For three weeks from Monday, people will be given leaflets explaining the route and purpose of the link which will connect east and west London.

The pamphlets will have a tear-off returnable postcard on which commuters can comment on the plan.

This campaign is ahead of a major public consultation along the proposed route later in the autumn.

"Crossrail will bring many benefits including simpler connections, improved access for all people and a better prospect of jobs and business opportunities for many years to come," said Cross London Rail Links chief executive Norman Haste.

"We need the public to play their part in helping to make a reality of easier and less-crowded travel across London," he said.

CROSSRAIL PROPOSAL The scheme involves a central east-west tunnel with services extending to two branches to the east and two to the west. This would involve a central tunnel from west of Paddington to east of Liverpool Street From Liverpool Street, the line would extend through Whitechapel, then dividing into two branches both serving the Thames Gateway - one going to Stratford and joining the existing Great Eastern lines to Shenfield The other will go down to the Isle of Dogs and the Royal Docks, crossing the Thames to join the lines at Abbey Wood, with some services continuing to Ebbsfleet in Kent To the west of Paddington, the line would join the Great Western main line before dividing into two further branches One would join up with the North London Line, providing services to Richmond and Kingston The other would be via Ealing and Hayes to Heathrow along the existing branch served by Heathrow Express

Shelved in the 1990s but now revived, the Crossrail project has the support in principle of the government.

Transport Secretary Alistair Darling announced in July that he was "assembling an expert team to assess the proposals to ensure they offer good value to London and are deliverable".

If it goes ahead Crossrail would run from Shenfield in Essex through central London to Heathrow in the west.

There is also a proposal for a Crossrail line 2, which would create a network of services linking Clapham Junction in south-west London to Dalston in the north-east of the city.

Crossrail could provide capacity for an extra 200, 000 passengers during the morning rush hour and may also create up to 100,000 new jobs.

Organisers hope that an application for the railway can be made to Parliament from November 2004, with construction starting in 2007 and trains operational by 2013.