He knows that the Blue Wall is at risk.....
Of course he inherited it like he inherited Crossrail OneYou mean, like HS2, which Boris talked about a lot...?
Levelling up was only important when the main battleground was the Red Wall. The focus is now turning to defending seats in the South. Chesham and Amersham anyone?
and Boris Bikes, [and Thameslink?].Of course he inherited it [hs2] like he inherited Crossrail One
Absolutely.
CR2 might be inevitable but it could well not be started until HS2 is finished - ie well into the 2050s. That is it needs to take its natural turn in the funding of transport projects, and currently the availability funding is concentrated on HS2 and other parts of the Integrated Rail Plan through to the 2040s.
I dont think Crossrail 2 is a political battleground that will change electoral fortunes. No political party could genuinely commit to funding it right now. Positive words don't cost money. Construction projects do. If work starts in the 2050s, Crossrail 2 will be irrelevant to almost all of the current workforce.
CR2 is one of the only serious rail plans that I think is a stupid idea. It tries to do too many things at once and does none of them properly. What is it for, fundamentally?
Providing more capacity for services in South West London than can be accommodated at Waterloo and diverting custom from the Northern and Victoria lines, all of which had overcrowding issues.
Yes, and it does neither of those very well. There will need to be a significant level of service into Waterloo as well as to CR2 as many passengers want to go to the City/Docklands, as going via Tottenham Court Road and changing to Crossrail will overload that. I've always thought that was a major failing.
It's not a confirmed route yet, there's still quite a few decisions still to be made.
It's not inevitable - much depends on the long-term travel patterns once COVID and Brexit have bed in, but this may yet not become clear for many years. However, I do think it will be built as it's the only realistic way to release a sizeable amount of platform capacity at Waterloo.
Work is continuing on a strategic level.
There isn't really one, it's the only remaining corridor to fit in an underground railway in London. I suppose Plan B would be something like Hover Pods or similar.
In what sense? It has been designed to pretty much every detail. Obviously that can change but that would add years to the process (not that it is very likely)
You can’t be serious. 200mph won’t get rid of him anywhere near fast enough for Uxbridge and certainly not Chequers. It must be built for at least 300mph if not 400mph. I’m assuming it would also be more comfortable and quieter than the Hover Pods"BorisRail". Picturing a 200mph express underground line from Uxbridge to central London, guaranteeing that he holds the seat. Or, he could start it back from Chequers, which is in the same general geographical area, with one stop at Uxbridge. His compartment would of course be segregated from the general oiks.
Uxbridge is hardly the safest of seats...
I agree with both of those. Although I'd like to see CR2 make progress (living in Wimbledon), I can see that post-pandemic commuter patterns are going to have to settle first, to see what long-term impact there is on demand - and the extent to which the pre-pandemic overcrowding in the peaks remains a problem once the 701s are in service (whenever that is).
I suspect doing it with crossrail/thameslink will be slower than getting a fast train to paddington, using the Circle/H&S line to cross London and then getting a fast train to Cambridge.
