Crossrail to pay out millions more to firm hired to keep project on track November 16, 2019 Crossrail is set to pay out additional incentives worth millions of pounds to a US company originally hired to keep the project on track and in budget. Officials on the taxpayer-funded railway scheme are close to agreeing a deal with US partner Bechtel for a new “incentive scheme” in the next few weeks, the New [...]
Crossrail at risk of facing further delays October 22, 2019 Crossrail is increasingly likely to face further cost blowouts and delays, according to a new report. The £15.9bn underground rail line was due to open in December 2018, but now has a target date of between October 2020 and March 2021. Read more: Crossrail to renegotiate pay with Bechtel However, a new report from Jacobs [...]
Crossrail shares pictures of progress at key Elizabeth Line stations August 6, 2019 Crossrail has infamously fallen far off track from its original opening date of December 2018, with the £17.6bn Elizabeth Line now not set to open until sometime in 2021. But bosses eager to assuage angry commuters have shared pictures showing the state of progress at key stations along the London route. Read more: MPs blast [...]
MPs blast Crossrail bosses’ huge bonuses as £17.6bn Elizabeth Line costs set to increase July 19, 2019 Crossrail bosses pocketed huge performance bonuses even as London’s huge rail network programme fell disastrously off track, MPs revealed today, warning that project costs could continue to rise. The £17.6bn Elizabeth Line was originally due to open in December 2018 but management recently admitted large swathes of track may not be operational until at least [...]
DEBATE: Would the railways run better with a ‘fat controller’? July 18, 2019 Would the railways run better with an independent “fat controller” in charge, as recently proposed? Scott Corfe, research director at the Social Market Foundation, says YES. Commuters are right to be angry with the state of Britain’s railway network, with its unpalatable combination of high fares, delays, and trains so packed that one feels like [...]
Mind the expectation gap: Sadiq Khan is a disappointment to London May 29, 2019 When Sadiq Khan was elected as London mayor just over three years ago, it was off the back of some big promises. The new mayor reassured us that he was going to make our city a “safe and secure place”. He pledged that we wouldn’t pay a penny more to travel around the capital, although this [...]
TfL delays investment to ‘future years’ as debt climbs to £11bn May 22, 2019 Transport for London (TfL) delayed nearly half a billion pounds in capital spending during its latest financial year, while its debts climbed past £11bn. Borrowing, which is one of TfL's core funding streams, increased by £728m over the year to a total of £11.2bn, according to TfL board papers filed today. Last year a London [...]
Canary Wharf Group in spat with Crossrail over station’s £80m safety bill May 16, 2019 The Canary Wharf Group has hit back at Crossrail over claims that an extra £80m has been spent to make the Elizabeth Line station comply with TfL safety standards. The group, which built the station and contributed £150m to the total cost, said it "categorically dismissed" comments made by Crossrail boss Mark Wild yesterday, in which he [...]
Crossrail is paying drivers £13m a year to practise while they wait for Elizabeth Line to open May 15, 2019 Crossrail is spending nearly £13m a year on drivers who are spending their time practising as they wait for the delayed railway to open in two years' time. Read more: Crossrail bosses blasted for 'driving up costs' on London's £17.6bn project The numbers were revealed after Gareth Bacon, the Tory leader in the London Assembly, asked [...]
Crossrail: Watchdog blasts bosses for ‘driving up costs’ on London’s £17.6bn delayed Elizabeth Line May 3, 2019 Crossrail bosses took decisions that drove unnecessary cost into the troubled £17.6bn railway, a report by Whitehall's spending watchdog has found. A catalogue of errors including a "failure to change course" when it was clear the project was de-railing, as well as flaws in its own commercial strategy, led to cost increases and the current uncertainty [...]