Cross Rail Project - London

The construction of USD 30000 million, Crossrail in London will provide significant travel advantages to growing communities of Maidenhead, Shenfield in Essex via Heathrow airport and central London. The Transport for London, UK is constructing the Crossrail Project which will link Maidenhead in Berkshire to Shenfield in Essex via Heathrow airport and central London. The project announced in 2006, is scheduled for completion in 2017.

The purpose of the project is to relieve pressure of existing service congestion and meet the growing demand for transport through the construction of an urban rail system.

Its key objectives is to lower transport-related greenhouse gas emissions, increase the contribution of State highways to the environmental and social wellbeing by improving energy efficiency and public health and to enable improved and more reliable access and mobility for people and freight.

Crossrail is a project to build major new railway connections under central London. The project 's name refers to the first of two routes proposed by Cross London Rail Links Ltd, based around an east-west tunnel from Paddington to Liverpool Street station. The second route is the Chelsea-Hackney line.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown officially approved the Crossrail project on 5 October 2007after a funding deal covering the first line was worked out with various public and private sources. The Crossrail Act received the Royal Assent on 22 July 2008. In late 2008 the final funding agreement, which committed full finance for the project, was signed.

The first trains are due to run in 2017. 10-coach trains, roughly 200 metres long will run at high frequencies of up to 24 trains per hour (tph) in each direction during the peak periods through the central tunnel section, complementing the existing north-south Thames link route. Crossrail ticketing is intended to be integrated with the other London transport systems, with Oyster Card Pay As You Go being valid on the

Links: Ltd, based around an east-west tunnel from Paddington to Liverpool Street station. The second route is the Chelsea-Hackney line. Prime Minister Gordon Brown officially approved the Crossrail project on 5 October 2007after a funding deal covering the first line was worked out with various public and private sources. The Crossrail Act received the Royal Assent on 22 July 2008. In late 2008 the final funding agreement, which committed full finance for the project, was signed. The first trains are due to run in 2017. 10-coach trains, roughly 200 metres long will run at high frequencies of up to 24 trains per hour (tph) in each direction during the peak periods through the central tunnel section, complementing the existing north-south Thames link route. Crossrail ticketing is intended to be integrated with the other London transport systems, with Oyster Card Pay As You Go being valid on the entire line. Travel cards will be valid within Greater London with the exception of the Heathrow branch, which will continue to be subject to special fares. Crossrail has often been compared to Paris 's RER system due to the length of the central tunnel. Crossrail will be integrated with the London Underground and National Rail networks, and it is expected that Crossrail will appear on the standard London Underground Map. The project will feature London Underground, National Rail or the Docklands Light Railway, new station at Woolwich, central tunnels and new subterranean stations. The project received the planning approval on October 5, 2007. Following a design phase which was completed in May 2009 led by designer Capita Symonds, construction began in 2010. The Lead contractor of the project is Taylor Woodrow, Carillion, Balfour Beatty and Costain while the architect is Capita Symonds Various routes have been included in earlier drafts of the Crossrail scheme, but no longer feature. These include: Paddington to Kingston upon Thames via Richmond was part of the "preferred route" published in 2003, but was dropped in 2004 due to a combination of local opposition, uncertainty over the route, cost and an insufficient return on the envisaged investment. This would conceivably have run either overland or via a tunnel to the existing track through Gunnersbury and Kew (which would no longer be used by the District Line), and thence to Richmond and Kingston on existing mainline track. A south-eastern route beyond Abbey Wood to Dartford and Northfleet, connecting with High Speed 1. This was rejected due to the need to share track with existing services, leading to potential performance pollution. However much of this route has been revived in the safeguarding directive for Abbey Wood-Gravesend. A north-western route to Aylesbury, taking over Chiltern services. This originally used the Dudding Hill Line, and later involved a new tunnel. Other branches in this direction to High Wycombe and Watford Junction were also proposed. None of these made it past the 2003 route consultation. A report by a committee chaired by David Barran in 1974 recommended, alongside the development of the Fleet Line to Fenchurch Street and the River Line project, two new deep-level railway lines, one linking Paddington and Liverpool Street, via Marble Arch and Ludgate Circus; and another linking London Bridge and Victoria. The cost of these two links, along with the re-opening of the Snow Hill tunnel to form Thameslink, was estimated at £300 million. An east–west route was again proposed in the early 1990s. A Bill was introduced into Parliament, promoted by London Underground and British Rail, and supported by the government, but was rejected by the Private Bill Committee in 1994. This service even went as far as preparatory work on rolling stock, with concept drawings for what was planned to be Class 341 trains released. A number of alternative routes on the west side were considered, including regional services to Amersham and Watford in the north-west, Reading in the west. All have now been dropped in favour of the core proposal.