London’s business leaders are hoping that one of Gordon Brown’s first acts as prime minister will be to fund the long-debated Crossrail scheme, a new railway linking Heathrow, the City and Canary Wharf. Estimated to cost £16bn, Crossrail is not cheap. With 40 railways already into London, one more railway cannot do much to relieve crowding for commuters. So why does business think Crossrail is so important?

Mostly, because it will link Heathrow – London’s global gateway – to the City. Heathrow Express runs only to Paddington and, to finish the trip, visitors face a slow Tube or taxi ride. Heath­row may be vital to the London economy but it now compares pretty poorly with European rivals, where passengers arrive in spacious terminals with fast, direct rail links to the city centre and often direct to nearby cities. 

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