What is LU worth?

The question of worth is a very interesting point, but you’d also have to consider the extent of liability - namely the amount of ongoing maintenance required for structures like viaducts, bridges and tunnels, and what could happen if something went wrong like a tunnel collapse.

I recall getting into conversation with the owner of a property next to a disused railway tunnel in Wales, who remarked how they had thought about purchasing the tunnel as an extension feature to their garden, but when they took legal advice on the practicalities of it the advice was very clearly *don’t do it*!

There’s some interesting such structures, like the infilled but not quite properly infilled Bolsover Tunnel in the Midlands, which must now be a very serious liability should something ever happen, especially with houses and public space over the top. There’s other disused tunnels which are in poor condition and unmaintained, such as Burdale and Drewton (both in Yorkshire) but these run mainly beneath fields so aren’t quite so risky. This naturally wouldn’t apply to LU’s assets though.

Crossrail alone has already cost £20 billion plus, so heavens knows how much a whole network might cost!

I certainly would not offer even 1p for it, I understand that this is not what you are asking but I don't think irt would be saleable at any price

That sounds the right ballpark though I suspect underestimates the cost to create from scratch if they didn't exist by at least one order of magnitude - think of the growth of regulations of construction especially since the 70s. The JLE cost around £3bn for a 16km tube railway for example - and cut and cover under the roads for the SSR may now actually be more expensive to do than that due to the disruption based on how the road network has changed and is used.

Net present value is of course very different from cost from scratch... The age is both a benefit and a hinderance in some ways!

Would it even be possible to build the SSR to its current specification today?

Page 138 shows further details. £m 42,092.6 is 60,541.4 less 18,448.8 depreciation as value is used up. Almost all is made up of Infrastructure and office buildings column and the Assets under construction column about 50/50. Remember these are figures for TfL, which is not just LU. Rolling stock is under 10% and Plant and equipment under 2%.

Excellent estimate! Crossrail has been stated as adding 10% to London's public transport for a long time, but 100% to its cost? Most of the cost is in the stations. So 10 new, and assets under construction would also include Battersea branch (2), Barking Riverside (1) and Bank (1 platform). So 13+ stations £m 19,252.7 about = value of infrastructure and office buildings (260 stations +) £m 19,427.6 ! Go figure!

I'd guess to build it from scratch ignoring land acquisition would cost £1.5-2bn each for the District,Central,Northern,Met & Piccadilly Lines and £1-1.5 bn for the combined Bakerloo/Jubilee complex. All of those being what TfL now operates, not what's been sheared off, like Bakerloo to Watford.

W & C & Victoria 500-750 million apiece & possibly 1 bn for Victoria because of the junction complexities on it.

DLR is not counted, as we have modern figures for what it cost & significant private financing assisting.

So, before we talk about step-free access & PED's, I would guess at least £9-10 billion.

I don't think that's confusion.

There are many reasons why you couldn't build LU as it is now, today.

Political
Financial
We've already got one

The Hatton Cross extension was cut and cover in 1975!