Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has said he would back plans to revive the Crossrail 2 project, claiming the scheme is a ‘no-brainer’. The Mayor said the Elizabeth line sequel would provide the opportunity for ‘hundreds of thousands’ of new jobs in the capital as well as ‘tens of thousands’ of homes.
The comments came after the British Library confirmed last month that its new £1.1 billion project to expand its St Pancras site would include funding to safeguard space for future Crossrail 2 infrastructure. An online listing for the extension said: “The site will support the future creation of a new underground station for Crossrail 2 by connecting Euston and St Pancras. This will mean that the area is the most important transport interchange in the UK.”
The Mayor said in response to the St Pancras extension that he would ‘absolutely’ like to see discussions between Transport for London (TfL) and the Department for Transport (DfT) on the project being revived. The comments came from the Mayor’s launch of his Plan of Action to end rough sleeping in London by 2030.
He told MyLondon: “This is a scheme that we spent a lot of time and effort on in my first term. We’ve got a route, Crossrail goes from east to west, Crossrail 2 goes from northeast to southwest. It would lead to hundreds of thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of homes. We’ve safeguarded the route, so that’s a good thing, and I would love to talk to the government about Crossrail 2.”
A 2015 map for the Crossrail 2 project shows the service would run primarily from Seven Sisters and Tottenham Hale to Clapham Junction via Euston St Pancras and Victoria. The line would then extend further towards Broxbourne in the north and destinations such as Shepperton, Hampton Court, Chessington South and Epsom in the south.
Crossrail 2 plans ‘could be restarted’
Further work on the design and development of Crossrail 2 was paused in October 2020 as part of the TfL funding agreement with the government. TfL stated that the work that had been undertaken for the project up to that point was fully documented so that it could be restarted when appropriate.
Regarding the British Library extension, a TfL spokesperson previously told MyLondon: “Crossrail 2 is a long-term aspiration which, if delivered, would help unlock thousands of new jobs and homes – not only in London, but across the South East.”
They added: “Discussions continue with the new government to refresh the Crossrail 2 safeguarding directions, which protects the land required from development that could impact the delivery of the scheme.”
A source from the DfT previously told MyLondon in response that no decision had been taken on updating safeguarding regulations for the proposed Crossrail 2 route, but that the body remained in conversation with TfL on the topic.
The Mayor said that TfL’s focus for its next spending review was the DLR extension to Thamesmead, alongside the Bakerloo line extension. He also said the transport authority would be progressing with work on the West London Orbital extension to the London Overground.
He added: “At the same time we’re really pleased the government has said that High Speed Two (HS2) will go to Euston rather than end in Old Oak Common, but I think Crossrail 2 is a no-brainer in the future.”
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