“Completing the East London line should be the number one priority for the Government and London’s Mayor. We desperately need it to improve public transport in East London and spread economic prosperity around London, rather than just concentrating it in the centre,” declared Jenny.
The East London Line is the first step in the idea of an orbital railway with a metro frequency of service, going through the poorest areas of London.
However, the Department of Transport has now ordered the East London line project team to save money by coming up with options for building the line in stages.
This means that the Hackney section between Dalston and Whitechapel may get built, but other sections going south across the river to both Clapham Junction and West Croydon, may face serious delays, especially if they lose the time limited planning powers which have been granted to them. The western extension to Highbury and Islington, is also under threat unless the Government puts more resources into the scheme.
“At the moment, London’s railways serve the interests of long distance commuters of Middle England whilst neglecting local people, especially in the poorer areas of London, who have often been bypassed by fast commuter services. Crossrail is incredibly expensive and mostly designed to move people as fast as possible between Docklands, the City and Heathrow,” explained Jenny.
"None of these new railway schemes in London are going to be built unless we stop wasting billions of pounds subsidising a complicated system of contractors and sub-contractors which has led to a rapid jump in costs since the industry was privatised.
We need to renationalise the railways and bring back some genuine democratic control. The London Mayor should be running the London end of the railway system and the East London Line should be the first scheme which gets funded and completed."
ENDS