Plan for £80bn, 10-year transport programme includes CrossRail and East London Line scheme
Sean Cronin
With the government set to commit to two major London rail schemes this week, a flurry of property speculation is expected in the capital.
Next Thursday, deputy prime minister John Prescott will deliver his £80bn, 10-year transport vision for London, which is widely expected to include extra funding for the CrossRail and East London Line Extension schemes.
City sources say that the announcement would lead to an upsurge in interest in sites within the Thames Gateway and in north-east London, which the two lines would intersect.
The East London Line runs between Shoreditch in the north and New Cross in the south, and the planned extension, would add five new stations at Millwall, Shoreditch, Hoxton, Haggerston and Dalston.
The much-vaunted CrossRail would run between Paddington in the west and Liverpool Street in the east.
Transport minister Keith Hill and Mayor for London Ken Livingstone have been in talks in the run-up to this week’s spending announcement about allocations for both schemes.
A spokesman for the mayor’s office confirmed that news was expected on both schemes as part of the 10-year transport plan announcement.
Joe Weiss, Corporation of London’s transport and highways officer, said he was confident that a spending announcement on both CrossRail and the East London Line was imminent.
He said: “The property implications of this will be immense. Journey times from, say, Ealing to the West End would be slashed to about 15 minutes, and similarly Stratford becomes around 20 minutes from the West End.
“It means that many of the outer suburbs will become instantly commutable to central London.”
Weiss said that the new lines would also have positive distribution implications for the press and printing industries, located on the north-eastern fringes of the city.
