Prime Minister Gordon Brown has given the green light to the Crossrail scheme to build a new railway link through the centre of London.

The new link will provide 24 trains per hour from Maidenhead, Berkshire through to Essex greatly improving services to Docklands, the West End and the City.

Work is expected to start in 2010 creating around 30,000 new jobs with the first trains expected to be running in about 10 years.

The government has agreed to provide a third of the funding with the balance being made up by borrowings against future train fares and an increase in London business rates.