National Infrastructure Commission Chair calls for Crossrail 2 financial review to report back by end of the year

23 May 2018

Today the National Infrastructure Commission Chair Sir John Armitt called for the financial review of Crossrail 2 to report back by the end of the year.

In a speech to the UK Transport Infrastructure Summit, he said: “We want Government to ensure that the independent review of the funding and financing of Crossrail 2 is completed as soon as possible, with a view to setting out a firm timetable and funding proposal by the end of this year. The next stage of consultation should then follow to enable the introduction of a hybrid Bill later this Parliament, with the overall aim of opening Crossrail 2 in the early to mid-2030s.”

Responding to the speech, Darren Caplan, Chief Executive of the Railway Industry Association (RIA) said:

“We welcome National Infrastructure Commission Chair Sir John Armitt’s comments today calling for the independent financial review of Crossrail 2 to be completed by the end of the year.

“We urge the financial review to be undertaken as soon as possible, so the project can proceed on the originally planned timescale. Without doing so it will be more difficult to integrate Crossrail 2 with other projects like HS2, reducing the ability to manage congestion on the network.
 
“The railway industry stands ready to do its bit to help deliver Crossrail 2 which, along with other major projects like Crossrail, Northern Powerhouse Rail, HS2, and East-West Rail, is vital to UK plc, its economy and future connectivity.”

Notes to Editors

  1. Sir John Armitt's speech can be found here.
  2. About RIA: The Railway Industry Association (RIA) is the trade association for UK-based suppliers to the UK and world-wide railways. It has some 200 companies in membership, in a growing industry with the number of rail journeys expected to double over the next 25 years and freight set to grow significantly too. RIA’s membership is active across the whole of railway supply, covering a diverse range of products and services and including both multi-national companies and SMEs (60% by number). RIA works to promote the importance of the rail system to UK plc, to help export UK expertise around the globe and to share best practice and innovation across the industry.