Links across the Thames

Featured in the Future Transport London Newsletter September 2025

The development of the Lower Thames road crossing, which has just been approved by the government, could cost up to £16 bullion, will lead to the destruction of swathes of countryside and will bring traffic chaos to roads funnelling traffic into it. A report commissioned by Transport Action Network¹ has estimated that a range of alternatives would avoid the damage and cost in the region of £2 billion.

The tunnel is designed to mitigate two problems. The first is to ease the flow of HGVs, many of which are on international journeys using the ferry or tunnel across the English Channel, many of which then use the Dartford crossing. Although initially this might succeed, it is estimated that traffic growth would negate the gain in about five years, bringing more traffic and more misery to anyone living near the link.

It would be much better if this traffic could be diverted to rail. It is estimated that it should be possible to move between 25-50 per cent of HGV traffic onto rail. One issue is the cost of using the Channel Tunnel and HS1 to reach London, but this should be eased by the recent instruction by the Office for Rail and Road to significantly cut track charges for freight on HS1. HS1 is currently using only 50 per cent of its capacity so there is plenty of room for expansion.

A constraint on using HS1 for freight is the restricted loading gauge on most of Britain’s rail network. Continental size vehicles can get no further than Ripple Lane yard in Barking before their contents need to be transhipped onto smaller vehicles. Widening the gauge to Wembley would get Continental size trains around London and would open up the West Coast main line, much of which has been cleared for larger vehicles.

A reduction in the number of trucks using the short sea crossing might also be achieved if alternative ports were made more attractive. This would be helped by the   electrification of rail freight routes from Thames Gateway and Felixstowe, and improving the route between Felixstowe and the Midlands.

The other problem which the Lower Thames Crossing is designed to tackle is linking Kent and Essex. There has been no crossing lower than Dartford since the ferry between Tilbury and Gravesend was withdrawn in 2024 and there is little opportunity to make the journey without a car. The only connection by public transport east of Woolwich is an hourly bus service between the shopping centres of Lakeside and Bluewater via the Dartford crossing which serves no other points of interchange except for Greenhithe station.

There are four proposals to improve connections: a new ferry, a heavy rail connection, a light rail connection and the use of HS1.

The ferry proposed is from Grays to Greenhithe. It is a longer crossing than Tilbury to Gravesend but the difficulty of reaching the pier at Tilbury, which is cut off from the town and the railway station, makes reinstatement here problematic.

The heavy rail connection is the most dramatic proposal. This would be based on a tunnel starting at a new station at West Thurrock, diving under the river and, on the south side, providing connections to the North Kent line, eastwards to Stone Crossing and westwards towards Dartford. From West Thurrock there would be a new link to Chafford Hundred (with connection to Lakeside) and trains would continue to Upminster. If a new connection could be made trains might then take over the Liberty line to Romford. Other trains could continue from West Thurrock along the existing line via Tilbury towards Southend.

The light rail solution is the Thames Gateway Tramlink – KenEx – featured in our newsletter 47. This would tunnel under the Thames between Northfleet and Grays and would afford connections with Gravesend, Ebbsfleet, Chafford Hundred and Purfleet.

Finally there is HS1 which tunnels under the Thames between West Thurrock and Ebbsfleet. There was once a proposal to site a station on the north side near West Thurrock but the layout of the line now makes that impossible. However there is a proposal to site a new station near Maidstone to open up new journey possibilities into London and also into east London via Stratford.

As Tim Root argued in newsletter 53 the Lower Thames Crossing is a costly mistake. National Highways says it would have a cost/benefit ratio of 1.22 which is below the threshold where approval is normally given. Transport Action Network has estimated the ratio is actually only 0.48 which means that the cost is more than the benefit. This is a scheme which needs to be consigned to the dustbin.

Chris Barker

¹   file:///C:/Users/Dell/Downloads/LTC-Roberts-Report-web%20(1).pdf