Examination of Witnesses (Questions 40
- 59)
40. Although the increase in demand, which the
table shows, will in part be met by additional capacity on the
underground and Network Rail networks, future levels of overcrowding
will exceed those experienced today, particularly within Central
London and the underground network, again, as your Lordships will
be well aware, suffers from overcrowding on a daily basis.
41. As you have seen from the table, Crossrail
will play a significant role in reducing levels of overcrowding.
The figures you see here and the figures I have just mentioned,
of course, are just the headline figures. Other sections of the
tube which are not classed as overcrowded but which are busy with
at least 80 per cent of capacity used will also experience major
reductions in passenger flows as a result of the benefits of Crossrail.
42. Crossrail will take trains out of Paddington
and Liverpool Street reducing congestion within those busy stations.
The freeing up of platforms also creates the potential for additional
services to other areas subject to investment as necessary in
additional network capacity.
43. The focus is on achieving good reliability
generally on the network and not just for Crossrail services.
In addition to providing relief from overcrowding, Crossrail will
also provide significant savings on journey times. Again, a table
is put up just to give your Lordships a feel for the sort of savings
that Crossrail will bring.[12]
Take, for example, Abbey Wood to the Isle of Dogs, before Crossrail
a 30-minute journey; Crossrail will save approximately 21 minutes
from that journey, reducing the overall journey to nine minutes
rather than 30.
44. In short, my Lords and Lady, London and
the South East cannot afford for Crossrail not to happen. The
Mayor's London Plan identifies it as critical to supporting the
growth of the financial and business services sector in Central
London and the Isle of Dogs.
45. In terms of regeneration, Crossrail will
support national policy objectives aimed at reducing social exclusion
and bringing about regeneration. It will directly serve the Thames
Gateway, a national and regional priority for regeneration and
growth. Growth in the area can only be realised if there are substantial
improvements to the transport system.
46. Turning then to the scheme, Crossrail achieves
the benefits of adding to the tube network and increasing the
commuter capacity of the suburban rail network but without overloading
the London terminals. It is different from any other railway in
London, save for Thameslink. The RER in Paris is a good example
of a similar solution bringing passengers into and through the
heart of a capital city.
47. My Lords, before I hand over to the Ms Lieven
for the next section, can I draw to your Lordships' attention,
we have made available to your Lordships, and you may find this
helpful, the Quick Guide to Crossrail which contains the overall
route map in rather more legible format than the Powerpoint slides
and some of the basic details which will give you rapid overview
of the project. Ms Lieven is now going to take you through a slightly
more detailed account of the elements of the projects.
48. MS LIEVEN: My Lords, my Lady, I am
going to take you through the various route sections starting
with the central section running between the portals at Paddington
to the west, Pudding Mill Lane and just east of the Isle of Dogs
on the east side. The central section of the route represents
the largest engineering component of the project.[13]
If we just turn to the tunnels, the route, this central section
comprises 6m diameter twin-bore tunnels running under central
London which connects the railways from east to west. We have
put up a slide to show the largest scale of the Crossrail tunnels
as compared to something like the Jubilee Line extension tunnels
at the moment.[14]
49. New Crossrail central section stations,
and I hope the Committee can see on the screens in front of you
reasonably clearly, will be provided at Paddington, Bond Street,
Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street, Whitechapel
and the Isle of Dogs, all deep-level underground stations. The
tunnels will be generally at a depth of between 20m and 40m, and
at a point beneath Stepney Green, which lies to the east of Whitechapel,
the tunnels will divide with the northeast section going up to
the Pudding Mill Lane portal and on to Shenfield, and the southeast
section going down to Abbey Wood, and I will turn to those two
sections in a moment.
50. With the exception of Whitechapel, all the
central section stations have two entrances and ticket halls to
provide access at both the eastern and western ends of the stations.
We have put up what is called an axonometric to show you one illustrative
position of a station.[15]
You can see the two Crossrail tunnels with cross tunnels going
between them, between the platforms, and then a central escalator
rises up to a ticket hall above. We will be looking at those in
more detail where there are particular petitions around a particular
station.
51. At the east and west ends of the central
section we have the portals. This is a computer-generated image
of the western portal at Westbourne Park, west of Paddington.[16]
There will be eastern portals at Pudding Mill Lane on the southeast
route to the east of the Isle of Dogs.
52. At particular locations along the railway
there are shafts connecting the tunnels with the surface that
provide both emergency access and ventilation, depending on the
particular shafts. Some of these shafts are incorporated within
the new stations and some of them, such as for example the one
at Park Lane, are freestanding structures which are simply these
emergency and ventilation shafts. The central section tunnels
will be excavated using tunnel-boring machines which we are about
to show a slide of, and which Professor Mair, who is going to
give the settlement presentation tomorrow, will explain to you
in more detail.[17]
53. I turn then to the western section of the
route which runs between Maidenhead in the west and the Westbourne
Park portal just outside Paddington.[18]
On this side the tracks run from Maidenhead to what is called
Portobello Junction at Westbourne Park; and there is a branch
at Stockley Junction which runs down to Heathrow where I am indicating.
54. The western section of the route mainly
uses the existing Great Western relief lines, as the pair of slow
lines are called on the main line. Crossrail however will require
the addition of new track or track alignment at some locations.
For example, a new line is to be constructed over about 1km between
Langley and West Drayton in order to ease the operation of freight
services on that part of the route and to increase the overall
track capacity to enable the planned Crossrail services to run.
55. In addition to the new elements I have already
mentioned, Crossrail's major new structures and facilities along
the western section include a new rail underpass at Acton in order
to avoid conflicts between Crossrail and freight trains, and new
or remodelled sidings at three locations. The project also requires
platform extensions or new platforms in order to accommodate Crossrail's
200m long trains. At nine stations on the western section improved
facilities, including new or modified ticket halls, will be provided
to accommodate the increased number of passengers from Crossrail.
56. There will also be a new depot on the line
at Old Oak Common with stabling for trains, and a major new electrification
west from Stockley Junction, because east of Stockley Junction
has already been electrified. West of Stockley Junction the route
will be electrified to Maidenhead.
57. I turn then to the northeastern section
which runs from the Pudding Mill Lane portal up to Shenfield.[19]
The trains on this line will run on the existing electric suburban
tracks of the Great Eastern line. There will be little new rail
alignment on this section of the route, although there is some
new track for a freight loop between Goodmayes and Chadwell Heath,
again to facilitate freight and to replace an existing loop at
Manor Park.
58. Again, similarly to the west, Crossrail
will require station platform extensions or, in some places, new
platforms to accommodate the longer trains. There will be new
or remodelled sidings at Ilford, Gidea Park and Shenfield. Also
an existing depot at Clacton is to be reopened in order to allow
us to commission the trains before the full operation commences,
and this is not on the map.
59. On the final route map the southeastern
section runs from a point to the east of the Isle of Dogs, down
to Custom House, under the Thames, through Woolwich and to Abbey
Wood.[20]
Crossrail will operate underground in the twin-bore tunnels in
a section between the Isle of Dogs and the Victoria Dock portal,
at which point the line emerges, and this is a slightly unusual
section of the line, and operates at surface level. Crossrail
will serve a new remodelled station at Custom House which serves
the ExCel Exhibition Centre and the route will follow the existing
alignment previously used by the North London Line. Some members
of the Committee may know that the easternmost section of the
North London Line has recently been closed. It runs through a
refurbished Connaught Tunnel to Silvertown, and at that point
descends down a ramp under the river to Woolwich, and comes out
again at the Plumstead portal east of Woolwich.
12 Crossrail Ref: P1, Illustrative Journey Times and
Time Savings with Crossrail (in minutes) (LINEWD-OPN1-009) Back
13
Crossrail Ref: P1, Crossrail Line 1-Central Route (LINEWD-OPN1-010) Back
14
Crossrail Ref: P1, Crossrail tunnel compared to Jubilee Line
extension tunnel (LINEWD-OPN1-011) Back
15
Crossrail Ref: P1, Bond Street-3d Axonometric View-Eastern Ticket
Hall (LINEWD-OPN1-012) Back
16
Crossrail Ref: P1, Computer-generated image of the western portal
at Westbourne Park (LINEWD-OPN1-013) Back
17
Crossrail Ref: P1, Tunnel-boring machine (LINEWD-OPN1-014) Back
18
Crossrail Ref: P1, Crossrail Line 1-Western Route (LINEWD-OPN1-015) Back
19
Crossrail Ref: P1, Crossrail Line 1-Northeastern Route (LINEWD-OPN1-016) Back
20
Crossrail Ref: P1, Crossrail Line 1-Southeastern Route (LINEWD-OPN1-017) Back
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