2 TfL

There has been growing speculation that the high-speed railway will exceed its £55.7 billion budget.
(Permalink) Crossrail HS2 Terry Morgan

Morgan, who Chris Grayling described as 'world class', set to go after four months in job. The chairman of HS2 is facing the sack less than five months after his appointment because of fears that costs are spiralling out of control. Sir Terry Morgan is also set to be removed as the chairman of Crossrail, the ambitious line linking east and west London, relieving him of leadership of two of the UKs highest-profile infrastructure projects, according to a report.
(Permalink) Crossrail HS2 Terry Morgan

The Government is ready to announce the first steps towards building a new railway linking north and south London as part of a multi-billion pound increase in infrastructure spending.

Under plans to be set out by Treasury ministers, funds are expected to be committed towards carrying out initial scoping work on the £12bn Crossrail 2 project which would connect south London with the new High Speed 2 network.

The promise of funding to start the project - which would run from Wimbledon in the South to Alexandra Palace in the North - would allow building work to begin following completion of the Crossrail 1 in 2018.

(Permalink) CrossRail