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Why is TfL so hostile to a Crossrail station at LCY?

We'll pay for it ourselves, says chief executive but transport authority is offering 'mind-boggling resistance'. TfL says it has received no formal submission

Jon Massey

By Jon Massey

Written by Giles Broadbent for The Wharf

London City Airport has questioned why Transport for London is rebuffing its proposals to fund and build a Crossrail station at the Docklands hub.

The newly-named Elizabeth Line has stops at Custom House, to the north of Victoria Dock, and at Woolwich and it is carried in tunnels underneath the airport but the airport itself is not on the initial roster of stations.

royal-docks
London City Airport in Royal Docks

Chief executive Declan Collier told Construction News : “We have been proposing to the powers-that-be to build a Crossrail station here. We know we can deliver it but the amount of resistance we are getting to this completely self-funded project is mind-boggling.”

TfL denies that it is hostile to the idea.

Howard Smith, operations director for the Elizabeth line, said “We are always open to hearing feedback on the future Elizabeth line service. We have not had a formal feasibility study from London City Airport and we are focused on delivering the current project on time and to budget.”

Mr Collier said the station would generate the £3million a year operational costs and another station would add just under three minutes to overall journey times according to the airport’s calculations.

The airport is currently awaiting the outcome of its planning appeal against the decision to block its £300million expansion plans with the new Mayor, Sadiq Khan, more receptive to the idea than his predecessor.