Ealing + London-wide stories

Crossrail is vital but needs to learn lessons

The London Assembly Transport Committee has launched a new report, questioning the sums Londoners are paying for the Crossrail project, and criticising the way compulsory purchases of businesses and homes have been handled.

In the report, 'Light at the end of the tunnel', the Committee recognises the value of the £16bn rail link project, which will bring an extra 10% capacity on London’s overcrowded rail and Tube network, thousands of new jobs and a massive boost to the national economy.

However, it questions the fairness of Londoners contributing the majority of the funding, when 8 of the 37 stations are outside Greater London, and the project is expected to generate £22bn for central government over the next ten years. It also points out Crossrail's poor handling of displaced businesses and residents whose premises are compulsory purchased to make way for construction work, especially in Soho.

Video: monitoring the Crossrail project

From the site of the station redevelopment at Tottenham Court Road, Caroline Pidgeon explains how the London Assembly Transport Committee will be monitoring the Crossrail project to ensure it is on time, on budget and delivers the extra transport capacity that London urgently needs.

Keeping track of Crossrail

Caroline went on a site visit on Friday 18th December to look at works at Tottenham Court Road for Crossrail and the upgrade of the London Underground Station.

Caroline speaks to West London Line user group

Caroline Pidgeon AM, the Liberal Democrat Chair of the Transport Committee at City Hall, was one of the speakers at the West London Line Group’s recent event at West Brompton.

Caroline joined members of the rail user group including its Chair Mark Balaam for a tour of the station and a discussion about many of the ongoing issues the group are campaigning for.

“It was great to hear the history of this important railway line. It is very important that as part of the Sussex Rail Utilisation Strategy, this line is seen as a good way to help passengers to travel across the capital without having to go into the centre of London. It has huge potential and I hope the Government and Mayor of London consider many of the good ideas the West London Line Group are proposing” commented Caroline Pidgeon.

You can read more about the group at http://www.westlondonlinegroup.org.uk/index.htm.

Both the Tube and Crossrail are essential for London

On Friday 15th May, Caroline attended an event to witness the start of the construction of Crossrail with the Mayor of London and Prime Minister.

When it is completed in 2017, Crossrail will go from Maidenhead in the West through to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the East, taking in Heathrow, Paddington, Farringdon and Stratford in between. (You can see a map of the route here.)

Boris Johnson expresses interest in FastBus

Mayor of London Boris Johnson expressed interest in the proposed express bus service FastBus which would serve Wembley, Park Royal and Acton at a meeting this week at City Hall.

A delegation from Brent and Ealing put the case for case for FastBus to the Mayor at a meeting that came about following Boris Johnson’s promise to Caroline Pidgeon, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Transport Spokesperson, that he would listen to the arguments for FastBus at first hand from local representatives from Brent and Ealing. The promise by Boris Johnson to Caroline Pidgeon was made at a Mayor's Question Time in January.

Fastbus proposals will be heard by Boris Johnson

Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat Assembly Transport spokesperson, has secured an agreement from Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, that he will meet a delegation of representatives from Brent and Ealing to hear the arguments in favour of ‘Fastbus’, the express bus service which would serve Wembley, Park Royal and Acton.

Why don't Piccadilly Line trains stop throughout the day at Turnham Green?

Caroline Pidgeon, the Liberal Democrat transport spokesperson at the London Assembly, today presented the Mayor with a petition calling for Piccadilly Line tube trains to stop at Turnham Green station throughout the day, and not just at peak times.

Caroline says: “It’s totally unfair people living near Turnham Green can’t use the Piccadilly Line during the day. London is a modern, 21st century city and Londoners need a modern, 21st century underground service.”

By-election fever in London


Caroline has been out and about supporting excellent Lib Dem candidates in two important by-elections in London.

The first is for the Haverstock Council by-election in Camden, where a team from Southwark went to help Matt Sanders and the team recently.

And now, we have a parliamentary by-election in Ealing, where the Lib Dems are in a strong second place, with local candidate Nigel Bakhai standing for the seat.

Oyster passengers overcharged £500,000 a month

In an article for the Lib Dem Voice website, Caroline Pidgeon describes how anomalies in the Oyster card system result in Londoners being overcharged by £500,000 a month when they travel on National Rail services:

This week at City Hall I was accused by Boris Johnson of being a “negative Liberal Democrat” when I dared to question him over some of the problems that have happened as a result of the extension of Oyster Pay as You Go to national rail services across London.

Well I stand by my questioning of the Mayor as there is no doubt that a huge number of Londoners are not getting the best deal that Oyster could deliver. There are serious anomalies in how the system operates, and the full benefits of the technology are simply not being delivered. Most significantly many people using Oyster on the trains, whether they are Londoners or visitors, are being overcharged, sometimes by quite large amounts. This January alone it is estimated that 32,000 passengers were overcharged a total of half a million pounds.

Read the full article here.