Scheduled works to the London to Brighton mainline railway network could be scrapped due to budget cutbacks caused by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The work, based outside Croydon and involving the rebuilding of East Croydon station, matters to the city as its improvement was expected to see the punctuality and efficiency of commuter travel between the two cities improve, with it currently sitting as one of the lowest time abiding journeys for any major route.
The CARS or Croydon Area Remodelling Scheme would have seen the multi million-pound transformation of the ‘Selhurst Triangle’, which has been blighted by a series of issues regarding fly overs and fly unders than contribute to rail congestion and restricted flow into the main city lines.
Even the most minor delay is said to have a major time impact due to the backlog it can create for many different trains.
Under these proposals, East Croydon was due to see a widened concourse that permitted two extra platforms to better accommodate the large-scale volume of travel, with local Norwood Junction also receiving an upgrade.
The plans did benefit from cross-party support, however following a revision of priorities by the Department of Transport in order to cut infrastructure spending, the focus has been revisited as focus shifts by the Conservative government onto the north of England in an attempt to fix deprived areas and increased political support.
It is believed that the Brighton mainline project has been pushed back out of many other bids due to the facts that the benefits of this work will not be felt for a long time and the priority is on focusing on fixes that give immediate or short-term benefits.
The budget was originally £10.4 billion for the five year period between 2019-2024, however £1 billion has been taken off in order to allocate to more necessary government spending proposals.
Photo Credit: Jake Weirick
