Crossrail delayed a year from 9th December opening

TfL have just announced that Crossrail opening between Paddington and Abbey Wood has been delayed by almost a year to Autumn 2019.

The delay will disappoint many and do huge damage to TfL finances which are already squeezed, leading to numerous bus cuts.

It’s believe some stations on the route are not ready. Woolwich station is one such, and rumours have swirled for months it was behind schedule.



TfL states that “further time required to ensure a safe and reliable railway for customers from day one of passenger service.”

Put the covers back on

Train issues?

Train testing is now frequent from Abbey Wood station though the rolling stock has also encountered faults during testing, but there’s nothing unusual about that and would have been known. Perhaps the Thameslink issue has spooked those in charge and played a role.

Bad news all round as another year of sweaty central line journeys and overcrowding at many locations across London.

More soon.

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I've lived in south east London most of my life growing up in Greenwich borough and working in the area for many years. The site has contributors on occasion and we cover many different topics. Living and working in the area offers an insight into what is happening locally.

21 thoughts on “Crossrail delayed a year from 9th December opening

  • I expected it but nine months! The DLR will get ever more busy then from Woolwich. So many homes opening from Woolwich to Canning Town.

    Reply
  • “I could’ve…bought somewhere that isn’t an absolute shithole”.

    Think we all wish you’d bought somewhere else as well, mate.

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    • I regret that harsh and knee-jerk reaction of a description… but the sentiment remains the same.

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      • We welcome your departure to the north….

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        • Bye everyone. Overstayed my welcome by what? 2 weeks.

          To be fair I’m angry, I’m devastated, and a bit lost to be honest. It’s my first house, it’s terrifying, and I’m completely new to South East London. I need time to bed in to the area of course, and I chose Woolwich for many more reasons than Crossrail. The value for money, the plans for development, the plans for the creative quarter, the all you can eat chinese buffet right outside the station, the equitable pub quiz on a thursday, the pigeons etc etc.

          I apologise for the offence caused by my completely unfair and frankly wrong description of the town centre – because let’s be honest, it really isn’t that at all. A bit of a tidy up, and some regeneration on the shop fronts that are a bit shabby and it’d be awesome.

          Sorry again 🙁

          Reply
  • One of the original concerns was the shared signalling with existing, slower infrastructure. The idea of Crossrail was high speed across the board rather than certain stretches as was the case with Eurostar out of Waterloo. A full years delay could mean that the signalling issue has changed significantly – possibly British Rail’s ongoing upgrades. I dread to think how this will affect the poor souls who will be relying on the 53 to get to work, or those who will be affected by ferry closure.

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    • They’ve talked of signalling issues but Abbey Wood to Paddington is self contained and doesn’t mix with other systems, which does happen for future stages to Shenfield and Heathrow/Reading through the core. It shouldn’t be impacted by compatibility issues.

      Reply
  • The rolling stock, tracks, and most of the stations are all ready.
    The problem lies with electrical matters inside the stations, why are they not ready? it’s because all of London electricians have been at Tottenham’s new football stadium being paid stupid money in an attempt to get the ground ready for the new PL season, which they have missed, and the tfl has been caught slipping as a result.
    Joke of a city, with a joke of a mayor.

    Reply
    • Not sure you can blame the Mayor for this. It would’ve happened regardless.

      Reply
  • Which means the rationale to change the bus services is also 9 months behind – though of course they will still need to cut for budgetary reasons

    Reply
  • There is nothing new in major projects delays and overrun cost, this is sort of “normal” in the industry. However, till recently it was praised for being on budget and then it has been increased from £14.8 billion to £15.4 billion due to “cost pressures”; and on time till today announcement of delay till Autumn 2019. Would be interesting to see what Autumn 2019 means 1st September or 31 November. 9-12 month delay is bit too long, especially as testing of the line on this complex 10 years project was supposed to start earlier this year. And even then there is no guarantee that it would not be delayed till 2020 and some stations omitted from service due to uncompleted work.

    Shame the delay was not announced earlier, though perhaps it was expected. Transport secretary Chris “Failing” Grayling moved Sir Terry Morgan to be a chair of HS2 and that was soon after Andrew Wolstenholme, the chief executive left to join BAE Systems as group managing director in May. It would be nice to see them paying back at least their performance pay to cover overrun cost 😉

    After all would be interesting to see Crossrail 2 development if any…

    Reply
      • Sure 30th, just wonder if anyone read it and even bother to comment on 🙂

        From today’s Construction Enquirer http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2018/08/31/crossrail-chiefs-admit-job-is-nine-months-late/

        Crossrail chiefs pocketed more than £800,000 in bonus payments last year.

        The bonus figures were contained in Transport for London’s draft annual report for the financial year to March 31 2018.

        They relate to bonuses earned in 2016/17 and paid in 2017/18.

        The report details pay for the 20 Crossrail executives employed that year who had a base salary of more than £150,000

        The biggest beneficiary was former chief executive Andrew Wolstenholme who left the project in March.

        Wolstenholme was paid a performance related bonus of £160,000 on top of his base salary of £476,772.

        He was also paid “compensation for loss of employment” of £97,734.

        Programme Director Simon Wright – who took over Wolstenholme’s role – was given a £105,568 bonus on top of his base salary of £328,873.

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        • yes, read of course VK. Until is by the way with a single L, it now says ‘cash register’. Having read this reply i now understand your intention was to mention the Crossrail cash register to highlight the delay til late 2019

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  • Autumn 2019 could be false deadline to leave themselves some wriggle room

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    • A good project manager would, in the event of a delay, announce a deadline with plenty of wiggle room so that if it turns out that Crossrail is ready earlier, they can announce a “surprise win” and reap the good publicity for getting it done “ahead of schedule, despite delays”.

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      • That’s the hope!

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  • Bummer….

    Was looking forward to the quick journeys into the city centre…

    I’m blaming the Tory/Lib Dem decision to cut the budget and move back a year in 2010, indicating that poorly thought through cuts lead to greater costs in the long run. If Labour had won in 2010, and we had avoided all this counter productive austerity, maybe Crossrail would already be running, see below:

    Crossrail’s budget was set at £15.9 billion in 2007, but this was cut to £14.8 billion in the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government’s Comprehensive Spending Review in 2010.

    Services were originally due to begin in 2017, but a decision was made in October 2010 to push this back by 12 months.

    The start date of December 2018 has now been delayed until autumn 2019 as more time is needed to complete building works…

    Jo Johnston, has recently increased the budget by 600million, eating into the projected 2010 cost saving, somewhat proving my earlier point…

    Projects run on balancing the forces of time, cost and resources, slashed budget in 2010 and we see the result today….

    Reply
  • we need a Trump person to run things here in Britain #MAKEBRITAINGREATAGAIN

    Reply

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