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Leanne Bennett at City Hall
Those on the Cross Rail routes outside of London have not been asked to contribute to the funding of the railway expansion, which is costing around £15.6 billion. More than half of this figure is funded from Transport for London and the private sector in London. No extra financial help has been requested from Berkshire or Essex, at any point during the project. Those living in these areas will be able to ‘seek the benefits’ with Londoners footing the bill, it was revealed at a recent transport committee. Terry Morgan, Cross Rail LTD said; ‘Department for Transport contribution is half with those directly on the route able to seek benefits’ Main Stops outside of London include, Maidenhead and Romford.
The aim of Cross rail is to provide direct links from the west and Essex through to Heathrow, primarily benefiting commuters coming into London from reducing overcrowding.
Mike Brown, managing director, of London underground totalled the number of users of the tube in the four weeks up to Christmas as 90.6 million, the largest ever use of the underground. Am, Valerie Shawcross named, First Western trains into Paddington, are "7 out of the 10 worst trains for overcrowding into the city".
Since the work began in 2009, Cross Rail expansion has continuously caused disruption to Londoners getting around the city through main tube services and underground stations being completely shut down. No services are available on any; Hammersmith and City, Circle or Metropolitan at the weekends. And recent Transport for London cuts is further evidence London services will soon be under more strain.
Rob Holden, chief executive of Cross Rail LTD expects "trains will be running on the central expansion by 2018" that’s another seven years before any investments will start to pay off for the city.
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