Cross London Rail Links Limited (CLRL) today announced that it had concluded that, to ensure delivery of a fast and frequent service on the Crossrail route, trains should terminate at Abbey Wood on its South Eastern Section.
The company has therefore asked the Secretary of State for Transport to include powers for the route as far as Abbey Wood in his proposed hybrid Bill.
The proposed route announced in July envisaged that 4 trains of the 24 trains per hour which travel through the central tunnel would travel on past Abbey Wood to Ebbsfleet. 2 of these would have been substitutes for existing services, and 2 would have been additional.
Following a careful review, CLRL concluded that the risk of delay caused by Crossrail trains having to interleave with North Kent line services and the subsequent disruption to Crossrail's high frequency service pattern was unacceptable.
A new cross platform interchange will be built at Abbey Wood to ensure smooth connection for passengers wishing to travel to and from North Kent. There will be a maximum 5 minute wait at Abbey Wood for a Crossrail train during peak hours.
At the moment, typical journey times from North Kent to Central London are around an hour. Crossrail will cut these journey times by around a third. The journey to Heathrow, currently over one and a half hours, will be cut by up to a quarter.
Norman Haste, Cross London Rail Link's Chief Executive, said: 'Having looked at all the alternatives, we are clear that this is the best way of ensuring efficient running of the Crossrail service.Connecting at Abbey Wood for a Crossrail train will be quick and easy and give Thames Gateway commuters a much quicker journey to central London and beyond, including London Heathrow. We can all look forward to completing the direct link to Ebbsfleet once the technical problems of using the lines beyond Abbey Wood have been overcome. This would not mean a fresh hybrid bill and could be undertaken with a much simpler Transport and Works Act Order.'
Mr Haste added: 'In this light we welcome the Secretary of State's view that it may well be appropriate to put in place safeguarding arrangements for the route from Abbey Wood to Ebbsfleet. We look forward to a further announcement once he has considered the consultation responses after the consultation period has ended on 25 November.'
More information on Crossrail is available from its 24-hours, 7-days a week helpline on 0845 602 3813 and or via helpdesk@crossrail.co.uk. Background information on the scheme is also available at www.crossrail.co.uk. Information about Crossrail is available in other languages including Bengali, Chinese (Traditional), Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi, Somali, Turkish, Urdu, Arabic and Vietnamese. It is also available in Braille, large print version or audio.
Ends
Issued 24 November 2004
