A capital transport network to handle three million more people

Huge investment in new transport capacity will be necessary to accommodate the Greater London Authority’s population projections for 2050. Andrew Forster reports

08 August 2014

The Greater London Authority’s early thinking on how orbital rail services could be developed. Higher density housing in outer London could strengthen the case for such public transport investment, it adds

The Greater London Authority’s new infrastructure plan to 2050 is a perfect illustration of how long-term spatial plans turn incremental annual changes to population and travel demand into much bigger, impressive-sounding numbers capable of focusing minds.

If you think London is already crowded then think again. The plan’s central forecast is for the capital’s population to rise by a whopping 37% between now and 2050, from just over eight million to 11.3 million, within...