Private investors are backing a new Crossrail-style high-speed line from Stansted to Brighton which could help unlock the delivery of 100,000 homes.
The ambitious proposals include a new rail line from Croydon to Stratford, E15, along with new stations at Lewisham and Canary Wharf.
It has been promoted by campaign group Brighton Mainline Line 2 since 2010, in conjunction with the reopening of a line lost in the 1960s north of Brighton, as a method of reducing congestion on one of the busiest sections of the UK’s rail network.
However, private investors are now backing the project, with sources claiming a price tag of around £15bn.
Transport secretary Chris Grayling said in the House of Commons he was “very open” to the plans.
“I’m waiting with interest to see as they come back with the first stage of work that they are doing.
“I’d be delighted to see this route reopened and I hope that the consortium that is pursuing this project proves to be successful in what they are trying to do.”
The project is unlikely to be a priority for government infrastructure, however.
New stations
A new subterranean station underneath Wellesley Road, Croydon, would enable trains coming from the south to travel under London to Stratford and then on to Stansted, Essex.
A north-south rail route between Canary Wharf, E14, and Stratford, E15 would include interchanges for Sussex and Kent commuters.
Gatwick Airport would be just four stops from Canary Wharf and the Isle of Dogs.
The four locations for proposed new stations are at the heart of Opportunity Areas, where planning policy encourages redevelopment and intensification of uses.
Combined, the draft London Plan envisages nearly 100,000 new homes and 190,000 new jobs across the four locations.
The private investor consortium said: “Over the past 12 months, the company set up to seriously advance BML2 has invested sizeable amounts of time and capital into the project and has brought together a wide spectrum of interested partners and professional services firms with the view of establishing an international project consortium.
“Our preliminary work has been focused on the conceptual viability of the project supported with a substantially new investment and financing structure that would remove both the project construction risk and the capital cost of the finished project from the government’s balance sheet.”
A feasibility study to establish the engineering requirements is anticipated to start during spring.
Land value uplift
The new line could bring huge uplifts in land values along the route, just as Crossrail has done.
House prices around Crossrail locations are set to rise by 16% between 2016 and 2020, compared with just 7% across greater London, according to JLL.
Emily Williams, research analyst at Savills, said: “In short, better connectivity in the form of new railway lines mean better PTAL ratings [a higher PTAL means more valuable development land]. Increased densities therefore follow.”
She added: “Even the draft London Plan suggest the capital should make the best use of land by directing growth towards the most accessible and well-connected places.
“Crucially, this includes both existing and future public transport networks.”
Will it happen?
Even with the benefit of sites having been earmarked and safeguarded for future construction and station sites, projects like this can take years – if not decades – to come to fruition, as evidenced by Crossrail.
And with little likelihood of government cash to spearhead BML2, significant funds from the private investors backing the project will be vital.
Why it’s needed
A campaign to bring the stretch of railway between Brighton and Uckfield back in to use has been around since 1987.
BML2 was formed in 2010 in recognition that a bigger project was needed for it to be realised.
The reopening of the line, with a tunnel under the South Downs National Park, would increase capacity from the south coast to London and enable commuters travel direct to Canary Wharf and Stratford, locations that have seen a huge increase in homes and jobs in recent years.
It would also relieve capacity issues around Victoria, SW1, and London Bridge, SE1.
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