Is BML2 going to avoid East Croydon?
East Croydon has been described as a ‘bottleneck’ and a ‘major barrier to growth’ by Network Rail. That is why the project originally proposed routing some services to London via a reopened railway between Selsdon and Elmers End.

Instead, the international investors backing BML2 are prepared to invest millions in building a far better railway for London and the South East. This will be a completely new tunnelled line between Croydon and Stratford for direct fast services.

The tunnel is proposed to commence south of Croydon with a new subsurface station serving East Croydon. From here the next stop will be Lewisham. Here, BML2 will be able to link up with North Kent services, the forthcoming extension of the Bakerloo tube, as well as links to the Tonbridge main line. The next stop will be Canary Wharf for Crossrail services east and west, as well as the Jubilee line. After this comes Stratford, for Crossrail services and access to HS1. Further enhancements and proposals are currently being developed.

Will there still be trains into central London?
Of course, we do not propose taking any services away, but increasing the number of trains into London through making new travel opportunities available.

Why Canary Wharf?
Once Thameslink has been completed there will be no more train paths available into London Bridge. Network Rail will attempt operating 24 trains per hour through Blackfriars and Farringdon, that’s one every 150 seconds, but this depends on precision timing with no delays having a knock-on effect. Serious doubts as to whether this can be achieved, even with new digital signalling systems, have been expressed.

Some truly immense benefits come with a new railway across the eastern Thames connecting Croydon and Lewisham with Canary Wharf and Stratford. Terminating services in London take up space and capacity so it’s better to go through the capital – which was the basis for developing Thameslink over thirty years ago.

Canary Wharf is already a key destination for commuters and with Crossrail will become even more significant. Many thousands of people could be spared the wasted time, frustration, cost and so on of needlessly travelling right into London and back out again to Canary Wharf. The cost/benefit ratio would be impressive.

What is ‘Stanwick’?
A key benefit of BML2’s London Phase is physically joining London’s Stansted and Gatwick airports with one continuous railway which could operate a dedicated shuttle service.

This could operate as Gatwick – Canary Wharf – Stratford – Stansted. There would still be airport services into central London as now, but BML2’s additional services would boost the capital’s international connections in a huge way.