Examination of Witnesses (Questions 5500
- 5519)
5500. Ms Lieven: I do not understand
that to be the case. It has always been the case that it would
go to Shenfield. There have been consultations which have put
different ideas forward but the scheme has always been to go to
Shenfield.
5501. Mr Hollobone: With regard to Romford,
I do not understand the technical point about why it would not
be possible to have the terminus at Romford.
5502. Ms Lieven: The point at Romford
that was being raised by Mr Cork was about the Romford depot.
There are particular issues about the Romford depot that I do
not wish to discuss today. It is to be dealt with after Easter
and it is to be the subject of further discussion.
5503. So far as stopping at Romford is concerned,
first of all, there was the operational problem that I have already
touched on. If we look at the map of the north east route, there
is Stratford, so the central section is here, to the left.[16]
If you stop at Romford, there is a problem about the stations
between Romford and Shenfield—Gidea Park, Harold Wood, Brentwood.
These stations do not have fast services so they would have to
be served by some form of residual service to pick those people
up. Crossrail, as I explained, on the north east section takes
over the E lines, the slow lines. There is a small amount of residual
service but it is very minimal on those lines. If you had to pick
up people from these stations up to Shenfield, the intermediate
stations, there would have to be a further residual service which
would serve in peak times or those people would be very severely
disadvantaged by Crossrail. That service would then also have
to run on the E lines. Mr Berryman can explain to you that effectively
there is not the capacity on those lines to do that and operationally
you are going to end up in a position where you severely compromise
the efficient operation of Crossrail.
5504. You also have the problem that if there
is a peak level residual service serving these stations one has
to run all the way into Liverpool Street and the benefits at Liverpool
Street in terms of freeing up capacity are completely lost. It
just does not make sense in transport planning terms. Mr Berryman
can explain that much better than I have but that is the essence
of it.
5505. The other problem with Romford specifically
is that as we explain in A7, which deals with the issue of selection
of the north east terminus, terminating at Romford would require
extensive station and track reconstruction to allow Crossrail
to terminate.[17]
The existing Romford Station has five platforms with four located
on the main running lines and two additional terminating platforms
would be needed to accommodate Crossrail. You would be doing significantly
greater works at Romford than you are at Shenfield. To achieve
that solution, Romford Station would have to be substantially
rebuilt as there is little space for new platforms at the existing
site. I do not know whether any of the Committee know Romford
Station but it is right in the town centre. Romford is a much
bigger town centre than Shenfield. It was certainly our view that
substantial demolition would be required if the terminus was to
be built. That would have very significant impacts and we would
not be able to justify doing it in terms of train operation.
5506. Mr Berryman will explain it far better
than I, but my understanding is that it would be an unacceptably
adverse impact for relatively little benefit.
5507. Kelvin Hopkins: Have termini to
the east of Shenfield, beyond Shenfield, been considered at any
time?
5508. Ms Lieven: They have. A1 deals
with that. The Committee may remember A1 deals with the much wider
eastern route selection options, running, for instance, way out
to places on the Tilbury line and much further east. A7 deals
with other eastern termini specifically. "A Crossrail option
was examined that involved operating over Great Eastern Lines
through a range of locations in Essex and Suffolk, including Southend,
Victoria, Colchester and Ipswich. Such a Crossrail service would
have replaced a range of Great Eastern services that currently
operate into Liverpool Street and would have operated non-stop
between Stratford and Shenfield. Analysis of this option raised
a number of serious concerns particularly on operational reliability."
I am sure you will understand that the further out you get and
the more you have to inter-run with other services, the more you
compromise the efficiency of the Crossrail operation. Running
to Southend and Ipswich would have those kinds of significant
problems.
5509. Kelvin Hopkins: I was thinking
more in terms of the smaller stations which might have provided
suitable termini just beyond Shenfield.
5510. Ms Lieven: The difficulty is that
Shenfield is the point at which the Ipswich/Norwich line goes
off to the north east and the Southend line goes down to the south
east. Beyond Shenfield to the east, what had been a four track
line becomes a two track line. That is the ultimate problem because
you would either have to build two extra lines the whole way along
or you would have inter-running between the fast Intercity services
and Crossrail.
5511. Kelvin Hopkins: You have answered
my question. Thank you.
Mr Damien Welfare appeared on behalf of the
Petitioners.
The Petition of Derek Hurst.
The Petition of Elizabeth Jane Young.
The Petition of Roy and Dorothy Wise.
The Petition of Jean and Frank Austin.
The Petition of Steven Abbott.
The Petition of Michael and Janet Kingshott.
The Petition of Owen Southcott.
The Petition of Robert and Pamela Bangert.
The Petition of Diane and Dave Dunsdon.
The Petition of Phil and Karen Davies.
The Petition of Doreen Headon.
The Petition of Peter and Queenie Cross.
The Petition of William and Colina Watt.
The Petition of Ian and Doreen Marshall.
The Petition of Peter and Marjorie Best.
The Petition of Mrs A Gibbons.
The Petition of Mrs K J C Tattersall.
The Petition of Nicola and Chris Ashton.
The Petition of Jan and Michael Pointer.
The Petition of Hutton Mount Association.
The Petition of Michael and Maureen Ross.
The Petition of Brentwood Chamber of Commerce.
The Petition of Daniel and Gillian Heartshorne.
The Petition of John and Deborah Whitfield.
5512. Mr Welfare: I represent those residents
of the Brentwood area who wish to be represented this morning
by someone on their behalf. You have heard from a number of individual
residents and I believe you have some more to hear after me. You
should have a summary of issues which I have circulated.
5513. Mr Liddell-Grainger: A64.[18]
5514. Mr Welfare: What that consists
of is a series of short summaries or bullet points by those residents
whom I represent at pages 1-25 and on the back of it are pages
26 and 27, a short summary that I have prepared grouping the issues
and indicating where those issues are to be found within the separate
representations. I hope they may be of assistance to the Committee.
5515. What I propose to do is briefly to talk
about those headings, looking therefore across the issues that
have been raised, to describe those key issues and also briefly
to go through the summaries that the petitioners have provided.
5516. Sir, you will have heard this morning
already some very eloquent expressions of view on behalf of the
individual residents who have appeared. It may well be the case
that they have made a number of points which I am now going to
make too, although I hope not to exhaustion.
5517. Mr Liddell-Grainger: If you repeat
yourself, I will stop you. If you could try to avoid that, it
would be helpful.
5518. Mr Welfare: Of course. There are
very strong feelings and fears amongst residents in this area.
Mr Hollobone's question particularly reflected that just now to
my learned friend. I represent 23 residents and two organisations
in the area, of whom 18 residents live in close proximity to Shenfield
Station. It is essentially around Shenfield Station that we are
concerned. We have just been discussing and hearing about the
issue of the terminus at the east end. I should mention that a
fair number of the residents that I represent are elderly. There
has been quite a lot of discussion about travel into London. It
is undoubtedly the case that this is a commuter area, and we will
hear more about those who use the trains as commuters from this
area. One of its attractions is undoubtedly the non-stop service
into central London that can be travelled across very quickly
from Shenfield.
5519. That fact is also that there are some
very elderly people in the immediate vicinity of the station,
and as I think the Committed has recognised there are some particular
concerns and fears—very strong concerns and fears—in
this area that may not be shared elsewhere and which, I would
submit to you, invite your inquiry as to what is happening in
this area and whether it is justified.
16 Crossrail Environmental Statement-Overview of
Crossrail Works in the North Eastern Section Route (LINEWD-ES13-003) Back
17
Crossrail Ref: P3, Information Paper A7-Implications of Terminating
Crossrail at Stratford (LINEWD-IPA7-001). Back
18
Committee Ref: A64, Brentwood Petitioners-Summary of Issues
(SCN-200603028-001 to 004). Back
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