Is the Crossrail project on time?

[mrmartin]

Seeing as nearly every major rail project in the UK has been horrendously delayed recently, is it likely that Crossrail will be on time?

 

[JP]

One engineering firm working for them is currently about 2% behind their completion target. So if that's an indication of the whole project, it's not too adrift from target.

 

[Class 170101]

Almost certainly behind in places. Gidea Park will be at least 12 months late as it was meant to be finished in the Spring and yet to start.

 

[D365]

Only about, erm, 20 years late

 

[matt_world2004]

Apart from the year long delay caused by coalition budget cuts it will still launch on schedule. The single largest challenge the tunnelling is complete compared to that the station fitting out should be a relatively simple task, the eastern and western station construction is probably local to each site, the dive under at Acton freight looks complete with track being fitted out and the crossover at Heathrow junction is complete . Hayes and Ealing Broadway stations are still building sites. Although not due to be finished until next year.

 

[najaB]

Almost certainly behind in places. Gidea Park will be at least 12 months late as it was meant to be finished in the Spring and yet to start.

If you mean the station, there is definitely work happening on the ground, and has been for a while. Or is there upgrade work at the depot too?

 

[Class 170101]

If you mean the station, there is definitely work happening on the ground, and has been for a while. Or is there upgrade work at the depot too?

In the sidings

 

[najaB]

In the sidings

Okay, thanks. Thought for a moment I was imagining the platform extension work.

Is the depot work a 'long pole' for service introduction?

 

[coppercapped]

Seeing as nearly every major rail project in the UK has been horrendously delayed recently, is it likely that Crossrail will be on time?

Crossrail publishes an update on progress every so often, the current one may be found at:

http://www.crossrail.co.uk/news/quarterly-crossrail-update/

The project is more than 75% complete. There is a huge amount of work underway to complete the stations and fit-out the physical infrastructure with the systems required to turn it into an operational railway.​

 

[Chrisyd]

This article suggests it is not all running smoothly everywhere:

http://www.constructionenquirer.com...spends-electrical-work-at-paddington-station/

Electrical work has been halted at Crossrail’s Paddington station because of concerns that project delivery has derailed.


The M&E package at the station has fallen seriously behind schedule and now Skanska’s in-house electrical contractor SRW Engineering Services has halted all work at the site.


Around 125 sparks have been told to down tools but still turn up for work to get paid.


Workers are being told that the suspension is taking place to deliver design changes and alter work planning....

 

[najaB]

This article suggests it is not all running smoothly everywhere.

Indeed. It sounds bad. But for some perspective, that's one station out of 40 and one of the most complex jobs too.

 

[gsnedders]

I guess a large part of the question is whether the stations that are unfinished are unfinished in such a way such that service can commence (with or without stopping at them!) and have them completed overnights.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

The Channel Tunnel project managed to lose a year between completion of tunnelling and opening for service.
The management/contractors took their eyes off the ball after the high-profile breakthrough.
The "easy" (surface) sections of Crossrail are not all that easy.
The GE and GW section upgrades, and joining them to the new tunnels, is a really complex project, and mostly in NR's hands.
Hopefully there is enough slack to make up any loss.

 

[hwl]

I guess a large part of the question is whether the stations that are unfinished are unfinished in such a way such that service can commence (with or without stopping at them!) and have them completed overnights.

They effectively have 2 years to get the core and Abbey Wood Branch sorted so a reasonable chance but likely to eat up contingency of 9-10 months rather quickly.

Lets hope they don't have any issues with live OHLE part heights at this stage.

 

[edwin_m]

The Channel Tunnel project managed to lose a year between completion of tunnelling and opening for service.
The management/contractors took their eyes off the ball after the high-profile breakthrough.
The "easy" (surface) sections of Crossrail are not all that easy.
The GE and GW section upgrades, and joining them to the new tunnels, is a really complex project, and mostly in NR's hands.
Hopefully there is enough slack to make up any loss.

Most of the time and cost of this sort of project sits with the civil engineers, but most of the risk is in the systems and integration. So while every indication is that Crossrail is largely on time, it ain't over till it's over.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Wasn't HS1 pretty much on time and on budget, if timed from when it was finally green-lit?

Or was that just Nigel Harris Propaganda?

 

[Tom m]

I am struggling to understand what is going take another 3 years to complete? Considering the tunneling and civil works are almost complete and a fair amount of track is already in place, is anyone able to give an idea of what's left on the to do list? I don't work in the industry and this is not a criticism but more of a genuine question as to understand what else has to happen before start of full service.

I understand the need for a phased introduction but December 2019 still seems a very long way away, especially as we are likely to see 387s running to maidenhead within a few months.

 

[Muzer]

Fitting out the stations I believe is a thing. I suspect the signalling systems too.

 

[Ianno87]

I guess a large part of the question is whether the stations that are unfinished are unfinished in such a way such that service can commence (with or without stopping at them!) and have them completed overnights.

One of the big aspects is whether the stations are completed to a state suitable for emergency/fire evacuation of a passenger train in the tunnels, even if trains are not making passenger calls there. Or the interim fire strategy does not require the ability to evacuate via that station (or the line is operationally managed to avoid needing to)

 

[306024]

I am struggling to understand what is going take another 3 years to complete?........

The Paddington - Abbey Wood service is only two years away. Prior to that an awful lot of testing is required, not to mention some 20 odd trains need building to run the service. These follow on from the 15 units required for the Great Eastern, and other units required for the Paddington - Heathrow service.

Yes signalling systems are also a major consideration. The technology involved also requires comprehensive testing.

 

[Busaholic]

Wasn't HS1 pretty much on time and on budget, if timed from when it was finally green-lit?

Or was that just Nigel Harris Propaganda?

Budget wise, about on a par with the London Olympics.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Budget wise, about on a par with the London Olympics.

That'd be a big fat NO then!

 

[edwin_m]

That'd be a big fat NO then!

The difference is that Crossrail's budget has stayed the same in real terms over the design and construction period of nearly a decade. It actually reduced by a billion or so in 2010 when the government agreed to delay completion by a year to allow a more efficient construction sequence (something to do with building the tunnels before the stations or vice versa).

The Olympics cost the same sort of amount as Crossrail but that was a lot more than originally announced.

 

[DimTim]

http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2017/01/19/crossrail-in-chaos-as-me-work-ripped-out/

Another article - doesn't make good reading!

 

[Jordeh]

Budget wise, about on a par with the London Olympics.

That'd be a big fat NO then!

The Olympics ran under budget...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/20041426

 

[wastedlife]

The Olympics ran under budget...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/20041426

Well it depends which budget you compare the actual cost to.
In fact, there's a link in that story that takes you to
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6453575.stm

So the Olympics cost four times the original budget on which our bid was based, and spent 2/3rds of the £2.7bn contingency in the revised budget.