Top engineers, consultants and contractors say second Crossrail needed to alleviate pressure on transport network

Planning for a second Crossrail project to connect north and south London must start urgently to keep the capital’s infrastructure fit for purpose throughout the next decade, a group of London businesses has said.

The report by a group including Arup, KPMG, CH2M Hill and Lend Lease, said that the line was needed to ease congestion from a growing population in the capital.

It proposed the new line would connect Clapham Junction, Victoria, Euston, Kings Cross St Pancras, Islington, Hackney and Seven Sisters.

Lord Adonis, chair of the work London First working group that wrote the report, said: “Infrastructure schemes have a lengthy planning cycle, so we need to start planning for Crossrail 2 now.  We must not repeat the mistake of Crossrail 1 and spend 40 years planning and generating support for a scheme needed within 20 years.”

The population of London is expected to grow by around 1.3m over the next twenty years, the report said.