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Thu March 28 2024

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Crossrail 2 costed at £27bn

28 Nov 14 An independent study into the likely costs of building Crossrail 2 has come up with a figure of approximately £27.5bn.

The figure includes what is labelled an ‘optimism bias’ of £11m.

The biggest construction costs are £5.7bn for building stations, £2.6bnb for surface works and £2.3bn for tunnelling.

Whereas Crossrail 1 runs east-west under the centre of London, Crossrail 2 would run north-south. The central core would run from New Southgate to Wimbledon, via Euston St Pancras and Victoria, enabling through trains from Surrey to Hertfordshire.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) was commissioned to set out funding and financing options by a steering committee that includes representatives from Transport for London, the Department for Transport (DfT), HM Treasury (HMT), Infrastructure UK (IUK) and Network Rail.

The report sets out a number of options, which draw on funding mechanisms currently being used for Crossrail 1. These include paying back investment through a combination of revenue generated through fares, continuations of the business rate supplement and mayoral community infrastructure levy (CIL) currently being used to fund Crossrail 1, and other measures.

The report also looks at options that could see funding raised through existing mechanisms such as retaining the council tax contribution arrangements that were introduced to help fund the 2012 Olympic Games as well as potentially increasing the mayoral CIL. Funding from property related developments and from land owners adjacent to the line could also be part of the mix of contributions. The report shows that more than half of the costs of the scheme could be met by London using existing funding mechanisms.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: “London's population is growing rapidly and with more people travelling in our city than ever before it's vital that we deliver extra rail capacity to support future growth. Crossrail 2 is an essential infrastructure project and this report shows the range of financing initiatives we could employ to get it moving. We'll now be discussing those financing options closely with London's boroughs, business groups and other key players who have a stake in getting behind Crossrail 2.”

Chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne said: “Our long term economic plan for London involves preparing now for the infrastructure our capital might need in the future. That's why I've said we should look at the case for Crossrail 2. This PwC report is a useful contribution to that work.”

Michèle Dix, TfL's managing director for planning, said: “Crossrail 2 is vital to support future growth in the capital and across the UK. We will continue to work with Network Rail to develop the plans including further assessment of financing and funding options.”

The aim is for Crossrail 2 to be operational by 2030.

The full PwC report is available at www.crossrail2.co.uk

Capital expenditure for Crossrail 2

Cost category

Regional

(real, 2014/15)

Metro

(real, 2015/15)

Land & property

£1,164m

£1,069m

Tunnel

£2,299m

£1,826m

Stations

£5,664m

£5,323m

Systems

£1,430m

£1,153m

Surface works

£2,617m

£1,760m

Indirects

£2,071m

£1,760m

Rolling stock

£1,352m

£712m

Optimism bias

£10,947m

£8,133m

Total

£27,544m

£20,466m

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