Railways: Crossrail Debate

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Railways: Crossrail

Lord Bradshaw Excerpts
Wednesday 23rd June 2010

(14 years, 5 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Earl Attlee Portrait Earl Attlee
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My Lords, no decision has been made to reduce the scope of Crossrail. A key point of the Crossrail project is the length of the trains and of the platforms. To alter that would impact on the funding stream for the project.

Lord Bradshaw Portrait Lord Bradshaw
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I wonder whether the Minister will reflect a little more on the scope for reducing costs. We very much support the central area of Crossrail—and of Thameslink, which I used to call Thameslink 2000 and which the party opposite did very little to advance when they were in government. Will the Minister look very closely at the western extension to Crossrail? It does not provide an express service from Heathrow to the City, it does not do anything to ease overcrowding at Euston and it does not provide a satisfactory service to places such as Maidenhead, Reading and Oxford.

Earl Attlee Portrait Earl Attlee
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My Lords, the noble Lord has great experience in these matters and I will draw his comments to the attention of my ministerial colleagues.