At the height of the MPs expenses' scandal in May 2009, prime minister Gordon Brown took time from leading the country to join London mayor Boris Johnson and junior transport minister Lord Adonis at Canary Wharf. The trio were there to launch one of the UK's most ambitious infrastructure projects: Crossrail, a sprawling 100 plus kilometre rail project connecting East and West London. Yesterday, almost a decade on, Crossrail was delayed. Its December 2018 completion date was pushed back nine months. But why?
“The biggest infrastructure project in Europe, in a state of crisis," Adonis, who has since chaired the national infrastructure commission, said in response to the news. Politicising the issue he blamed transport secretary Chris Grayling, who moved Crossrail's chairman to Highspeed 2 and then looked on as the CEO resigned.
But things are complicated. "It's not a huge surprise and I don't think you can pin it on one particular aspect," says Christian Wolmar, a transport expert and author. "I don't think there's some kind of great big scandal at the heart of this."
It was probably inevitable that such a large project would get delayed. In July 2018, rail minister Jo Johnson announced the Crossrail budget had increased from £14.8 billion to £15.4bn. The Department for Transport and Transport for London are providing £150 million each to help meet the increased costs. "The programme is now 93 per cent complete and is entering the critical testing and commissioning stage," Johnson said at the time.
The delay – called a "revised schedule" by Crossrail – is focussed around the middle section of the Elizabeth Line, the official name of the line the trains will run on. Trains are already operating on parts of the line between Shenfield and Liverpool Street in the east of London and in the west between Paddington and Hayes and Harlington. The central part of the line, between Paddington and Abbey Wood, will be the section that does not open until autumn 2019.
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"The original programme for testing has been compressed by more time being needed by contractors to complete fit-out activity in the central tunnels and the development of railway systems software," Crossrail said in a statement announcing the delay. "Testing has started but further time is required to complete the full range of integrated tests."
"I think the big issue is the signalling because it has to have three signalling systems," Wolmar explains. Because Crossrail intersects with existing Network Rail track it is using multiple signalling systems. According to Siemens, radio Communications-Based Train Control will be used alongside the European Train Control System and Train Protection Warning System. "Dynamic switchover between the three control systems will ensure smooth integration of the differing lines," the firm says.
It's the complexity of these systems and how they work together that could be causing issues for Crossrail. "Trains are more software than hardware these days," Wolmar adds. "The hardware is pretty simple but the software is the real issue. Debugging the software is a massive task."
Andrew Wolstenholme, who stepped down as Crossrail chief executive in March, has previously said the project has to be cautious when mixing the different systems. Crossrail had been writing and testing software and running trains on the three different systems at a test centre in Melton, a report in New Civil Engineer revealed. For the proposed Crossrail 2 route engineers have already decided to use just one type of signalling.
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The scale of Crossrail as an infrastructure project is dizzying. For three years, eight giant tunnelling machines dug below the streets of London to create more than 42km of new train tunnels. Each machine weighed more than 1,000 tonnes and took a crew of 20 people to operate.
As well as the new tunnels, ten new stations are being created as part of the overall 40 stations on the Elizabeth Line. The new Tottenham Court Road interchange, which connects with London Underground's Northern and Central lines, has had two 234-meter-long platforms created that sit 24 metres below the ground. In total 1.5km of platforms and pedestrian tunnels have been created to funnel people through the stations.
When the Crossrail works are finally completed and the full Elizabeth Line is up and running it's expected the trains will carry 200 million passengers per year. The brains behind Crossrail predict it will reduce journey times for people commuting around London and at their peak trains will run at every two and a half minutes through London. However, the delays will mean commuters will have to continue to use London's existing infrastructure and aren't in the same league as the rail problems in the North of England that have seen hundreds of services cancelled every day.
Aside from signalling issues, there are still a lot of pressures on the new Crossrail infrastructure. "They probably underestimated the sheer difficulties of fitting all these systems out: the safety systems, ventilation, high-powered electricity systems, lighting, public announcement systems and everything else," Wolmar says. "They all need to be put in these massive structures." In comments made to The Guardian, Adonis predicted there may be more delays. Crossrail may not be fully completed until 2020, he said.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
