1. On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Transport (the Department) and Crossrail Limited about the Crossrail programme.1 The Department and Transport for London (TfL) are joint sponsors of the programme. Crossrail Limited is responsible for delivering the programme and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of TfL.
2. Crossrail is a major programme to run new rail services between Reading and Heathrow Airport, through a new underground section beneath central London, to Shenfield in Essex and Abbey Wood in south-east London. The new line, to be called the Elizabeth Line, aims to reduce congestion and journey times, increase capacity in London's transport network and support economic growth. When complete, the new railway will be around 73 miles (118km) long, with around 26 miles (42km) of new tunnels. Ten new stations are being built and a further 31 are being improved.2
3. Some services, operated as TfL Rail, are already running on parts of the route between Shenfield and London Liverpool Street and between Heathrow and Paddington. Services through the central section were due to commence in December 2018, but these have been delayed. A full east-west service, with 24 trains per hour in each direction, will now not run as planned in December 2019.3
4. Crossrail Limited described the Crossrail programme as the single, biggest railway project the country has ever undertaken. It told us that, a lot of brilliant work had been done in the first five or six years of the programme, particularly the tunnelling and major civil construction work, and that the systems engineering component of the programme was notable globally as setting a benchmark. The Department similarly told us that the engineering involved in the programme was world-class and an enormously complex task of systems integration and operations.4
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1 C&AG's Report, A memorandum on the Crossrail programme, Session 2017-2019, HC 1924, 28 February 2019
2 C&AG's Report, pages 7 & 8, 10-12
3 C&AG's Report, pages 8 & 25
4 Qq, 10, 15-17, 21, 40