MP pushes to get Crossrail going

Conservative MP David Lidington is trying to gather sufficient signatures in the House of Commons to get the proposed œ2 billion Crossrail scheme recommitted. Meanwhile, design work is still going ahead at a cost of œ1 million a month, the intention being to complete the preparation phase by the autumn.

The scheme, which would have provided an east-west link across London, was scuppered by a four-man MP committee on 10 May which met under the Commons Private Bill procedure.

The committee was not opposed to Crossrail in principle but felt that they could not let it go ahead because of uncertainty over connections with the Channel Tunnel link and the Heathrow Expressway. This was despite the fact that Crossrail said it had been in discussions to establish connections to both schemes.

The no-go decision has caused a headache to joint promoters British Rail and London Transport because it can only be technically overturned if the committee is judicially judged to be corrupt or ill advised.

However, Crossrail is confident that Lidington will get enough signatures and that the future of the scheme will be debated before the House rises for the summer recess.

A Crossrail spokesman was unable to confirm that construction work would start in 1996 as planned, even if the Commons decided to overturn its committee's decision.