BUSINESSMAN Sir Christopher Benson from Salisbury has been appointed chairman of Cross London Rail Links Ltd.

The company, owned by the Strategic Rail Authority and Transport for London, has been set up to examine the feasibility of, and ultimately deliver, an east to west London rail scheme known as Crossrail.

The scheme will provide a new mainline railway link between Docklands in east London and westwards towards Heathrow, with the central plank being from Liverpool Street to Paddington.

A second scheme will implement a Hackney to south-west London link.

The company has been given an initial budget of £154 million and the two schemes, which should be completed in ten years' time, will cost £10 billion.

Sir Christopher (68), who lives in Castle Road and whose wife Jo is a former Mayor of Salisbury, says he is "very fired up" by his new appointment.

"This will be the biggest single rail enterprise in the UK," he said.

"It is something London has needed for a very long time.

"We recognise there will be controversy, hence we are consulting the London boroughs, transport users' groups, residents' associations and other interested parties.

"I want to ensure we provide London with the optimum scheme."

Transport Minister John Spellar said the Government was determined to improve rail links into and within London.

Crossrail would support the continuing development of London as a world city and tackle congestion, he said.

The development of rail projects into and within London is co-ordinated by a group made up of Mr Spellar, Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, the commissioner of transport for London, Bob Kiley, and the chairman of the Strategic Rail Authority, Sir Alastair Morton.

Sir Christopher, who is a chartered surveyor and was knighted in 1988, has been chairman of insurance giant Sun Alliance, the London Docklands Development Corpora-tion, Boots, the Housing Corporation and international property company MEPC.

He has recently been Principal of the Inns of Court School of Law in the city of London and is current president of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry and chairman of Bradford Particle Design.