Extend Elizabeth Line to Kent for commuters and Paris high-speed trains, say MPs

The Elizabeth line should be extended into Kent, providing a direct link for commuters to the City and Heathrow Airport, some MPs have said.

Labour's Daniel Francis and Jim Dickson have urged ministers to look into expanding the service from its current southern terminus at Abbey Wood to Ebbsfleet, which could connect with high-speed trains to Dover, Margate, Paris, and Brussels.

The call was made during a debate in Westminster Hall on Tuesday, November 12, where it was highlighted that the railway, opened in May 2022 as Crossrail, saw 210 million passenger journeys in 2023/24.

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Transport for London (TfL) has credited the line with spurring the development of 55,000 new homes along its route through Berkshire, London, and Essex.

"There remains a strong case to extend the Elizabeth line to Ebbsfleet in order to serve residents in the thousands of new homes built there, in order to interchange with high-speed services and hopefully in the future with reinstated services to mainland Europe," said Mr Francis.

Land still safeguarded for expansion

Initial plans for Crossrail from 2003 included stops at Dartford and Ebbsfleet in Kent, and according to transport minister Simon Lightwood, land is still safeguarded for potential expansion.

Mr Francis, MP for Bexleyheath and Crayford, said: "The case for such investment is considered to be stronger than ever in the context of housing and economic development imperatives."

He vowed to continue “to call for this extension to be delivered in the years ahead”.

Dartford MP Mr Dickson urged the Government to “look at how we can get on and finish the Elizabeth line as it was originally intended, growing the economy, boosting productivity and improving lives across our region”.

Responding, Mr Lightwood told MPs “there are currently no plans to extend the line from Abbey Wood to Ebbsfleet International, though the route is currently still safeguarded”.

He had earlier said: “Transport will of course play a central role in our mission-led Government. You will have seen already the Bills coming forward on buses and on public ownership of our railways and we are absolutely determined to ensure that public transport is improved.”

Conservative MP Jerome Mayhew said Labour had begun their tenure with “a terrible start in just a few months”.

The MP for Broadland and Fakenham in Norfolk said the next project in London and the South East should be the new Lower Thames Crossing, a road bypass around the existing A282 Dartford Crossing.

“We’ve got huge bottlenecks at the Dartford Crossing,” he said.

“The previous government was progressing with the Thames Crossing and it’s now been kicked into the long grass by the Government. I think that’s a genuine cause for concern for connectivity in the South East and I fear that it may lead to the next step which is cancellation.”

Chancellor Rachel Reeves earlier this year cancelled some road and rail schemes, including the Restoring Your Railway programme intended to restore some previously closed local train lines.

“That is a terrible start in just a few months,” Mr Mayhew said.