Martin Linton

Labour Party | Battersea

Strategic Rail Plan

Column for the South London Press

SCOTTISH Nationalists were up in arms last week because they claimed too many of the schemes being funded out of the Government's £33½ billion's Strategic Rail Plan are in London. Rubbish.

The Transport Secretary Stephen Byers had to point out to them that 70% of rail journeys take place in London and the South East so it's hardly surprising that we get the lion's share of new investment.

In fact, as the only London MP to speak in the debate, I thanked him for the priority the Government is giving to vital new rail schemes such as Thameslink 2000, the East London Line extensions and the redevelopment of Clapham Junction Station.

Many of your readers will benefit from a new station at Camberwell, new tube links to Crystal Palace, Croydon and Wimbledon and lifts to allow passengers in wheelchairs, for the first time, access to the platforms at Clapham Junction.

South Londoners will also benefit from the proposed Wimbledon-Hackney tube line, formally launched by the Mayor this week under the name Crossrail 2, through it's still not certain it will go via Clapham Junction.

But frankly if there is anything to criticise in the Strategic Plan it's that it doesn't do enough for the long-suffering rail users of South London. Where's the commitment to run East London Line tubes along the South London Line to Clapham Junction? Why is there no cast-iron commitment to a London Orbital network? When will the South London Metro start?

It's true that all these schemes are in the Strategic Plan, but the money isn't committed and the timescale isn't firm. Why not? No scheme would make more difference more quickly more cheaply than linking the South London Line to the tube. One could go from Clapham Junction to Docklands in 20 minutes via Brixton and Peckham.

It's not happening because our lines are chockfull of freight that shouldn't be going through London at all. If it were road freight, we'd have stopped it long ago. We need to reclaim London's railways for the benefit for Londoners.