The URI provided is dead. Should it have been  http://www.superlinklondon.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ ?

"Mr Livingstone has a great track record for wasting taxpayers money on crap transport programmes - lets look at the tram"

Yes, let's look at the tram. It's been a brilliant success, becoming the most used light rail system in the uk, with over 25 million journeys annually, several independant reports commenting on how it has had a major impact on the local economy, and was within a year of operation running at a profit, which, as far as most people are concerned, is a big success story.

The Mayor's plans to build a new tram line from Camden to Brixton via central London are ambitious and brilliant, and should be backed wholeheartedly by anbody who wants to see better public transport in London. I think Mr Livingstone is the only politican in the UK who has the guts to see in public transport programmes that are at odds with the mainstream political mantra and, for that, I have great respect for him.

If Mr Livingstone is seeking money for Crossrail from Londoner's through tax, then I see that as a fault of central government for repeatedly refusing to fund the project, claiming it is too expensive.

I think Crossrail IS vital, and should be supported, and instead of criticising the project itself, we should criticise the way it is financed, which, again, is no personal responsibility of Mr Livingstone, who campaigned for years to be allowed to raise money for TfL through bonds, before being rejected by both The Tories and New Labour.

With Boris Johnson now on the campaign trail, I think all Londoners who value their transport should rally to Mr Livingstone, who, despite his faults, has remained a politician who has always remained ahead of his contemporaries in transport and environmental policies, and, for that, I support him wholeheartedly. Anyone who claims London's transport has not improved markedly over the last seven years must be living in a different city from me.

Thought the links in the original post, once found, were informative. Thanks. It's great someone's explaining what's going on rather than going off on diversionary rants.

But I'm a bit confused by the tacit backing for Superlink, which appears from the way its website is cited and the fact it is quoted in at least one of the other linked pieces.

Seems a bit odd to post an article complaining about the burden of Crossrail on tax-payers... then plug a scheme that's going to be, erm, several billion pounds *more* expensive and which could result in commuters from further afield winning jobs from inner-city residents.

I am clearly not backing Superlink otherwise I might have known the proper website address.

 http://www.superlinklondon.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/

However having read some of their reports. I am pointing out that if successful railway planners, who have delivered successful railway projects such as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and the Eurotunnel are saying the scheme is rubbish while at the same time giving you the true costs of their schemes and the benefits without £400 million of taxpayers money - Why is a Select Committee, Government and Ken so ready to give taxpayers money away without the Crossrail scheme being subject to proper investigation? I wonder...

Hamish - There is no evidence that Crossrail is good for London - it is good for the City but oddly enough the City do not want to pay for a rail scheme that primarily benefits them. I wonder why? A financial millstone. Crossrail has been rightly described as a Millennium Dome but I think of it more as an Olympic size transport failure.
On Ken Livingstone - There is nothing brave about Ken Livingstone, he is nothing short of a gangster, who hides his racist policies by schmoozing the monied set of the groups his policies are against. Hamish, look at his track record on transport. Any man who brought in Bob Kiley has no transport vision unless it is a drunken vision. Ken just schmoozes people he is worried by and buys off those keen to sell their allegiances. I think that is called the Mafia.

By©Muhammad Haque
Organiser
Khoodeelaar!
The Brick Lane, Whitechapel, Bethnal green and Stepney London E1 Area campaign against the Crossrail hole scam scheme plot, project’ Bill [known as 'the Crossrail Bill' now in the UK House of Commons]
2040 Hrs GMT
London Tuesday 4 September 2007


The point of the campaign is that the 'Crossrail Bill' in its present form, is seriously flawed.

It is economically flawed.
It is fiscally flawed.
It is environmentally flawed.
It is ‘constitutionally’
It is socially flawed
It is undemocratically promoted

And this is the point that we have made in al our examination of all the reports that have been published so far by anyone that has been said to be addressing the transport needs of London.

Why not go back to the drawing board?

What is wrong with spending a coupe of gears going through a the pros and cons and then coming to a reasonable and agreed conclusion?

If spending more than 18 years on one or the other of the 'Crossrail' ‘scheme’ has been tolerated - with close to £1 Billion of public money already spent and or committed to the 'research' and the promotions- what kind of responsible decision will it be if it is made on such an uncertain ‘project’, uncertain in terms of the actual cost to the public and to the environment and uncertain as to the transport needs that it will actually meet.

The crisis in London transport is not MAINLY caused by the lack of capacity, although it is an important factor in the equation. The crisis, as we are witnessing today over the tube workers’ strike, is to do with the management and or the mismanagement of the relevant resources that are available.

Addressing the optimum use of available resource is as important as deciding on what infrastructure to install or to repair.

The current ‘Crossrail Bill’ ‘select committee’ of MPs has been a disgrace in that it has failed to hear the relevant economic, environment and social arguments.

That committee has et down the communities the implications of the CrossRail hoe plot as it affects the East End of London and the committee has behaved equally irrationally and unconstitutionally about objectors from areas like Mayfair in central London.

It is clear on the facts of the promotions that robotically triggered careerists little propagandists have been engaged by the promoters to mechanically support the CrossRail plot while ordinary, majority, sensible views about the pitfalls of the flawed project have been obstructed.

There is still time and opportunity to spare the public the waste of scarce ££ much more needed by the rest of the society.

In the meantime, with an open and honest examination of the transport needs of London will provide the scope for truthful and responsible decision-making which is what should have happened 20 years ago and has not happened.

What has happened is that parasite pluggers who have been dressed up as 'plausible by being presented as cong from some academic spots' have been dishonestly, routinely hauled in to appear on pro-Crossrail hole Bill scheme media slots organised under the influence of Ken Livingstone acting in league with Big Business - to parrot idiotic plugs for Crossrail while refusing to examine why successive dedicated 'inquiries' [of various lengths, remits and sizes] into transport and the UK economy have refused to endorse the sachem.


Like Rod Eddington
Like Myers
Like dozens of others.

No to Crossrail Bill demo outside East London Council 6.30 PM Tues 11 Sept 2007


at

Mulberry Place
5 Clove Crescent
London E14 2BG

"On Ken Livingstone ...he is nothing short of a gangster, who hides his racist policies"

Identify one rascist policy please...?

"Hamish, look at his track record on transport."

Overseen a massive £10 billion investment in the Tube, a complete overhaul of London's bus network, supports the tram line through central London, brought in the congestion charge, puts funding into encouraging cycling, has made London buses entirely disabled friendly and well beyond EU environmental recommendations, has made massive improvements to queue timings with the arrival of the Oyster, has given free bus travel to under 11s, slashed the bus fare to 90p, protected the Freedom Pass for London's elderly, has overseen the expansion of the DLR and the creation of London Overground, and ambitions new rail link around London. Not a bad track record on transport I'd say.

"Any man who brought in Bob Kiley has no transport vision"

Bob Kiley was perhaps the most successful transport consultant in the world, famously overseeing the revitalisation from ruin of the public transport systems in both Boston and New York. I'd say signing him on wasn't too stupid. In hindsight, of course, it is easy to say it was a waste of money, but at the time, that represented a great transport vision.

"Ken just schmoozes people he is worried by and buys off those keen to sell their allegiances. I think that is called the Mafia."

No, I think that is called politics. Name a single politician (ever) who has not done that?