New Crossrail / Elizabeth line tube map released

[mx wcfc]

recently we've had a decent record of bringing in major projects roughly in-line with cost and timetable.

Electrification of the line from Paddington to Wales & the South West? So delayed and the budget so blown they have given up.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Still, could be worse. If you fancy a giggle check out how the uber efficient engineering masters in Germany are getting on with their new airport in Berlin.

On a similar note, St Helena's airport is now open, has one flight a week from Johannesburg via Windhoek, goes on to Ascension, returns the following day. Uses an Embraer 190, but can't fly full as it needs to save fuel in case it can't land on St Helena.

 

[Teaboy]

Electrification of the line from Paddington to Wales & the South West? So delayed and the budget so blown they have given up.

That was a mess from start to finish. There have been loads of massive projects (and still are) going really rather well, just no really talks about things that go well.

 

[scifisam]

Not sure why anyone should be surprised that a major infrastructure project is delayed, isn't it the norm in this country?

The Overground made everybody look bad.

Except for the naming thing, which honestly could do with some work. I don't even care if they name various bits about hereditary nobodies as long as we know what's going where.

 

[paolo]

I was expecting a delay, but 9 months?! Bloody hell.

No I wasn’t expecting that either.

I’m guessing they are resetting to something achievable.

I’ve worked on a few projects that changed delivery date. Then changed again. And again... As little as two resets and credibility is in the toilet.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Oddly, I saw a train with the lizzy line logo on today way outside of London. No idea what it was doing this far north - perhaps it had took a wrong turn.

 

[paolo]

Oddly, I saw a train with the lizzy line logo on today way outside of London. No idea what it was doing this far north - perhaps it had took a wrong turn.

Passengers on board?

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Passengers on board?

Nope. It must have just got lost. Or someone twoc'd it.

 

[paolo]

Nope. It must have just got lost. Or someone twoc'd it.

Near Derby or Leicester?

 

[T & P]

No I wasn’t expecting that either.

I’m guessing they are resetting to something achievable.

I’ve worked on a few projects that changed delivery date. Then changed again. And again... As little as two resets and credibility is in the toilet.

I really don't see a big issue at all, neither from the engineering or the financial angle. This is the largest engineering project of its kind in Europe; it was approved 11 years ago, and construction begun 9 years ago. The overrun time is less than 10% off. In a project that was estimated to take 11 years to complete, nine extra months really are small change.

And I see an even less significant issue regarding the financial implications. This is not a new passenger aircraft program like the 787 or A380, on which the launch customer airlines that have ordered them are heavily dependent on it to be delivered on time. There will be a small loss of projected extra revenue for TFL, but pretty small in the grand scheme of things.

And I found the moany statements from the the likes of the Federation of Small Businesses speaking of a 'major blow' to their members quite laughable tbh. Okay, that would surely apply to any new businesses that are planning to open in any newly created stations- if there are any. But to existing businesses in, say, Tottenham Court Road that have been happily and profitably trading for decades, to suggest that they're suddenly dependent on a potential and unproven new source of additional trading that had never existed until now, and that a few months' delay In its arrival is a serious blow is preposterous.

 

[paolo]

Compared with NY Second Avenue Subway, Crossrail - even with a one year delay - is a triumph. The NY times referred to it in their in depth piece about how bad costings and timelines go, in New York.

We - and the rest of Europe too - build big stuff, quickly, and cheaply.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Oddly, I saw a train with the lizzy line logo on today way outside of London. No idea what it was doing this far north - perhaps it had took a wrong turn.

The idea that trains can take a wrong turn sounds bonkers, but it can actually happen.

Train gets lost for an hour after taking wrong turn in Yorkshire

It's even worst across the pond:

Twice in two days, Metro trains end up on the wrong lines.

 

[iamwithnail]

I got stuck at Clapham junction a few months ago, trying to get the overground. A freight train had 'made its way' onto the passenger lines around battersea. I know they use the same line through peckham and that but guess it got snarled up near the quarry thing towards vic and gotten lost.

 

[hash tag]

For the record, the London Overground and freight also share the Battersea railway bridge which runs between the junction, Willsden Junction and The North Pole!

Incidentally; £350m loan for London Crossrail delay

 

[19sixtysix]

The idea that trains can take a wrong turn sounds bonkers, but it can actually happen.

Train gets lost for an hour after taking wrong turn in Yorkshire

It's even worst across the pond:

Twice in two days, Metro trains end up on the wrong lines.

I talked to a signal man who'd worked the district line in days of the East London LIne. A full east bound rush hour District Line train was mislabelled as empty stock for New Cross and was routed downEast London line. Driver should have stopped but didn't. I'd like to have seen their faces at Shadwell instead of Whitechappel.

 

[eoin_k]

Nope. It must have just got lost. Or someone twoc'd it.

Or just been made in Derby?

 

[editor]

Oh dear -

Crossrail could swallow up another £1bn in funding and be delayed beyond 2019, ministers are expected to admit this week.

The flagship construction project to create a new high-capacity train line across London had originally been due to be opened on Sunday by the Queen, but problems with complex new signalling systems delayed testing trains in the central core. Confirmation that the opening was postponed by up to a year was only announced at the end of August.

According to the Financial Times, ministers could announce a further £1bn bailout for the scheme as early as Monday.

The resignation of chair Sir Terry Morgan last week – from both Crossrail and the next big British rail scheme, HS2 – has heightened speculation that further problems were yet to be disclosed.

City Hall and the Department for Transport (DfT) have been in continued talks with Crossrail to assess the full extent of the shortfall and delay. Twice already this year, the government and Transport for London have injected further funding, of £600m and a £350m loan, for a scheme long hailed as being delivered on time and within its £14.8bn budget.

Crossrail may not open next year despite mooted extra £1bn

 

[maomao]

Oh dear -


Crossrail may not open next year despite mooted extra £1bn

Wot a load of bollocks. Another couple of years of Sunday rail replacement buses and being cut off from the rest of London at the weekends for those of us at the Zone 6 end.

The new trains won't be shiny and new anymore by the time it opens.

 

[skyscraper101]

Disappointing to say the least. It should've been ready by now. Now we'll have to wait over a year more at the least?

Load of bollocks.

 

[Nivag]

Archaeological finds of Crosse and Blackwell at the Soho site.
Crossrail in a jam with Astoria nightclub discovery

 

[skyscraper101]

Archaeological finds of Crosse and Blackwell at the Soho site.
Crossrail in a jam with Astoria nightclub discovery

Interesting, but it's from two years ago.

 

[Crispy]

Transport boss admits Crossrail might not finish until middle of next year

It might not even open this year, and could go as much as £2bn over budget.

 

[skyscraper101]

Transport boss admits Crossrail might not finish until middle of next year

It might not even open this year, and could go as much as £2bn over budget.

The new team has discovered in a short space of time that significant parts of the core railway infrastructure are yet to be completed

 

[T & P]

Transport boss admits Crossrail might not finish until middle of next year

It might not even open this year, and could go as much as £2bn over budget.

Not even the link to that story is running at the moment

 

[Crispy]

Won't even open this year now. What a mess.

New Crossrail boss admits he has no idea when line will open

 

[Dogsauce]

Can’t they let people use the tunnels for cycling in the interim? Put a bit of plywood over the rails, job done.

 

[hash tag]

An incredible feat of engineering and last nights watch was interesting BBC iPlayer - The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway - Under Pressure, Over Budget: Episode 2

The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway review – digging into the Crossrail catastrophe

Did anyone realistically expect it to come in on time and on budget?

IS this not the perfect line and time for driverless trains?

 

[Teaboy]

An incredible feat of engineering and last nights watch was interesting BBC iPlayer - The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway - Under Pressure, Over Budget: Episode 2

The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway review – digging into the Crossrail catastrophe

Did anyone realistically expect it to come in on time and on budget?

No, least of all the people building it. The government had different ideas though.

I do wonder whether the grandeur of the stations was really needed. I know large infrastructure things like this make a global statement and its something everyone wanted to be proud of but some of the expense involved in creating architectural features in the stations is eye watering.

Yes I know it is a landmark project but it's use will essentially be another underground line and the London tube is many things but the stations are rarely architecturally grand. Anyway, they're doing exactly the same for HS2 so, well you know...

 

[Teaboy]

IS this not the perfect line and time for driverless trains?

Not sure that will get it built any quicker.

I'm no expert on these things but I would have thought the perfect line for driverless trains would be a self-contained network, fully purpose built and separated from any other networks. You could probably build one out East London way when they start to redevelop the Dockland areas.

Crossrail will / is sharing old sections of track with other national rail services.

 

[Dogsauce]

No, least of all the people building it. The government had different ideas though.

I do wonder whether the grandeur of the stations was really needed. I know large infrastructure things like this make a global statement and its something everyone wanted to be proud of but some of the expense involved in creating architectural features in the stations is eye watering.

Yes I know it is a landmark project but it's use will essentially be another underground line and the London tube is many things but the stations are rarely architecturally grand. Anyway, they're doing exactly the same for HS2 so, well you know...

It’s nice to have pretty things, but I found myself begrudging some of the elaborate architectural features because it does rub it in the face of other cities a bit, like Leeds where they’ve had almost nothing from the government to build a decent public transport system.