M26 motorway the M26 at that time formed part of Ringway 4 and would have been designated as part of the M25. Construction of the first part of the M25 began in 1972 but before it opened, plans for the "London Orbital" motorway were modified to combine the southern and western part of Ringway 4 with the northern and eastern part of Ringway 3. To connect the two separate routes, which together were numbered as the M25, an additional section of road needed to be planned and the M25 route was diverted northwards from junction 5 to meet Ringway 3 at Swanley
West London Orbital most modern standards". The transit time from Brent Cross to Surbiton was quoted as 28 minutes, with a maximum train speed of 80 km/h. The promoters cited a number of reasons why they believed an underground scheme would be cost-effective at £1.75bn: with lower tunnelling costs as the tunnel diameter would be smaller than for a heavy rail scheme; there are no other rail tunnels to avoid (as in central London); and the subsoil strata are suitable for modern tunnel boring machines (TBMs). A number of other notable orbital rail schemes for London have been previously proposed: West London Orbital