Rail industry: No delay to Crossrail 2 due to financial review
Speaking to the London Assembly Transport Committee, TfL’s Director of Planning Alex
Williams said that the independent funding and finance review of Crossrail 2 will report back
“in the autumn”.
Darren Caplan, Chief Executive of the Railway Industry Association, responded: “The
Railway Industry Association is concerned about the reported delay in progressing the
Crossrail 2 scheme. Major schemes like this are essential and provide wider benefits not just
to those parts of the country they serve, but also to the national economy and its connectivity.
“Most people looking at this will wonder what has changed since Transport Secretary Chris
Grayling and London Mayor Sadiq Khan offered together their full throttle support to this vital
infrastructure project just six months ago. Simply, this project should not be delayed without
good reason, and it’s difficult to understand what good reason exists now.
“The Railway Industry Association urges the financial review of Crossrail 2 to be undertaken
as swiftly as possible, so the project can proceed as planned on the timescale originally
envisaged. Without doing so, it will be more difficult to integrate Crossrail 2 with other major
infrastructure investments like HS2 - meaning we are less able to reduce congestion for
passengers on our rail network.”
Notes to Editors
- TfL Director of Planning Alex Williams spoke to the Transport Select Committee on 1 February.More information can be found here.
- About the Railway Industry Association: The Railway Industry Association (RIA) is the
representative body for UK-based suppliers to the UK and world-wide railways. It has some
200 companies in membership and the sector employs 240,000 people and contributes
annually £11 billion Gross Value Added (GVA). It is also a growing industry with the number of
rail journeys expected to double over the next 25 years and freight set to grow significantly
too. RIA’s membership is active across the whole of railway supply, covering a diverse range
of products and services and including both multi-national companies and SMEs (60% by
number). RIA works to promote the importance of the rail system to UK plc, to help export UK
expertise around the globe and to share best practice and innovation across the
industry.