Projects on time and budget

[pnepaul]

I'm sure the press will delight in reminding us all how late and over budget CrossRail is.

I am wondering if any of the knowledgable people on this forum can give examples of projects that were on budget and time. I would be interested to know.

 

[D6130]

HS1, I believe....although I'm open to correction.

 

[matthewmacleod]

Airdrie to Bathgate, I think?

 

[DarloRich]

There will be thousands. Most of them never on the radar of posters here

 

[jfollows]

I was going to reply "those for which I was responsible" which I'm glad to say was generally the case, but had nothing to do with railways.
Back on railways, I get the feeling that the first phase of the NW electrification, that's to say the Liverpool-Manchester over Chat Moss went reasonably well on these criteria - I was in hospital when it went live but I think it was on time. It was the subsequent phases that ran late I think.

 

[scrapy]

I was going to reply "those for which I was responsible" which I'm glad to say was generally the case, but had nothing to do with railways.
Back on railways, I get the feeling that the first phase of the NW electrification, that's to say the Liverpool-Manchester over Chat Moss went reasonably well on these criteria - I was in hospital when it went live but I think it was on time. It was the subsequent phases that ran late I think.

Yes it did, as did Blackpool to Preston

 

[camflyer]

I'm sure the press will delight in reminding us all how late and over budget CrossRail is.

I am wondering if any of the knowledgable people on this forum can give examples of projects that were on budget and time. I would be interested to know.

One problem is that the budgets and timelines for big projects often aren't set realistically in the first place (often for political reasons to make them more palatable) so they were never going to be achieved. Add into that a constant array of politicians meddling with the scope (just look at HS2) and it's not surprising that so many are delivered late and/or over budget.

 

[imagination]

Aylesbury Vale Parkway opened early, and I believe was within budget as well? May be wrong about the second part.

 

[dosxuk]

One problem is that the budgets and timelines for big projects often aren't set realistically in the first place (often for political reasons to make them more palatable) so they were never going to be achieved. Add into that a constant array of politicians meddling with the scope (just look at HS2) and it's not surprising that so many are delivered late and/or over budget.

The other major cause is scope creep - there's lots of projects where they get delayed or expanded because once things get approved other parties go "well, if you're doing all that, it's only going to cost a little bit too add this on".

 

[InOban]

Many of the individual parts of the Edinburgh /Glasgow /Stirling electrification works, eg the bridge renewals, were completed ahead of time.

 

[Tio Terry]

Reading Station.

 

[2192]

The extra platforms at Waterloo to take Channel Tunnel trains.

 

[507020]

The Manchester Metrolink extension to “intu Trafford Centre” as it was then opened months ahead of schedule and a few million under budget, before the additional trams needed to run the service had been delivered and just in time for Covid to take away all its potential passengers and intu itself to go bust. Services are now branded simply as being to “The Trafford Centre”

 

[Kite159]

The Manchester Metrolink extension to “intu Trafford Centre” as it was then opened months ahead of schedule and a few million under budget, before the additional trams needed to run the service had been delivered and just in time for Covid to take away all its potential passengers and intu itself to go bust. Services are now branded simply as being to “The Trafford Centre”

Wasn't the Metrolink line to the Airport the same in terms of opening months ahead of schedule?

(No doubt the new owners of the Trafford Centre are enjoying the extra passengers the metrolink line is bringing in, especially those who had previously avoided visiting due to requiring a bus or car)

 

[RPI]

Okehampton was £10m UNDER budget

 

[MotCO]

The other major cause is scope creep - there's lots of projects where they get delayed or expanded because once things get approved other parties go "well, if you're doing all that, it's only going to cost a little bit too add this on".

The other consideration is that some schemes are 'under-spec'd' deliberately to bring the cost down within Business Case / Treasury limits, then after being given approval and work starts beyond the point of no return, the cost 'mysteriously' increase. Or am I being too cynical?

 

[507020]

(No doubt the new owners of the Trafford Centre are enjoying the extra passengers the metrolink line is bringing in, especially those who had previously avoided visiting due to requiring a bus or car)

The only issue with it is that passengers arriving from the west have to double back via Manchester city centre to access the tram, while those in cars can drive directly (the same problem applies to the airport)

Okehampton was £10m UNDER budget

That was another one. This was helped in part by things like using up purple dampness spec Pandrol clips Network Rail had lying around left over from the Severn Tunnel electrification.

 

[InTheEastMids]

The other consideration is that some schemes are 'under-spec'd' deliberately to bring the cost down within Business Case / Treasury limits, then after being given approval and work starts beyond the point of no return, the cost 'mysteriously' increase.

One problem is that the budgets and timelines for big projects often aren't set realistically in the first place

The other major cause is scope creep

All these tend to apply more to bigger projects, particularly "megaprojects" (>$1Bn). There's a Danish guy at Oxford Uni - Prof Bent Flyvbjerg - who has carved out quite a niche looking at why megaprojects "fail". Failure also doesn't just mean time or budget but also benefits delivery.

This article covers some of the main points of his argument, but there are lots of other free-to-read resources out there:

The Iron Law of Megaprojects | Towards Data Science

Over budget, over time, under benefits, over and over again

towardsdatascience.com

There will be thousands. Most of them never on the radar of posters here

Agreed. They just tend to have a much lower profile and - importantly - fall within the "business as usual" of the client and its supply chain.

 

[Magdalia]

London Bridge rebuild facilitating expansion of Thameslink?

 

[317 forever]

Wasn't the Metrolink line to the Airport the same in terms of opening months ahead of schedule?

(No doubt the new owners of the Trafford Centre are enjoying the extra passengers the metrolink line is bringing in, especially those who had previously avoided visiting due to requiring a bus or car)

Yes, Metrolink to Manchester Airport was earmarked for opening in early 2016 but opened in November 2014.

I even rode it later that month as such an early opening was unlikely to be replicated anywhere for quite some time.

 

[43055]

Derby was certainly on-time but not sure about the budget.