Crossrail opening delayed (opening date not yet known)

[iphone76]

They look like the testing diagrams we should have been driving from 30th July 2018. The idea is/was to run an intensive service to prove everything worked, plus to allow training for station staff, etc.

The new date we have been given to run this service is April 2019, however, we have also just started hearing rumours about this new 2020 date.

I guess if we don't start in April, that will be an indication as to the project being pushed back further.

In the meantime some drivers are carrying out the dynamic testing on both sides, and other drivers are learning the route out to the West so everything else is carrying on in the background.

 

[matt_world2004]

Im betting the 7th September.

 

[Gooner18]

Wonder why they are still taking on trainee drivers

 

[Esker-pades]

Wonder why they are still taking on trainee drivers

They need more drivers.

 

[Gooner18]

They need more drivers.

But if they can’t train them up at the moment surely it’s worth holding off until they have a better idea of how the ground lays

 

[Esker-pades]

But if they can’t train them up at the moment surely it’s worth holding off until they have a better idea of how the ground lays

From their point of view, they know how many they will need at the end of the project. So, if they keep a steady stream of applicants coming in, even if they have to wait, they know that, come the end of the project, they'll have enough. That's how I see it anyway.

 

[Andrew S]

I will not give away my sources, but lets give you some help!

Do some maths on the works still programmed, where work actually is at on some core stations (and how long it was proposed to get from there to ready to open when this information was public), the need for Xmas possessions in 2018 AND 2019 to get the railway ready, read about the change of director of Crossrail & why; go look at some of these sites and where they are construction wise (ignoring the few that are visually nearly there).

Think of the politics, change of director, opportunity to announce further delay following his review of where Crossrail is at. The £350 million given to tide TfL over etc, the signs are there in the public domain if you look & think about it.

A bit of a David Icke type here.

 

[DEAN MURPHY]

Old oak last week

 

[samuelmorris]

All those 9-car units that'll sit unused for over a year but still Ilford have to tirelessly maintain 315s over here. Hmm..

 

[DEAN MURPHY]

22 sets there

 

[306024]

All those 9-car units that'll sit unused for over a year but still Ilford have to tirelessly maintain 315s over here. Hmm..

The new year should see less 315s on the GE as the 7 car 345s return from out west. And of course 9 car trains can’t be used on the GE until platforms 16 and 17 at Liverpool St are lengthened. But the real issue is the logistics of converting those 7 car 345s into 9 cars once nearly everything else is up and running. It isn’t just a case of shunting the missing two coaches back in overnight unfortunately, today’s trains are far more complex than that.

 

[samuelmorris]

Yeah, well aware of the reasons why. The obfuscated change in timescales is frustrating though as let's face it, if Crossrail really is 18 months away as has been suggested, there's ample time to reform enough units to 7-car to run every TfL service. The fixed deadline of opening 9-car areas is no more, so they could go 7 to 9 at a more reasonable pace and simply open the whole route once they've converted all the 7s to 9s.

 

[reddragon]

https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/...aying-the-154bn-mega-project/10034947.article

Careful, you only get one read before the paywall pops up.

This article tells part of the story in more detail. Bond Street Station is 18 months behind - they are still building the basic structure there, with 18 months of work to go!! This is not the only station well behind either.

Elements of the M&E haven't even started on any station. This stuff is bespoke, with very long lead times, I know how long it takes me to get this stuff, they don't sell it at B&Q you know. Much of it is imported (don't mention Brexit).

There will be a contingency plan or 2, but go look at Ealing Broadway another basket case, I wish the team luck there!

My sauce is HP by the way!

 

[samuelmorris]

I remember that article but, at the risk of being a bit of an idealist, the JLE proved that stations can be unfinished but the service can still open a little earlier, given Westminster opened a month after the line was completed. Presumably if Bond Street is far more delayed than anything else the service could potentially pass through it at first, so I wouldn't necessarily take the 18 month delay there to mean the entire programme is 18 months late.

 

[MotCO]

In the meantime some drivers are carrying out the dynamic testing on both sides, and other drivers are learning the route out to the West so everything else is carrying on in the background.

The good news is that at least it looks as though Crosrail will not face the same shortage of untrained drivers which beset the Thameslink project. The bad news is that the training will probably expire before Crossrail opens, so the drivers will need refresher courses.

 

[Belperpete]

Elements of the M&E haven't even started on any station. This stuff is bespoke, with very long lead times, I know how long it takes me to get this stuff, they don't sell it at B&Q you know. Much of it is imported (don't mention Brexit).

Yes, but just because work hasn't started on site, doesn't mean the stuff hasn't been ordered.

 

[FOH]

Given the state Whitechapel looks like I'd be amazed if it is finished by year end

 

[Belperpete]

The good news is that at least it looks as though Crosrail will not face the same shortage of untrained drivers which beset the Thameslink project. The bad news is that the training will probably expire before Crossrail opens, so the drivers will need refresher courses.

Isn't that what happened to Northern?

 

[ijmad]

Of all the stations that could open late, Bond Street seems like the least worst in many ways, given it's one stop down the Central Line from TCR. So the Jubilee won't get interchange there for a while but those passengers already have their own (albeit slower!) route to Stratford, Canary Wharf and the Docklands.

In fact, has anyone else noticed that once the Elizabeth Line is open, those wanting to travel from Bond Street to Stratford will have three different direct routes to chose from? (Random, I know, but this just occurred to me when looking at the map yesterday).

 

[matthewmacleod]

Bond Street Station is 18 months behind - they are still building the basic structure there, with 18 months of work to go!! This is not the only station well behind either.

From the article:

It expects most of the stations will be fully completed by the end of the year. There is one exception, however: Bond Street.… For years, testing ground conditions meant many had singled out Whitechapel as the station most likely to be finished late. Instead, it is Bond Street that has emerged as the most challenging station.… CN understands that the Bond Street works are expected to be complete well before the autumn opening date next year, and are not one of the major reasons for the delay of nine months.

It doesn't seem like delays to Whitechapel or Bond Street are really the primary cause of the delays. If anything, the impression I get from this article (which lines up with what we saw before) is that testing — delayed in part due to the Pudding Mill Lane fudge-up — is the big scary issue.

 

[reddragon]

Yes, but just because work hasn't started on site, doesn't mean the stuff hasn't been ordered.

You might think that but I couldn't possibly comment!

 

[matt_world2004]

I thought the main reason for the delay is that leaky feeder cable was installed with insulation over it.

 

[absolutelymilk]

Any word on when proper testing will start in the core?

 

[mrmartin]

Any updates generally? Very little noise on this project since the delay was announced.

 

[matt_world2004]

Not in the core some signal failures have been caused by the testing of crossrail trains in the heathrow branch

 

[samuelmorris]

Farringdon station appears no less a building site than it was before, despite still seeing work going on. I appreciate most of what's underneath is done but it's pretty clear the stations weren't as 'nearly finished' as was made out either. I haven't heard anything myself and I'd like to know how much substance there is to the 'it's less like 9 months, more like 18' suggestion posted here a while back. Having recently had to make trips from both Paddington and Tottenham Court Road back home, it really is a project that directly affects me from both a journey time and convenience factor, quite considerably.

 

[cybergreg]

Any updates generally? Very little noise on this project since the delay was announced.

I visited the Whitechapel building site about 4 years ago, and receive regular updates since then - quite detailed ones.
Here's a link to the latest update.
I guess such feed exists for all stations somewhere...

 

[mrmartin]

FT Article

Crossrail to demand ‘hundreds of millions’ in fresh bailout

Crossrail will demand “hundreds of millions” of pounds from the government in its third bailout of the year, according to people familiar with the growing crisis at the London rail project.

The news comes as controversy mounts over whether Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, misled the public over the project’s delays and cost overruns.

Don't have a good gut feel about this at all - can't see much progress on the stations I go through, still look extremely unfinished. Think we could be looking at a fairly massive cost overrun here...

 

[Taunton]

Passing various sites, still incomplete, almost all work seems to have ceased. No sign of any testing either. You start to get the impression that they have just given up.

 

[samuelmorris]

That's kind of the impression I got too, though I assumed it wasn't actually the case. I wonder if things have slowed down now that there's legal disputes about contractors not getting paid.