The second leg of Crossrail will cost £32 billion ($48.6 billion) and could generate up to £102 billion ($155.1 billion) worth of benefits to the UK economy, according to research commissioned by project sponsors KPMG.
The project named Crossrail 2 will serve London, Hertfordshire and Surrey and provide capacity for an extra 270,000 people to get into central London during the morning peak. The research was conducted by KPMG or Transport for London and Network Rail as ammunition in lobbying the treasury ahead of the forthcoming spending review, NewsNow reported.
The report says that economic growth could be boosted right across the country and not just in London. In addition, the project would benefit the civil engineering sector during construction and beyond, and is also predicted to ease housing constraints on the economy, thereby increasing output.
Crossrail 2 will run underground through new 36km twin-bore tunnels between Wimbledon and Tottenham Hale and New Southgate, joining with the existing National Rail networks in Surrey and Hertfordshire.
As many as 11,800 more seats could be available on Network Rail services from Hampshire and Surrey into Waterloo during the peak, as well as those offered by Crossrail 2. Areas with significant growth potential include Cambridge, Stansted, Portsmouth, Basingstoke and Southampton, the report says.
Analysis based on the Crossrail supply chain shows that small and medium sized enterprises could benefit from more than £5 billion of spend and that Crossrail 2 could add over £1 billion to the West Midlands economy, over £200 million to the North East and up to £170 million to the Scottish economy.
Michele Dix, TfL’s managing director for Crossrail 2, said: “This report sets out what Crossrail 2 can deliver not just for London but for the rest of the southeast and the country as a whole. This transformative new railway will help drive growth in jobs and housing and add billions of pounds to the UK economy as well as providing much needed extra rail capacity to meet the needs of our rapidly growing population.”
Chris Curtis, Network Rail’s head of Crossrail 2, said: “This report highlights that Crossrail 2 is the best long term answer to meeting the growing demand for rail travel across the region. As well as opening up new regional connections across London, this new railway will deliver significant extra capacity for services into London Waterloo from Surrey, Hampshire and beyond and into London Liverpool Street from Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire supporting economic growth from the Solent all the way to the Wash.”
