By Nathan Lee, TLE Correspondent
The third public consultation for Crossrail 2 is under way with drop-in sessions on how the route will impact Londoners being held across the city.
But what will the proposed line look like, when will it be completed and how do TfL envisage doing it?
Where
The proposed route looks to benefit cities across the South East and stations in Surrey and Hertfordshire by providing more direct routes in to central London from connecting stations such as Wimbledon, Clapham Junction and Tottenham Hale.
The new route connects Wimbledon and connecting stations to Clapham Junction, Chelsea and Victoria in the South to central station such as Tottenham Court Road and Angel, Seven Sisters and Alexandra Palace in the north.
When
The third public consultation is now under way and will close on Friday 8 January 2016. If the plans go ahead then construction should start in 2020 and finish towards the end of that decade with the first trains running from 2030.
How
The cost of the scheme has been estimated at £27-32 billion, in 2014 prices and including the cost of new trains and Network Rail works. That’s well over the £14.8 billion paid for Crossrail which dwarfs previous infrastructure costs .
But plans are still in the early days. Even London Mayor Boris Johnson isn’t clued up on the proposals. He recently discovered the proposed route will go 20 metres under his Islington town house after reading an automated letter he sent out himself. Speaking at the Norwood Annual Dinner for Jewish Charities, the Uxbridge MP said: “I got a letter through my door the other day, as usual from myself. This one asked me to enter the consultation about Crossrail 2, and I made enquiries about this, and got TfL to produce the map.
