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Crossrail Could Be Delayed Until 2021 - BBC

The BBC are reporting that a source involved in the project has told them that Crossrail could be delayed until Spring 2021. They are apparently doing some 'dynamic testing' at the moment and that is taking more time than expected. The medium likelihood is that it will open some time next year but the later date remains a possibility. Combined with the closure of Hammersmith Bridge this increases the suspicion that our transport infrastructure is falling apart and the people who run it are not very competent.

Dennis O'Shea ● 2392d31 Comments

Philipa I believe the total abortive costs came to £53M including £43M public figure.  Seems an incredible figure when I gather works on site never actually started.

Philip Coe ● 2377d

And I hear that Boris' Bridge lost us a cool 43m.

Philippa Bond ● 2378d

Lots of people in the area have made the same point. It probably isn't as simple as taking the money from one project and giving it to another. It is likely to be the case that funding for cycle schemes in part comes from central government and is partly matched by TfL. However if they don't come up with their side of the cash then the government funding is withdrawn. TfL is like most institutions in that the way it is funded often means it makes illogical decisions.TfL insist they are going to proceed with CS9 this year even though they recently consulted on a redesign which had some very major flaws. But if they lose out on other funding if they don't that may explain their refusal to reconsider. If Hammersmith Bridge is still closed when they break ground there will be a furious reaction.

Paul Corcoran ● 2378d

The cost of the proposed CS9 'cycle superhighway' through Chiswick and Hammersmith (despite its fundamentally flawed consultation and the fact that a far better alternative route already exists) is over 60% more than the total cost of refurbishing Hammersmith Bridge. (£70 million v £42 million).

N V Brooks ● 2378d

The closure (or part closure if you insist) of Hammersmith Bridge probably links back to the Crossrail debacle.TfL would have factor in revenues from the scheme for the current year and therefore had to make some very severe spending cutbacks. They probably would have originally funded the repairs as nobody disputes it is their buses that make them necessary but simply can't now. However, they are being very dishonest in trying to shift the blame to H&F Council who have to small a budget to tackle such a major project. As Crossrail is delayed even more this is probably not going to be the first major infrastructural problem which makes it all the more extraordinary that they have started a consultation on a cycle lane project through Shepherd's Bush which will cost a lot more than repairing the bridge.http://www.shepherdsbushw12.com/info/concycleway001.htm

Paul Corcoran ● 2378d

To motorised transport it is.

Lee Page ● 2380d

Hammersmith bridge is not closed...

Paul James ● 2380d

Bond Street is being built by a Swedish company (Skanska) in a joint venture with Costain. 

Gordon Southwell ● 2380d

Bond Street will not be open in 2021 I understand. Should have got the Germans or French to build it.

Nicholas Beard ● 2383d

Not sure this project would have been on time whether it was private or public sector. Engineers would have always been running it and they assumed based on experience that the tunnelling would be the biggest technical challenge. What they didn't understand was that this was trivial compared to the software issue that were raised. As safety is of paramount importance this has to be 100% right so speeding things up is probably not an option.

Andy Jones ● 2383d

I am sorry but you simply cannot make a sweeping generalisation that "private sector projects are also a disaster" without clarification.A properly planned and managed project or programme will be delivered on-time and to or within budget.Planning involves allowing for contingencies and setting realistic objectives with measurable milestones at every stage of the programme. Thus allows for early identification of potential issues and enables remedial action to be taken to keep the programmes on track.Every programme involves 'fragmentation' and is is axiomatic that any programme will involve 'fragments' or elements that are, if properly managed, vital to project delivery.Good project or programme management is not easy but the success rate can be very high if a sound methodology is employed.The issues with Crossrail and Grenfell are diametrically different. The latter used materials which, although ostensibly conformant to quality standards, were not fit for purpose. Irrespective of project management in this regard, the use of poor quality/ unsuitable materials would cause the project to fail, in this case with tragic consequences. With the best will in the world, if someone tells you that the material is suitable and has the appropriate compliance certification whey would you reject it?In the case of Crossrail it is simply yet another failed public sector programme with the 'deliverables' not adequately managed to ensure overall timescale and budget-conformant delivery.

N V Brooks ● 2384d

And after I typed that there was something on the radio about the number of people having to live with dangerous cladding on their buildings:  World at One: 26.4.19https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/apr/26/mental-health-toll-on-people-in-flats-with-grenfell-style-cladding-revealed

Philippa Bond ● 2384d

Nigel  Surely it is always someone's money?  Private sector projects are also a disaster with fragmentation making everything more expensive and with a considerable increase in teamwork necessary but extremely difficult to achieve.  In private sector projects the standards are often much poorer as cuts and changes are made in order to make more profit.  Many buildings are being built now which will probably need to be rebuilt or altered fairly radically within a short amount of time because they are not being built to good enough design or standard.

Philippa Bond ● 2384d

I am really struggling to think of a single public infrastructure project that was delivered on-time and on-budget.How unlike the real world of private-sector projects it is when you are spending someone else's money.Equally, the expectation is now so high that a public sector project will be late and over budget that the the 'disappointment'  is somewhat abated.

N V Brooks ● 2384d

Over-promising at the outset is a common problem, then a rapid reverse ferret when things go belly up. As you say these very technical projects are always likely to over-run. The Jubilee Line upgrade was beset with such issues, with the new signalling shorting out because it was incompatible with the older technology of the existing trains. As a result it went over time and over budget.

Simon Hayes ● 2384d

On such technical contracts you need to err on the cautious side.  The software needs to be working correctly.  It's complicated probably more complicated than those at the top and not at the sharp end understand.  Effing executive pressure and decisions and cost cutting can be dangerous.  Grenfell should have taught us that. Safety checks need to be carried out - most of us would prefer that it progressed steadily and safely.  Party political ping-pong and pressure is abhorrent.  That doesn't mean that delays aren't disappointing.

Philippa Bond ● 2384d

One of the new Crossrail team was on the radio this morning and didn't dispute that 2021 was a more likely date for the service beginning. He even said that some stations might not be open even when the line starts running. Basically the new approach seems to be not to make any commitment to a specific date to avoid disappointment.It could be the classic new management trick of making out things are much worse than they actually are so that when you do better than originally expected you can claim to be a genius but that is probably too optimistic.

Andy Jones ● 2384d

I believe that other countries have managed to deal with Amazon better.  How do we persuade our children to make better choices and to have patience and to think more before they buy?  Online shopping is supposed to have decreased.There are some scrappage schemes for business vehicles and I remember that VW were doing some special trade-in deals some time ago.  So it is always worth keeping an eye on what is going on.I don't buy from Amazon if I can help it.  I'm fed up with their overpackaging.  You can give feedback on it but I'm not sure it makes a difference.  You can browse John Lewis' website and using click and collect pick up from Waitrose. Does M&S do this?  Any more?

Philippa Bond ● 2386d

Once again, Khan has gone for the easy target.Nothing in the ULEZ proposals to tackle the pollution from black cabs and buses in a reasonable timeframe. They have had as much notice as private motorists to do something.Equally, the proliferation of small dirty vans HAS to be addressed.

N V Brooks ● 2386d

Any cursory look at the data will show that the fastest growing source of pollution on the roads of London is light commercial vehicles most of which are used for deliveries. We shouldn't confuse the issues of safety and air quality here. There is no doubt that  the way drivers are paid makes them take extra risks and sometimes drive too fast but that will have a marginal impact on pollution. On first site it might seem strange that we allow the world's largest corporation to impose on us a delivery model that makes our streets markedly less safe but the lobbying power of Amazon is formidable and they will argue that extra delivery charges would be passed onto the customer. The Mayor is always going to look first at the private motorist first as a softer target even though the vehicles he is currently targeting emit a tiny fraction of the pollutants that delivery vehicles do.

Gordon Southwell ● 2386d

Read my post again!  Perhaps there is not enough of a delivery charge for courier delivery services. The way that the drivers are employed (or aren't) needs to be investigated as it causes them to drive around like bats out of hell driving over pavements eating their lunch on the go etc.  Also I believe that because they are self-employed they are put under stress to work when they are ill in order to keep working for their "employer".https://theconversation.com/why-fewer-londoners-are-taking-the-tube-a-transport-researcher-explains-94754

Philippa Bond ● 2391d

So, if we cut back on deliveries how do people get the things they want/need? Magic carpet presumably. Good luck telling people not to order online.

Simon Hayes ● 2391d

Perhaps the training for bus and tube drivers could be better?  Or maybe they are training the wrong people?Perhaps there are too many free fares?  There is certainly a growing elderly population and many are unable to make good use of their free passes because both the tubes and buses can be difficult and dangerous to travel on from the point of view of dangerous pavements and speeding drivers who then brake heavily - both buses and tubes - not to mention the gaps between the platform and the train and the steepness of the steps onto the bus and the lack of accessibility to platforms.The pavements are damaged by CARS, VANS and LORRIES that drive over them.  These need to be reduced in number.  It was very disappointing to see a John Lewis lorry the other day drive forwards into a space by going over the kerb when it could have reversed into the space with a bit more effort. (There was a driver and mate.)  They were delivering something heavy like a washing machine.  There are too many packages being delivered door to door and it would be good if this was re-looked at and perhaps more attention/advertisement made of where things can be collected eg click and collect and the schemes where you can collect from a box.I did hear the other day that online deliveries were down.  I think this was mostly for food where substitutions and short dates on perishable foods puts people off.

Philippa Bond ● 2391d

The training period of bus and tube drivers has NEVER been longer.A PCV driver with any of the London operators undergoes the same duration of training that they did when it was 'London Transport'.Investment management is wholly a matter for TfL and while they obsess with cycles and failed projects the bus fleet will get older and stay dirtier.

N V Brooks ● 2391d

Privatising has created problems.  We no longer have the trained and experienced bus drivers that we once had and we need newer cleaner more comfortable and buses too but there have been cuts in maintenance funding to TfL.  Just because funding is given never means that it can be used for whatever you like.

Philippa Bond ● 2391d

Khan has also been happily culling bus routes and lopping parts off other services. Not exactly conducive to encouraging use.The absolute fixation on cycling is getting out of proportion. While it will benefit a significant minority of people it will do little to address pollution, despite the claims. People will still drive because they need to (imagine trying to carry home your latest purchase from the garden centre on a bike). Deliveries will continue to be made and the volume of van journeys will continue its upward spiral.Meanwhile spending on maintaining road infrastructure is pitiful. Ealing Council has set aside just £3.5m to maintain the roads across the borough for the forthcoming financial year. Considering that a cycle lane can cost up to £500,000 per kilometre to build it gives you some sense of proportion.Don’t forget that Ealing takes a huge amount of money through its parking services, money that is ring fenced for spending on transport needs. That includes concessionary bus fares. Very little is spent on improving the lot of the car drivers who provide the bulk of the money.

Simon Hayes ● 2391d

Sorry Tricia (if I may) but  you are way off beam.Bus journeys in London are decreasing dramatically and Bus Operations in London now have accumulated losses of almost £750 million and are at the worst level ever.In fact every part of the 'service' has increasing accumulated losses.Khan has presided over this disaster.If you have trouble sleeping take a look at the last TfL Board agenda (well over 500 pages)http://content.tfl.gov.uk/board-20190327-agenda-pt1.pdf.£108 MILLION being spent on cycling infrastructure.It doesn't take rocket science to realise that increased cycle journeys will result, in part, on decreased use of public transport. Khan seems to duck this and assume that his fares freeze will shake a magic tree to keep paying for itself. it will not. Not brave but 'in denial'.

N V Brooks ● 2391d

Visitors from overseas are surprised at how expensive our public transport is and how old.  Our government was taken to the High Court twice over the illegal amount of air pollution here and dragging and screaming had to report on what they were going to do about it.  They passed the buck onto the councils and TfL and at the same time cut their funding and continue to cut funding despite announcing that austerity is over.Crossrail is apparently the largest civil engineering construction project in Europe.  I thought that part of it was supposed to be going to open sooner rather than all at once.  Good government leadership would help!

Philippa Bond ● 2391d

The fare freeze may have made things difficult for TfL's finances but London was already one of the most expensive cities to travel in. Travel is a fixed cost for workers so rises hit the most poorly paid hardest and in some cases make taking a job uneconomic. We could have the best transport system in the world if we just kept on putting up prices but if fewer and fewer people can afford it then what is the point? The Mayor has been both brave and right in putting this policy in place.

Tricia Arbuthnot ● 2391d

I’m surprised that anyone is surprised by this news. When did anything in this country ever finish on time and within budget.The lack of oversight on every major project is staggering, particularly on transport ones. A cable car to nowhere, subsided by us. An unbuilt garden bridge, subsidised by us. HS2. The ongoing debacle of our railway network.In London there’s no coherent transport strategy, unless you can call the increasing taxation of car owners a policy.Public transport is overstretched and not always an option for many journeys. Mayor Khan’s fares freeze has been a disaster for the funding structure needed to improve the Tube. Bet he doesn’t repeat that stunt next year.

Simon Hayes ● 2391d

We are doubly screwed in London.The incompetent Khan who will not even extend the ULEZ to black cabs and who has said that it will take seventeen years to replace the polluting buses; coupled with probably the most incompetent politician around at the moment(and he has stiff competition)and serial failure in Chris Grayling at the Department of Transport. Every thing that guy touches turns to ordure.

N V Brooks ● 2392d