Elizabeth Line (CrossRail) opened 24th May 2022

We are at the point in the project where most of the work going on just like in the last few months of a house being built where the works make little or no aesthetic changes to what is already there. Connecting stations up to the permanent grid supply was a big push because this enabled the commissioning of permanent lighting, CCTV and other safety critical equipment which I'd assume needs a cycle of testing aswell. Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon and I think Custom House are all wired up to the grid. It still looks like Bond Street and Whitechapel are behind on these fronts.

Brilliant reporting - no mention whether it's the core that might open in 2021 or the entire thing. And of course the worst possible date in the headline.

A good report that gets some no nonsense facts out of a source who I have on good authority is due to attend that high level meeting at 55 Broadway.

It is a shame that the incompetence and ineptitude of government departments to create a management structure that enables the political spheres to say, "look at us, we are here making a difference (despite having little or no expertise in the project they manufactured)" whilst simultaneously allowing them to jump ship and say "well, its all down to the management team (that weren't given enough space or respect to do their jobs)".

All this managerial waffle overshadowing what will still be remembered as one of the landmark civil engineering projects of London's 150+ year old history with rapid transit, to me thats the real shame.

Didn't MFI go bust?

Goodness me folks - I thought I was the arch cynic but you're all outdoing me.

A few comments

- this is not a formal report. It's an article based on gossip. It may be moderately well informed gossip but until the Crossrail Board take a decision next week we don't know for certain.

- Of course things slowed down after last August. As soon as the deadline pressure went people relaxed, others left, the management team was distracted until the sponsors took action. I'm not excusing this but it was entirely inevitable even if people on the project and elsewhere knew the work was late.

- There has been some progress in that Tier One contractors (construction) are off a number of sites. That allows M&E / Comms etc work to get underway in a more meaningful way *provided* the underlying scope and sequencing is right.

- If Crossrail have used the recent months to actually get a grip on the inherited mess (things started going badly wrong in 2016) and are clearer about the remaining programme then I'd say that was a positive. Obviously we need evidence that this is true.

- That last thing we need now (IMO) is another political driven obsessional opening date target. That won't make things happen. It will repeat what has gone before in terms of bad news not being properly communicated leading to a bigger mess later.

- Mark Wild was clear a number of months ago that there would be several instances of "doom and gloom" about the rolling stock / signalling testing and integration. Well guess what - we have doom and gloom about this BUT they are at least getting the track time to actually do testing *and* they are making progress rather than standing still or going backwards.

- I think there has been a deliberate decision not to create "hostages to fortune" in terms of announcements. Hence why there are suggestions that we may be looking at 2021. Inevitably that winds people up and polticians get stroppy because they always want to blame their opponents and have "victims" to hang on the gallows. None of that bluster gets us anywhere though.

Let's see what emerges next week. I dare say everyone will be fuming again but I'd rather see if we get some facts and also extra insight published. Hopefully we will. I still expect an opening of the core around July - September next year with the linking in phases to follow later. Obviously that is disappointing but I'd rather the thing opened properly and most importantly ran as reliably as possible. No one wants weeks or months of in service breakdowns.

What happens to Sadiq Khan if it's not open by polling day 2020?

Apolitically speaking, like any elected official, he's open to being re-elected or not if standing again, that's about it....😎

I thought Khan had indicated towards the end of last year that he was standing for re-election. I accept there is the formal process to conclude but I can't see him being in a competition within Labour for the nomination.

On the other point I actually don't see Crossrail being politically damaging for the Mayor. He can point to an inherited mess, an inherited dysfunctional governance system that he could not unilaterally change and the fact that he's had to pick up the mess without government help. His opponents will seek to paint a very different picture but things were going wrong before he took over. He can also point to the fact that the National Audit Office (I think) recommended years ago that governance and project control be changed as the project transitioned - that was not taken forward by TfL or the DfT or Crossrail itself.

Obviously people are "annoyed" it is late but the reality is that what isn't running isn't missed. Politically it could be far more dangerous for the Mayor to push for a hurried opening with the railway not being as reliable as hoped for and people being delayed and stuck in tunnels due to breakdowns. That could form the newspaper headline backdrop to a re-election campaign and it would be inescapable as the Mayor's people and changed governance *are* now in place. People have short memories and would forget the last few years of problems and just focus on the delays. In some ways a delay to after May 2020 may work better for the Mayor - a view I hadn't previously considered as I thought he'd be impatient for a March 2020 opening.

Well, one has to wonder if there's a 6 week critical period where the only thing stopping an opening, partial or otherwise, would be purdah for the mayoral elections.

Well the Transport Cttee are determined to have as many "heads on plates" as they can get. It is also the long campaign period to May 2020 so it's inevitable that opposition politicians will want as much trouble for the Mayor as is possible. Yes Crossrail is a mess and I happen to think "massaging" the comms messages to the Mayor in the way that appears to have been done is a ludicrous thing for the Commissioner to be involved in. Still he has to account for that. He will undoubtedly be attacked and attacked when he appears in front of the Transport Cttee this Thursday.

Barring Mike Brown (MB) going of his own volition or some massive unforeseen disaster happening I don't see him being kicked out this side of May 2020. However I would not rate his chances very highly of surviving beyond then regardless of who wins the Mayoralty. Sadiq will argue a new term gives him the opportunity for a fresh start. I also suspect Sadiq bears grudges for a long time so the perceived / real failings of MB will count against him when Sadiq wants his payback for TfL being in a mess / Crossrail being late. Any other politician winning will want their own team and I suspect Mike Brown will be seen politically as "damaged goods" from here on in. IMO there are several other things that count against the Mayor and MB but that's for another post.

Confirmation in print courtesy of the press office.

"Due to the complexity of the remaining work, Crossrail Ltd has identified a six-month window for delivery of the central section, with a midpoint at the end of 2020"

BBC London News this evening reporting that this amended time frame was between October 2020 and March 2021 and even then there is no guarantee of Bond Street opeining along with this.

Change of language hinting at a break through with regard to services to Reading.

"TfL Rail services between Paddington and Reading will commence in December 2019 with a frequency of 4 trains per hour in the peak. Testing of the signalling system continues to allow the new class 345 trains to be extended from Hayes & Harlington to Heathrow."

Better than nothing.
I think it's a good sign that TfL is taking over Reading services in December.

Hilarious that once again media misses that they are talking about central section, and the rest will come later.

Well, if the opening is delayed by two years - it makes sense for the future operator to ask for extension of their contract by the same two years. I wouldn't say it's good (or bad) news - just business.

Indeed it is. The full article article talks more of MTR's recent difficulties and controversies nearer its native homeland aswell as a pretty standard response from MTR chief exec, Jacob Kam on the state of rail franchises in the UK.