Delays expected in new plan for Crossrail project

by Patrick Reynolds



Potential backers of the £2.5 billion Crossrail scheme are to meet within the next two weeks in a bid to drive ahead plans for the stalled project.

But sources involved in promoting Crossrail said that reorganisation of London Underground and the setting up a new city-wide authority for the capital could further delay the project until 2001.

Plans to build Crossrail were resurrected four months ago when the local authority for the City, the Corporation of London, revealed a new business case for the scheme. The project was originally developed jointly by LU and British Rail but shelved by the Government in the early 1990s (CJ 6 May).

LU has kept a caretaker role of the Crossrail design materials and runs a dedicated, but small, Crossrail project team.

Railtrack took over BR's involvement but its input has been nominal so far, despite a request from the Government for its views on the dormant scheme. The Corporation hopes to win Railtrack's backing for its business case.

Civil servants requested briefings from the Corporation on its City-backed studies, and financiers have been keen to set up a core group of promoters.

The briefings to officials in the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions ended in the middle of August.

Feedback from the civil servants' briefings will be fed into the talks with potential promoters, organised by the Corporation for 28 September.

Both Railtrack and LU are expected to attend the summit talks along with likely Crossrail supporters from the City and industry.