The East London line is needed for the Olympic Games in 2012, but other proposals without such an external deadline have struggled.
From Wapping the line will continue to Whitechapel - as the present East London line does - and then join the viaduct which formerly carried the line north from Broad Street station.
Other transport projects anticipated this year include work on a new Isle of Dogs Crossrail station, "intensification" of the work to extend the East London Line and a host of initiatives to help smooth traffic flow.
This setback came a week after the announcement of further delays on one of Britain's largest construction projects, the extension of London Underground's Jubilee Line from Westminster to Stratford in east London.
The first project to be supported under the scheme, the Crossrail line linking east and west London, was announced in September.
Elsewhere in the country 10 train services between London and Leeds on the East Coast Main Line were cancelled.
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Once complete, the rail line will run from Abbey Wood in south-east London to Heathrow and Maidenhead, Berkshire, in the west.
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But the mood was buoyant and bright at Blackheath Park in south-east London as the runners prepared to begin the long haul to the finish line near Buckingham Palace.
The west- and east-coast main lines between London and Scotland are to be improved, as is the line between London and south Wales.
In the middle ranks, outside hotspots such as London, the south-east and Bristol, the rewards are often not out of line with those for comparable private-sector jobs, if pensions, benefits and holidays are all added in, and have recently been rising in relative terms as private-sector pay has stalled.
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