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  1. Business
  2. Economics
6 February 2013updated 27 Sep 2023 11:06am

Consortium proposes “Crossrail 2” for London

The proposed line would connect Chelsea to Hackney through central London.

By Alex Hern

A consortium of business interests, led by Labour peer Lord Adonis has announced its proposal for “Crossrail 2” (pdf), a line stretching from the south-west of London to the north-east. It’s a long way from reality at the moment — even though it has powerful friends the group has no official power, and the most optimistic projections don’t see it opening until around 2035 — but it is already clear that it, or something like it, is sorely needed.

I’ve knocked up a rough map of the proposed route:

(I’ve missed magenta since the Olympics, so thought the tube map could do with some more. Click to embiggen)

The line as proposed would take a significant amount of strain off the Victoria line), with four/five intersections at Victoria, Seven Sisters, Tottenham Hale, and a joint Euston and Kings Cross St Pancras station.

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(Yes, the trains would be long enough that the platform would have one end at Euston and the other at Kings Cross. Crossrail 1 has similar stations, one at Farringdon/Barbican and another at Liverpool Street/Moorgate, and even Thameslink, after its recent upgrades, has a station with entrances on both sides of the Thames.)

It would also link happily to the High-Speed 2 terminus in Euston, put a new station in the railway black-hole of inner Chelsea, and join up the two southern spurs of the Northern and District line. The consortium has clearly put a lot of thought into the plans, and if someone can be found to stump up the estimated £12bn cost, it will fix London’s public transport congestion for at least, ooh, a year or so. After that, London could have its south London monorail or its cross-river tram.

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