黑洞社区

Plans for London鈥檚 拢20bn Crossrail 2 line are set to get a funding boost from the government in chancellor George Osborne鈥檚 emergency Budget next week, 黑洞社区 has learned.

It is understood Osborne will announce more than 拢100m of funding to help work up plans for the south-west to north-east line, which will be built after the under-construction first Crossrail line linking north-west and south-east London.

A source close to Crosssrail told 黑洞社区: 鈥淭here is likely to be some seed corn money in the Budget - and it will not be an insignificant number, probably north of 拢100m, just to keep the project moving. The consultation is done, this will help get it through to planning.鈥�

Consultants recently submitted a report to Transport for London justifying the 拢20bn cost, most of which will be spent on 36km of new track for the scheme. A source who has seen the report said: 鈥淭here鈥檚 significant benefit in terms of this project helping [transport] with the future growth of London.鈥�

A spokesperson for the Treasury declined to comment on the potential Crossrail 2 funding when contacted by 黑洞社区.

Construction on the scheme is planned to start from 2020, and the line could open as early as 2030.

In December last year, a public consultation on Crossrail 2 found that 95% of the 14,000 respondents are in favour of the project, while it is estimated that the new line could add 10% to London鈥檚 transport capacity.

A detailed public consultation on the route is set to take place later this year.

Speaking in March, transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin said Crossrail 2 鈥渉as the potential to improve connectivity, increase capacity and generate tens of thousands of jobs鈥�.

The first Crossrail is currently under construction and is due to open in 2018, bringing an extra 1.5 million people within 45 minutes of central London.