ADD2870 International rail – strategic appraisal

1.1.    Mayoral Decision (MD) 3382 approved the establishment of the Upgrading London’s Infrastructure (ULI) programme and its associated delivery plan. This named the Assistant Director of Connectivity, Air Quality, Transport and Infrastructure as the approved Senior Responsible Owner.

1.2.    The ULI delivery plan aims to ensure that London has the energy, water, digital connectivity and data infrastructure in place to achieve the Mayor’s ambitious goals around net zero, climate resilience, housing delivery and economic growth. It has four project groupings:
•    enabling the new infrastructure needed for housing and productivity 
•    readying London’s infrastructure for the future 
•    reducing disruption caused by infrastructure delivery 
•    driving data innovation. 

1.3.    Assistant Director Decision (ADD) 2852 set out planned spending under these project groupings for financial year 2026-27. This ADD seeks to transfer £50,000 from the ULI programme to the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) for an appraisal of the potential for international rail growth. 

1.4.    This appraisal was recently completed by independent consultants commissioned by LLDC on the Greater London Authority’s (GLA) behalf – adding scope to an existing contract related to Stratford regional station. The GLA drafted the additional scope with the LLDC; and led on engagement with the consultants throughout this additional work. This ADD therefore also seeks to make a grant in accordance with Section 121 of the GLA Act 1999 to transfer £50,000 to reimburse the LLDC for the costs incurred.

1.5.    This commission will be funded by the ULI programme under the existing spending line ‘strengthening system-wide resilience’. This is because a major benefit of new international rail options would be providing additional resilience, should existing international rail stations or aviation services be disrupted.
 

2.1.    The commission sought to undertake a strategic options appraisal of international rail propositions. 

2.2.    Specifically, the expected outcome of the project was a better understanding of: 
•    which operating propositions are most commercially plausible
•    what scale of capital investment may be required
•    whether public-sector operating support or risk sharing may be needed
•    how costs could be recovered
•    what wider economic, social, regeneration and environmental benefits may arise
•    what actions, by the government and/or the Mayor, would be needed to progress the opportunity.
 

3.1.    Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, the Mayor and GLA must comply with the public sector equality duty (PSED) and must have due regard to the need to: 
•    eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the Equality Act 
•    advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not 
•    foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not.

3.2.    The protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, marriage and civil partnership (but only in respect of the requirements to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination), race (ethnic or national origins, colour or nationality), religion or belief (including lack of belief), sex, and sexual orientation.

3.3.    Consideration of the PSED is not a one-off task. The duty must be fulfilled before taking a decision, at the time of taking a decision, and after the decision has been taken, to ensure that equalities impacts are kept under ongoing review.

3.4.    The ULI delivery plan helps achieve several of the Mayor’s statutory equality objectives. Progress on delivery of these objectives is reported on each year in the Mayor’s Annual Equality Report.

3.5.    Securing international services at additional stations would provide greater choice to Londoners; and those travelling through or to London from the wider UK and abroad. For some people, other stations may offer improved accessibility compared to the current terminus at St Pancras – thereby increasing access to international rail travel.
 

Risks and issues

4.1.    The key risks and issues, and their mitigating actions, are outlined in the table below:

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

4.1.    The ULI delivery plan aims to ensure that London has the energy, water, digital connectivity and data infrastructure in place to achieve the Mayor’s ambitious goals around net zero, climate resilience, housing delivery and economic growth. This delivery plan includes action to maintain the LIF, which includes international rail as one of the 51 priority infrastructure projects for supporting London’s sustainable growth, prosperity and climate resilience.

4.2.    This initiative directly contributes to Policy 18 of the Mayor’s Transport Strategy, which states:
“The Mayor, through TfL and the boroughs, and working with stakeholders, will support improvements to public transport to enhance travel between London, the rest of the UK and international destinations, and will require regional, national and international transport schemes to be integrated into London’s public transport system wherever possible.”

4.3.    It will also contribute to delivering the Mayor’s London Environment Strategy, where policy 4.3.2 states:
“The Mayor will encourage the take up of ultra low and zero emission technologies to make sure London’s entire transport system is zero emission by 2050 to further reduce levels of pollution and achieve WHO air quality guidelines.”

4.4.    The London Growth Plan is London’s 10-year ambition for growth and the actions that will be delivered to make this happen. It is a shared document of the Mayor and London Councils. The London Growth Plan section on housing and infrastructure includes the following specific 10-year action:
“Grow international travel connections. Prioritise developing more international rail connections.”

Conflicts of interest

4.5.    There are no known conflicts to declare regarding those involved in the drafting or clearance of this form.
 

5.1.    Approval is sought for the transfer of £50,000 in revenue grant to the LLDC.

5.2.    This funding is part of project 1.1, ‘policy and regulatory engagement; and maintaining an up-to-date London Infrastructure Framework’, within the Upgrading London’s infrastructure programme. The proposed spending is financed by GLA resources, as agreed in the budget for this financial year.
 

6.1.    The project will be delivered according to the following timetable:

None.