If thats allowed to happen it shows appalling project management. Checking each component is on time properly is more then asking staff if everything is going OK. Its actually checking real progress. Line managers should show they have checked stuff is actually done, and regular scrums allow peers to see if there is an issue somewhere.
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Crossrail opening delayed (opening date not yet known)
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samuelmorris
Established Member
From very much an outsider's perspective it sounds like if there were issues in Siemens' area, they have been overshadowed by the issues with the trains themselves, which in turn are overshadowed by the infrastructure delays at Crossrail's end. Doesn't sound like Siemens are that much in the wrong, at least not yet. They took the effort to warn about delays the earliest and seem to have been fairly forthright about the issues they're dealing with.
Esker-pades
Established Member
That BBC documentary The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway is back on iPlayer. It hasn't aged very well.
Oh dear 
. I did enjoy it at the time though... I wonder how many people they talked to for the 'final countdown' (season 2) already had an inkling things might not be going quite according to plan even as they gushed about the artistic station design.
I suspect a lot of media Crossrail has put out won't have aged very well, as looking back they've been quite good at completely ignoring certain issues whuch are now apparent, and repeatedly unleashing the 'on time and on budget' catchphrase whenever possible.
. I did enjoy it at the time though... I wonder how many people they talked to for the 'final countdown' (season 2) already had an inkling things might not be going quite according to plan even as they gushed about the artistic station design. I suspect a lot of media Crossrail has put out won't have aged very well, as looking back they've been quite good at completely ignoring certain issues whuch are now apparent, and repeatedly unleashing the 'on time and on budget' catchphrase whenever possible.
samuelmorris
Established Member
It certainly had me fooled for a while, before I looked into things a bit more closely!
I only caught the tail end but it did feel like a massive and sad anticlimax given where we've ended up. It was nice seeing the Farringdon project manager again - I've met her on a visit and she's quite a character. Seeing them sort of "crowing" about "progress" at Whitechapel made me a tad cross because it's been evident for a long time it was way way behind schedule and still is.
I suppose there is a bit of a warning for future big infrastructure projects about letting the cameras in while you're building stuff. There's no doubt there's a public interest in seeing how stuff is built but the risk of appearing a bit glib or smug is ever present if things later go pear shaped. I wonder if we will see a change in approach which focuses more on pure technical achievement and less on wider project promotional "upside" which was clearly part of the Crossrail plan in supporting this TV series?
There was meant to be a third series called the grand opening broadcast over Xmas 2018 
. According to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fifteen_Billion_Pound_Railway
. According to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fifteen_Billion_Pound_Railway
I wonder if they actually did the filming for the third series. I feel like it should eventually be broadcast, as while it might seem like a bit of an anticlimax, it would show people how difficult things really have been and make explaining what went wrong much more personal and relatable. After all, we can't learn from others if problems are constantly brushed under the carpet and forgotten about.
Perhaps it will be aired along with a final opening episode when the thing does eventually get off the ground.
Perhaps it will be aired along with a final opening episode when the thing does eventually get off the ground.
Malcolmffc
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Perhaps with the title changed to The Seventeen Billion Pound Railway?
iphone76
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They did and still are filming.
matt_world2004
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The documentary is still a valuable historical record of how they built a railway line in early 21st century London.
"...and how they didn't open it on time"
Another great article from London Reconnections here:
https://www.londonreconnections.com/2019/crossrail-getting-a-grip/
Looks like 2020 will be the earliest. Huge problem with NR needing to reconfigure platforms 16-18 in Summer 2019 for longer trains - and potentially Liv St Low Level will be used for Shenfield trains and then reversed!
https://www.londonreconnections.com/2019/crossrail-getting-a-grip/
Looks like 2020 will be the earliest. Huge problem with NR needing to reconfigure platforms 16-18 in Summer 2019 for longer trains - and potentially Liv St Low Level will be used for Shenfield trains and then reversed!
samuelmorris
Established Member
Doesn't really make a lot of sense to me. If you can run the trains through the tunnel at all, why stop at Liverpool Street? If Farringdon station is due to be handed over in the Spring and that work's scheduled for the summer, you may as well terminate them at Farringdon and get some utility out of it. (assuming Fisher Street crossover is west of Farringdon station, if it's underneath the street of that name I imagine it is but I haven't seen the track diagram).
The TfL Rail peak service may not be as intensive as the full Crossrail core service but it's busy enough that the signalling system will have to be operational down there. Given we're supposed to have a full year of testing ahead, I can't see that being very realistic. I'm not even sure it'd be safe to send them west of Stratford down there to turn around empty with no signals.
Personally I only see two outcomes - either the Liverpool St remodel and all projects reliant on it slip back a year, or it carries on regardless and for the few months it takes to complete the TfL Rail peak service is reduced to 6tph terminating at Stratford with replacement buses in continuous operation to supplement the service frequency via Newbury Park as they currently do during engineering works. I think the former is probably more likely.
The other possibility is of course that the December 2019 PRM derogation doesn't happen and with a large proportion of Anglia services suspended until new rolling stock arrives, 345s get clearance to use platforms 8-14 at Liverpool St as well.
And that would be interesting to watch. Better than a "everything is brilliant" programme.
Well since the announcement last summer of the delay, there seems to have been no testing at all. I haven't seen a single train on the open section through Custom House.
For the hundreds of staff recruited and trained for the start last December, what are they doing?
For the hundreds of staff recruited and trained for the start last December, what are they doing?
bramling
Veteran Member
I know the control room staff have been doing some knowledge-gathering out and about elsewhere within TFL - spending time in LU control rooms and with incident response staff. No doubt they’ve been spending time with similar staff around the big railway too.
It does surprise me that there are potentially hundreds of trained staff standing by here (they will start to lose them), while the Goblin train issues cannot temporarily redeploy surplus stock from other places because there are not staff of the "right type" apparently to handle the half a dozen or so trains in circuit.
700007
Established Member
The staff that have been recruited particularly for the Central Section stations have been temporarily deployed at Eastern/Western stations (and Abbey Wood) on extra duties to help out around various stations during the day. So for example, stations that have had only the one staff member now have two or three rostered at the same time. Similarly, those originally with two or three now have had a top up if necessary of one or two extra people.
matt_world2004
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Like I said, a documentary on the construction of a railway in the early 21st century
colchesterken
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From what little I have seen they seemed to lack " get up and go " I used to live in Forest Gate and go back from time to time, for meetings etc.
The Job there was to demolish the staircases and rebuild 1/2 as wide with a lift taking up the other half, It has taken 3 yrs
Not been back but I assume it was finished in the Christmas works shutdown
The Job there was to demolish the staircases and rebuild 1/2 as wide with a lift taking up the other half, It has taken 3 yrs
Not been back but I assume it was finished in the Christmas works shutdown
matt_world2004
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Platform 5 has been further extended in length at Hayes.the buffers are still in the same position
pacenotes
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Platform 5 at West Drayton is getting built and 3 and 4 are also getting lengthened.
I seen a walkway went in at West Eailing over Christmas too.
I seen a walkway went in at West Eailing over Christmas too.
theironroad
Established Member
Interesting, that probably explains why at the tfl platform at Ealing Broadway there always seem to be a group of 4 near rear of train on the platform.
700007
Established Member
Indeed, a lot of them have been deployed at Ealing Broadway as of late as it is one of the busiest stations on the west.
Ealing Broadway is a weird one in itself as they have shut the main staircase leading to the NR platforms since December. I think they're installing a lift shaft or foundations there. So access to Platform 3 is via the footbridge on Platform 4.
There's close to 5/6 staff in the peaks on the two platforms with megaphones. Got shouted at once for walking outside of the yellow line trying to overtake some slow people.
Is the staircase reopened? I haven't been to the station since before Christmas.
There's close to 5/6 staff in the peaks on the two platforms with megaphones. Got shouted at once for walking outside of the yellow line trying to overtake some slow people.
Is the staircase reopened? I haven't been to the station since before Christmas.
iphone76
Member
The stairs opened at the end of November / beginning of December, but the lifts still say "Lifts Coming Soon". I saw on twitter today they said they would be operational by the end of February.
They took away the temporary stairs from Manor Park over the Christmas break, but the temporary bridge and stairs at FG are still present.
iphone76
Member
Let's hope this means they can soon start to use the 9 car 345s over on the West so the 7 cars can return back to the East.
Sebastian O
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Where/why is WD having a fifth platform added? Is this not just the freight avoiding line?
On this, was the freight avoiding line added for XR or was this already in place for the Colnbrook line?
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