SIEMENS

How do you commute to your office near Tower Bridge?

I take the Tube every day. I used to cycle regularly.

What are the priorities for public transport in London?

Some of the biggest priorities for us are to increase capacity and improve reliability. First, we need to upgrade the existing network. This means new trains, new signaling systems, and replaced tracks. We are also building new rail links, for example Crossrail, a 21-kilometer train tunnel crossing London that will take a lot of strain off the Tube. The upgrades and new rail links will increase London’s rail capacity by over 50 percent. This is particularly necessary given that the rate of growth of London’s population is far outstripping projections.

Is fiscal frugality reducing the scope of future investment?

Yes and no. Obviously having a lot of money to invest is a good thing. But periods of austerity force you to do things more efficiently. In the future we will be looking at new, third-party sources of funding. For example, the new cable car across the Thames in East London was primarily funded through sponsorship funds.

London’s new business plan for transport involves a multi-billion-pound investment in the road network over the course of ten years. Why?

The road often seems to be the “unloved sibling” of the rail system. However, twice as many people in London use buses than the underground. You have a large suburban area in London, which is a city with very low density. When you go to the suburban areas of “Outer London” you are still in London but you can see fields with horses in them. In those areas, high-volume rail routes are simply not going to work. So we cannot ignore the reality that with good reason many trips in London take place on roads. A lot of our new funding will go into improving the intelligence of the road traffic system.