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Crossrail - Construction updates and progress towards opening (now expected 24 May 2022)

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Nicholas Lewis

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Hear, hear! This project could do with a firm kick up the arse and some positive thinking and action.
 

Horizon22

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A video yesterday about Paddington Crossrail.


I have been through the mainline station several times and you can clearly see the concourse from behind the hoarding on P1 / ticket office that basically looks good to go
 

higthomas

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I must say, the stations do all look amazing. I can't wait until they open (& I can go and visit them without thinking about Covid!)
 

kevin_roche

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I must say, the stations do all look amazing. I can't wait until they open (& I can go and visit them without thinking about Covid!)
I do wonder which will come first. I'm looking forward to taking my mask on a journey from Reading to Shenfield.
 

matt_world2004

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I do wonder which will come first. I'm looking forward to taking my mask on a journey from Reading to Shenfield.
Facemasks will be long gone by the time there is a train from reading to shenfield given the reading trains are only planned to go to abbey wood.
 

Horizon22

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One thing I am curious about is changing if the only section is open is to Abbey Wood - I imagine Whitechapel wouldn't actually be a change and you'd have an out of system interchange at Liverpool St to the mainline station if you want to head on East?
 

Taunton

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I do wish that Crossrail PR would hold themselves back until they actually had achieved something for the passenger. "Look at these escalators which nobody can use for a long time yet" is not really valuable. And whoever wrote "construction works sufficiently finished for final commissioning activities to start" clearly never went to building college. Commissioning is an integral part of the overall project.

All reminiscent of the PR hoopla some years ago on Thameslink about the "completion" of the Borough Market widening, when in fact the track had not been installed and was not going to be for the next two years - concealed by clever accompanying photographs which didn't show the trackbed.
 

Horizon22

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I do wish that Crossrail PR would hold themselves back until they actually had achieved something for the passenger. "Look at these escalators which nobody can use for a long time yet" is not really valuable. And whoever wrote "construction works sufficiently finished for final commissioning activities to start" clearly never went to building college. Commissioning is an integral part of the overall construction.

All reminiscent of the PR hoopla some years ago on Thameslink about the "completion" of the Borough Market widening, when in fact the track had not been installed and was not going to be for the next two years - concealed by clever accompanying photographs which didn't show the trackbed.

Not to mention a viable timetable running!
 

matt_world2004

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One thing I am curious about is changing if the only section is open is to Abbey Wood - I imagine Whitechapel wouldn't actually be a change and you'd have an out of system interchange at Liverpool St to the mainline station if you want to head on East?
Liverpool Street will be an OSI anyway for the cheshunt /Enfield town overground services
 

CeeJ

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I do wish that Crossrail PR would hold themselves back until they actually had achieved something for the passenger. "Look at these escalators which nobody can use for a long time yet" is not really valuable. And whoever wrote "construction works sufficiently finished for final commissioning activities to start" clearly never went to building college. Commissioning is an integral part of the overall project.

All reminiscent of the PR hoopla some years ago on Thameslink about the "completion" of the Borough Market widening, when in fact the track had not been installed and was not going to be for the next two years - concealed by clever accompanying photographs which didn't show the trackbed.
According to the Crossrail website:

The station has reached its T-12 landmark, this means the station is now considered to be 12 weeks away from being ready for handover to Transport for London (TfL), who will operate the Elizabeth line.
I seem to recall a while back that the testing, certification and commissioning stages had started for Paddington last year. XR are suggesting it'll be handed over in 3 months.
 

Taunton

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I really don't think it's a landmark one part of the Crossrail management structure handing over to another part. Of course, the PR team haven't had a lot to do since 2018 ...
 

kevin_roche

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I was interested to read that many of the contractors working on Crossrail are likely to be affected by the IR35 tax rules. One of the rules, which says that people should be treated as employees if they work for a particular employer for more than a specified length of time. This could result in many contractors leaving the project. The alternative is they become full-time employees and as many of the consortia building stations are nearly finished they won't be planning to take on new full-time employees.
 

jon0844

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I must say, the stations do all look amazing. I can't wait until they open (& I can go and visit them without thinking about Covid!)

I have to keep laughing to myself that you can see the progress of these stations in 2021 and wonder how anyone could have the balls to pretend everything was fine until a few months before the supposed opening date!
 

zwk500

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I really don't think it's a landmark one part of the Crossrail management structure handing over to another part. Of course, the PR team haven't had a lot to do since 2018 ...
It doesn't really matter how big a handover (if any) takes place, it's still a landmark in the sense of a recognisable point from which a position can be judged. I agree with you it's not the most significant milestone along the way, but progress is progress.
 

matt_world2004

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I have to keep laughing to myself that you can see the progress of these stations in 2021 and wonder how anyone could have the balls to pretend everything was fine until a few months before the supposed opening date!
The Western branch stations were worse . Hayes and Ealing Broadway were holes.in the ground on the original crossrail launch date and were supposed to have opened in December 2017
 

ainsworth74

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Crossrail | TfL boss sets internal target to get line open this year and for less than revised budget​




Source: https://www.newcivilengineer.com/la...-and-for-less-than-revised-budget-27-01-2021/

And now suggestions are being made that it should be delayed again...

Crossrail urged to delay schedule to ease ‘intense pressure’ on assurance workers​


Jacobs has encouraged Crossrail bosses to push back the project’s schedule to ease the “intense pressure” on assurance workers.

In its latest publicly available project representative report (Prep 9), Jacobs calls for the trial running target date to be reset due to concerns over resources and the amount of assurance work still to be carried out.

Trial running will involve the intensive operational testing of the railway, paving the way for it to open during the first half of 2022.

The current target date to enter trial running and Jacobs’ recommended reset date have been redacted from the public record. However, Crossrail chief executive Mark Wild has previously said trial running would begin by the end of first quarter of 2021/ beginning of the second quarter.

The Jacobs report adds that resource levels are still a “critical concern” as the project moves towards trial running.

“Optimisation of overall organisation resources, to within CRL’s budgetary constraints, remains a critical concern,” Jacobs Prep report states.

“The scale of the task and volume of work to complete represents a significant undertaking. This is causing intense pressure on the assurance teams.”

It adds: “We remain concerned that the rate of processing information to support the safety assurance process is ambitious and will require a performance step-change not previously evident on the programme.”

In its official response, Crossrail said that “further work” was being carried out to its detailed workforce plan. It added that Jacobs’ recommendation to delay the start of trial running had been “noted, as are the sources of pressure identified”.

...


(With thanks to @mrmartin for sending the link)
 

Taunton

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Crossrail urged to delay schedule to ease ‘intense pressure’ on assurance workers

Jacobs has encouraged Crossrail bosses to push back the project’s schedule to ease the “intense pressure” on assurance workers.
Is part of Jacobs fees based per month?

A classic contractor approach is to encourage client variations that extend the project and thus extend those parts for overheads/supervision etc that are charged by the month.
 

Dstock7080

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On Friday 5 March, Farringdon Elizabeth Line station will be the first core station to transfer to London Underground as landlord and infrastructure manager.
Bringing to LU the new Smithfield Market ticket hall including; 6 ticket gates, 2 wide-aisle gates and 2 ticket vending machines; 11 new escalators and 5 new lifts.

Tottenham Court Road is due to transfer in May.
 

Ianno87

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Is part of Jacobs fees based per month?

A classic contractor approach is to encourage client variations that extend the project and thus extend those parts for overheads/supervision etc that are charged by the month.

To which the client doesn't have to agree.
 

Non Multi

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Crossrail urged to delay schedule to ease ‘intense pressure’ on assurance workers

Jacobs has encouraged Crossrail bosses to push back the project’s schedule to ease the “intense pressure” on assurance workers.
Tremendously disappointed that the opportunity to state that "Jacobs are Cream Crackered", was missed...

But not by me!
 

Horizon22

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On Friday 5 March, Farringdon Elizabeth Line station will be the first core station to transfer to London Underground as landlord and infrastructure manager.
Bringing to LU the new Smithfield Market ticket hall including; 6 ticket gates, 2 wide-aisle gates and 2 ticket vending machines; 11 new escalators and 5 new lifts.

Tottenham Court Road is due to transfer in May.
Now confirmed as handed over: https://www.railinsider.co.uk/2021/...-station-handed-over-to-transport-for-london/
Crossrail, which is building London’s new Elizabeth line railway under the heart of the city, has officially handed over Farringdon station to Transport for London (TfL) today. It is the first of the central London stations to be transferred over to TfL, which will operate the Elizabeth line.

Extensive testing and commissioning of the station’s systems have been finalised in advance of Trial Operations beginning later this year – the final phase of testing involving trials to ensure the safety and reliability of the railway for public use that will include real-time testing of evacuations of trains and stations.
 
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Snow1964

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I was under the impression that it was TCR & Paddington next, and that Whitechapel was a little further behind.

Farringdon reached T-12 just before Christmas
Tottenham Court Road was announced as T-12 on 12th February
Paddington was announced as T-12 on 22nd February

T-12 is 12 weeks to handover

Whitechapel, Liverpool St, Bond Street not yet reached T-12
 

Nicholas Lewis

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When is trial running going to start. The last six reports to London Assembly Transport Committee have been saying Trial Running will start as soon as possible in 2021 but with each report the same statement gets repeated and the hapless members of the committee just seem accepting that there isn't even some ranging dates by now.
 
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