Surrey Canal station will not be part of ELL2 opening

Mark from the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group has been in touch concerning the proposed station at Surrey Canal on the Clapham Junction extension of the East London Line, due to open in 2012.

During yesterday's meeting of the London Assembly Transport Committee, Geoff Hobbs, Head of Strategy of London Rail explained that the project has now gone beyond the point at which Surrey Canal could be completed in time for the line's opening in two years and that they had not had any indication from the DfT that the required £7m would be forthcoming. In response to a question by the LibDems' Caroline Pidgeon, he said:

"We've heard absolutely nothing from them and in the mean time, the project has to push on in terms of its detailed design, with just the passive provision of the station.

"We can always add the station later."

They also discussed the possibility of a station at Brixton, which they said would cost about £40m, making it a poor proposition in terms of value for money, although they acknowledged that it would be a "key traffic generator" (ie: useful and popular).