Crossrail is set to be approved after an 18-year wait, but an upgrade of the Tube network may be sacrificed to pay for it. The Times
The government is preparing to announce that it will fund a third of the £16bn cost of the scheme, and passengers and businesses will contribute the other two-thirds.
The scheme, what would link Heathrow directly with the West End, the City and Docklands, would be the biggest expansion of the capital’s transport network for 40 years but could result in long delays to the plans to relieve congestion on London Underground.
The collapse in July of Metronet, which maintains nine of the 12 Tube lines, has left a £2bn deficit in the budget for upgrading the network.
Transport for London given the administrators a loan of £900m to keep work going until Christmas. It now fears that it will not be able to recoup this money from the government and much of the upgrade work, including plans for modernising more than 100 stations, will have to be cancelled or delayed.
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