lonelytraveller wrote:

The thing I don't like about Crossrail is that it seems that the
designers have gone out of their way to make it necessary to
demolish anything old that would be difficult to demolish under
normal circumstances due to popular protest.

For example, they chose to make it necessary to demolish the
Astoria, a popular and iconic music venue with much history, to
sort out the station at Tottenham Court Road, rather than choosing
to demolish the fairly unpopular Centrepoint on the other side of
the road.

By "fairly unpopular", I guess you mean you don't like it. It is
actually a listed building, which the Astoria isn't.

They chose to make it necessary to demolish a block of Dean street
near Diadem Court, rather than the ugly 1970s office block on the
other side of oxford street, or the building that Dean Street
Tesco is in, or the modern buildings of St Anne's court.

The problem with large office buildings is that the compensation costs
for compulsory purchase are enormous. I'm not familiar with the
buildings in question, but you seem to regard anything old as
sacrosanct, and anything new as ripe for demolition. In my experience
Crossrail have bent over backwards to preserve listed buildings wherever
possible.

They chose to obstruct the side entrance at paddington, rather than
demolish the horrifically ugly modern building on the other side of
the road.

Because the modern building is on the wrong side of the road for an
interchange with the mainline station. What do you mean by "obstruct"?

[snip]

I still don't see why they didn't route it as a new tube line from
Paddington to Liverpool street via Charing Cross and Temple -
reusing the old Jubilee line route and Aldwych branch of the
Piccadilly
where possible.

Well, for a start, the Jubilee/Piccadilly tunnels aren't big enough!
Anyway it's a bit late now to start debating the route all over again.

--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)