GORDON BROWN is poised to give the green light to Crossrail, the most ambitious British transport project since the Channel tunnel.

The London rail route should bring relief from overcrowding to millions of commuters, but will mean an added burden to the capital’s businesses, which will be expected to provide up to a third of the money through increased business rates.

It is understood that Brown and senior ministers were putting the finishing touches to the Crossrail funding arrangements this weekend. An announcement on the go-ahead for the scheme could come as early as this week, or at next week’s Labour party conference.

The approval will draw to a close the 20-year saga of detailed planning and false starts. Crossrail was first proposed by British Rail and London Underground in the mid1980s. The two organisations had hopes of replicating the success of Paris’s RER (Réseau Express Régional) services. Those hopes were dashed in 1991, however, when a committee of MPs rejected a bill that would have taken the scheme through parliament.

Crossrail will run west to east through London. Trains will run from Maidenhead and Heathrow in the west to Abbey Wood and Shenfield in the east. In central London the trains will run in deep tunnels, with stations at Paddington, Bond Street, Totten-ham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street and White-chapel. It is thought the first trains could run in 2015.

Some rail experts believe the scheme is outdated and does not bring sufficient capacity benefits to justify the £14 billion bill.

The funding of Crossrail is tied to a controversial reform of local-authority finances that will allow councils to add supplements to business rates to pay for specific projects. Councils will be able to increase their construction budgets by borrowing large sums against the future business-rate revenues.

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