Crossrail's journey: a timeline of delays

London Mayor Boris Johnson was joined by Transport Secretary Lord Adonis to kick off construction with a breaking ground ceremony, which included the laying of the project’s foundation stone at Canary Wharf. 

Crossrail had already issued a rash of compulsory purchase orders for several properties in the Tottenham Court Road area, including the legendary 2,000 capacity music venue, The Astoria. These compulsory purchase orders were the first to be sent on behalf of the project, signalling the beginning of preparatory work. 

The general economic coronavirus aid of the federal government that has been initiated so far does not offer effective help

A little over a year into construction and the first example of the impact politics would have on the project was afoot. The election of the UK’s first coalition government since World War II, comprised of the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats, dramatically changed the political landscape, as well as government spending priorities. 

Following the Comprehensive Spending Review, the budget was cut by almost £1bn ($1.3bn) and Crossrail was delayed; the schedule was pushed back by a year. The penned opening was now earmarked for December 2018. 

The tunnelling phase of the project began. It would last three years and involve eight huge tunnelling machines working under the streets of London, day and night. Each machine was operated by a team of 20 “tunnel gangs” and comprised of not only the mechanical instrumentation but also a kitchen and toilets. 

At 1,000 tonnes and 150 metres long, they could bore up to 38 metres per day collectively. As the boring continued, more than 200,000 segments of tunnel were joined to create the 42km of new tunnels. 

One of the first signs emerged that construction wasn’t going to plan, as the UK’s National Audit Office warned that Crossrail could be further delayed, saying that the project was “just behind schedule”. However, it added that Crossrail was confident it would open as planned.  

Crossrail Ltd was established in 2001 to oversee the build of the lines and stations. Owned by TfL, the company was funded by the transport operator and the UK Government’s Department for Transport. Now that the line is operational, the line and its stations are managed by TfL, which includes more than 100km of track and 41 stations – 10 of the purpose-built for the service.

A 43-year-old construction worker was killed while working at Fisher Street in Holborn. Renè Tkáčik was working in the tunnels while construction was of a crossover tunnel between two train tunnels was simultaneously in progress. He was spraying tunnel walls with concrete when a section of the roof fell. 

His death was one of several incidents that resulted in a number of construction firms receiving hefty fines totalling £1m ($1.3m), after being brought to court by the Health and Safety Executive. The three – BAM Nuttall, Ferrovial Agroman (UK), and Kier Infrastructure and Overseas – were fined £300,000 ($374,724) for the death of Tkáčik, and a further £775,000 ($968,037) for two further unrelated incidents that resulted in serious injury to two other workers. 

Sadly, there were several other construction-related deaths and injuries above ground too. Many cyclists and drivers were involved in accidents with Crossrail lorries transporting machinery and building waste over the years. 

Despite some successes, it was now that the severity of the Crossrail delays came to light. The project was hit with what one government minister called “cost pressures”, resulting in its budget being increased.  

Just a few weeks later, speculation mounted that Crossrail was encountering construction delays and challenges with the complex signalling systems required for operation. Acknowledging those concerns, Crossrail delayed the opening of the line from December 2018, adding that it hoped to achieve a scaled-back opening of just the central section of the line in late 2019.  

Following a further increase to the budget via a financial package put together by TfL, the UK Government, and the London Mayor’s office – as well as the departure of Crossrail Ltd’s chairman – a so-called “delivery window” of sometime between October 2020 and March 2021 was confirmed by Crossrail CEO Mark Wild – for the central section at least.

Following the sudden deaths of up to five Crossrail employees, although not directly related to the work they were doing at the time, workers were said to have “downed tools” at Bond Street station. They were concerned about working conditions, while it was alleged by one worker that management was “more interested in making sure that it doesn’t get out. Really, they are trying to keep everything quiet”. 

In response to the suggestion that the deaths were related to the beneath-ground conditions, a Crossrail spokesperson told the media: “Crossrail demands the highest standards of health and safety across the project and we continue to work closely with our Bond Street contractor Costain Skanska Joint Venture in support of making sure this is the case.” 

In March 2020, Crossrail was delayed by something that nobody could have seen coming when the project was in the planning process: a global pandemic. Almost all work on the project was halted due to the arrival of Covid-19 in the UK. According to a Public Accounts Committee report in October 2021, the pandemic added £234m ($292.3m) in costs to the already inflated project budget. 

After saying that costs had increased again and that the line would open as soon as “practically possible” in 2021, in November 2020 Crossrail was forced to abandon plans to open in the summer of that year, citing the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. It later said that the new working opening date was sometime in the first half of 2022. 

Farringdon station became the latest to be handed over to TfL after Custom House. Several other stations’ ownership was transferred to the transport body later that year, including Tottenham Court Road, Woolwich, Liverpool Street, and Paddington. 

Even today, Bond Street station remains a thorn in the side of Crossrail’s central section complete opening, with current expectations that it will open in late Summer 2022. The long-running saga became public knowledge in August 2019, with Crossrail demanding changes at the top of the two firms tasked with its construction. In June the following year, Crossrail ditched both construction partners. 

Wild had previously said delays were partially due to tunnelling issues; other delays included the pandemic. However, when speaking to the TfL board shortly after taking his post as Crossrail chief executive in November 2018, Wild said expectations to open the project at the end of 2018 had been “fantasy”, adding project’s new leadership was “more rooted in realism than the previous regime”.