•            London’s first through mainline east-west railway, with 40 stations from Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east to Reading and Heathrow airport in the west, to complement the more ad hoc 68-station north-south Thameslink line from Bedford to Brighton that opened in 1988 and is now being upgraded.

•            Europe’s largest infrastructure project of the moment, involving construction of 21 kilometres of twin-bore tunnels through central London, 10 new stations, and excavation and removal of 4.5 million tonnes of material. Tunnelling is due for completion in 2015.

•            Seven new mainline underground railway stations in central London, at Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street, Whitechapel and Canary Wharf. The Crossrail/Thameslink interchange will be at Farringdon.

•            Associated real estate development and refurbishment schemes acro