Chris Grayling slammed for 'continual shortcomings' over Crossrail

Costs of Crossrail ‘have been allowed to spiral out of control whilst question marks remain around its completion’ says the Public Accounts Committee

Chris Grayling has been lambasted by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for “continual shortcomings” by his department.

The cross-party committee’s latest report, on the Crossrail fiasco, is scathing of the “project management and oversight of the railways” by the Department for Transport (DfT).

The PAC criticises “an overriding culture of over-optimism” on the completion of the east-west railway through central London. The MPs demand that the DfT “must urgently set out what consequences senior officials have faced for programme failures”.

The Elizabeth Line, as it will be known once services begin, was due to open in December 2018. It is being delivered by Crossrail Ltd, part of Transport for London. The original budget was £15bn.

It will link Reading and Heathrow airport, west of the capital, with Shenfield in Essex and Abbey Wood in southeast London.

Trains are planned to run every 2.5 minutes each way through a central core between London Paddington and Whitechapel. There are intermediate stops at Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon and Liverpool Street.

The project is designed to increase rail capacity in the capital by 10 per cent, cut journey times and relieve congestion on the existing infrastructure – particularly the Central Line of the London Underground.

Another aim is to increase the proportion of passengers travelling to and from Heathrow by public transport.

Only in August 2018, four months before the intended opening, did Crossrail Ltd announce the December deadline would be missed – but insisted that it would open in “autumn 2019”.

But the PAC says: “Given that the stations and signalling systems are still some way from being completed, and that at least a further year of work now appears to be required, we find it difficult to believe that it was not evident before the public announcement in August 2018 that the central section of the railway would not open on time.”

The committee now fears that Crossrail may be over two years late, saying: “Question marks remain around its completion and when new train services will start to run.”

Labour’s Meg Hillier, the chair of the PAC, said: “Passengers were led to believe they would be able use new Crossrail services through central London from the end of last year.

“Instead, they have been badly let down by significant delays and cost overruns.”

“The Department for Transport, Transport for London and Crossrail Ltd continued to put a positive face on the programme long after mounting evidence should have prompted changes.

“Wishful thinking is no basis for spending public money and there remain serious risks to delivering this programme, with a revised schedule and costings for completing the work still to be agreed.

“It is unacceptable that Parliament and the public still do not know the root causes of the failures that beset this project. Nor will we accept the Department and Crossrail Ltd’s description of these serious problems as ‘systems failures’.”

A DfT spokesperson said that the department had “consistently challenged the leadership of Crossrail Ltd” about the delivery of the project.

“As soon as the company admitted delay, the department and TfL acted swiftly to identify lessons, change the leadership of the Crossrail Ltd Board, and strengthen governance and oversight.

“It is deeply disappointing that the Public Accounts Committee – which previously described the oversight of Crossrail as a ‘textbook example’ of governance – has not recognised any of the steps that have been taken to ensure delivery of this vital project while protecting taxpayers.”

The chief executive of Crossrail, Mark Wild, said: “We take the views of the Public Accounts Committee very seriously and will be reviewing their recommendations carefully.

“It is clear that more work is required to complete the infrastructure, the integration of the train, signalling and station systems and to undertake the extensive testing that will be necessary to open a safe and reliable railway. We are making progress in all these areas and, in addition, we have put in place an enhanced governance structure and new leadership team to strengthen the programme.”

He promised more details on the line’s completion would be provided later this month.

The PAC also said: “The costs of this project have been allowed to spiral out of control.” It said the ​DfT had awarded Crossrail an extra £2.8 billion, almost one-fifth of the original budget.

The DfT says most of the additional funds needed to complete the project will be funded by London, not UK taxpayers.