A major report by the Transport Action Network (TAN) has recommended scrapping the proposed £10 billion pound new roadway linking Essex and Kent under the Thames, suggesting that the cheaper Essex-Kent Superlinks which would be a viable alternative.

Backed by ASLEF, the train drivers union, the report launched in Westminster at the Local Government Association, highlighted that investments in existing public transport and rail freight services and infrastructure could see the existing routes cope with the growing demand of people trying to commute between Essex and Kent.

This proposal will cost £2.5 billion, 75% less than building the new roadway and tunnel would cost.

The commissioning of this report by TAN highlights an alternative and scope for other options linking Essex and Kent further beyond the east of London, until now no viable alternatives on how to better connect the two counties either side of the river towards the Thames estuary have been fully explored, with the previous attempt to explore alternatives described in 2009 as “the flimsiest of reasons”

This alternative option to link Essex and Kent is being branded as ‘Essex-Kent Superlinks’ they propose the following would greatly increase cross-Thames travel for both passengers and freight:

• A new line linking pre-existing lines on both sides of the river Thames from West Thurrock to Dartford would enable between 50-100 million passenger journeys annually.
• The same link would also be beneficial in linking the Channel Tunnel to the freight interchange terminal at Bow in East London. It would make a better competitive market between rail and road freight companies, which could remove 550,000 – 1,100,000 lorries off the roads between Essex and Kent, free up space on the QE2 crossing and the M20 for motorists and reduce the chances of bringing Operation Brock into force the during times when the port at Dover becomes blocked.
• Creation of two new ferry services, one between Grays and Greenhithe for Bluewater shopping centre, and the other between Tilbury and Gravesend.
• Continued support for the already proposed KenEx tram system designed to link Grays in Essex to High Speed 1 at Ebbsfleet International in Kent.

“We’re calling on the UK Government to smash the cosy consensus on how to connect Essex with Kent and the Channel Ports with the Midlands and beyond.

Every time this subject comes up, the bureaucracy of the British state produces the same tired old answer – a massive and vastly expensive new road. It’s time for the new Government to put that nonsense in the shredder. They should promote solutions addressing the needs of working people in the twenty-first century rather than forcing upon them a scheme rooted in the thinking of the 1970s.

It’s a scandal that, for one of the most important transport connections in the UK, no serious exploration of alternatives has ever been undertaken until now. We’ve filled that gap and done the Government’s disruptive thinking for them. We call on Parliament to demand that Ministers evaluate the alternatives properly before authorising the Lower Thames Crossing or agreeing to what would undoubtedly be an exorbitant private finance model. Either way it would cost taxpayers across the UK dearly.”

TAN Founder and Director Chris Todd

Rail freight already has to compete on an unlevel playing field. The Lower Thames Crossing will tilt the advantage even further in favour of road trucking and, in particular, provide easier access to key UK markets for foreign hauliers via the Port of Dover. The Roberts Report shows that, for a fraction of the cost of the proposed road, the UK can make our rail freight operators more competitive on domestic and international routes while transforming the public transport landscape for journeys across the Thames Estuary.”

Simon Weller, Assistant General Secretary of ASLEF