Crossrail could need an extra £400m and open behind schedule, bosses warn
Crossrail could end up needing an extra £400m in a worst case scenario and open later in 2021, bosses have revealed.
Crossrail, also known as the Elizabeth Line, is already running £2bn over budget and years late, after it failed to open on time last December.
Crossrail bosses told the Transport for London (TfL) board yesterday that the £17.6bn project remains “on track” to open between October 2020 and March 2021, as stated, and that no additional funding had yet been requested.
Read more: MPs blast Crossrail bosses’ huge bonuses as £17.6bn Elizabeth Line costs set to increase
But they warned that there was “still a high level of uncertainty” in the programme which could force it to ask for emergency funds.
One risk impact assessment carried out by Crossrail estimates that the project could need a funding injection of £42m, while another, more extreme risk assessment finds that it could need an extra £394m.
Crossrail, also known as the Elizabeth Line, was due to open last December but has suffered repeated delays owing to issues with signalling, systems integration and train software.
It will stretch from Heathrow and Reading in the west to Abbey Wood and Shenfield in the east and is expected to take on 200m passengers a year, increasing capacity in central London by 10 per cent.
Crossrail warned that the main area of risks were contractor productivity, software development and systems integration.
A Crossrail Ltd spokesperson said: “Significant work has been undertaken to develop the project’s detailed delivery schedule and we remain within the previously announced six-month window between October 2020 and March 2021 for the delivery of the central section.
Read more: Crossrail shares pictures of progress at key Elizabeth line station
“This is the most difficult and challenging phase of the Crossrail programme with significant integration and testing to complete. The project is making good progress against the plan and is firmly in control, but pressures remain.
“Crossrail’s latest forecasts show that the project’s cost could increase if all the identified risks and uncertainties were not mitigated but we expect that the central section works will be delivered within the revised funding agreed by the mayor, government and Transport for London in December 2018. No additional funding has been requested.”
Caroline Pidgeon, deputy chair of the London Assembly’s transport committee, said: “A year after we first discovered that there would be serious delays to Crossrail opening it is disturbing to hear that productivity on completing Crossrail is still too low and that there are real risks of the project not even opening before March 2021.
“Further delays and escalation of costs would be terrible news for every part of the capital.
“The financial consequences will be other much needed transport projects having to be delayed or cancelled.”