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Post by COBO on Jan 31, 2019 17:00:36 GMT
New Crossrail boss admits he has no idea when line will open Now looking like 2020 at the earliest. Stations at the Western end on the GWML all look FAR from completion with some showing very little evidence of work having even taken place. If it is 2020 or up to 2022 then I wonder what dire implications are for TfL's income and then service improvements on the tube or with the buses. And what of all the proposed Crossrail bus changes that are still on track for implementation this year, as well as those already in effect ... 25?! Incredible just incredible.
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Post by snoggle on Jan 31, 2019 17:03:39 GMT
New Crossrail boss admits he has no idea when line will open Now looking like 2020 at the earliest. Stations at the Western end on the GWML all look FAR from completion with some showing very little evidence of work having even taken place. If it is 2020 or up to 2022 then I wonder what dire implications are for TfL's income and then service improvements on the tube or with the buses. And what of all the proposed Crossrail bus changes that are still on track for implementation this year, as well as those already in effect ... 25?! Beware the classic trick of "oh woe is Crossrail. It will never open. Please be nice to us new managers brought in to sort out the mess". I know the Standard article is quoted the TfL Board meeting webcast but I'm beginning to tire of the approach Mark Wild and co are taking. If you believe what he says then 2 weeks ago he was telling the Assembly that the Crossrail team were all good people and keen to get the project delivered. Now apparently everyone is demotivated. What nonsense. You only get that scale of change in motivation if someone turns around and says all the work is cancelled and they're about to be sacked. No one is saying that because everyone wants the line finished. There may well be some localised issues but anyone wth a brain and working eyes has known that for 2 years. I also accept that are clear and obvious risks around getting the trains and signalling working and there may be some specific issues on stations but it is not impossible. I think Mr Wild and the new Chairman are playing a classic game of "under promise and over deliver". This has been the clear stance since Mr Wild took over. If the signalling intergration works proceed reasonably well then I can see the core opening by the end of this year. I also expect TfL to be granted approval to take over the Reading stopping services from December. It is clear in the recent KPMG reports that there is a project team view as to when the core can open and while all the references are redacted I don't believe anyone was estimating 2022. TfL's financial estimates clearly do not make that sort of assumption. I expect the subsequent "linking in" phases will occur in the first half of 2020 - provided that performance in the core is stable. The West London station works are not TfL schemes by and large. They are "On Network" works being delivered by Network Rail with the funding risk sitting with the DfT not TfL. TfL are only funding accessibility works at a small number of stations. NR have recently awarded a contract to Hoctief for works at three stations out west with the balance due to be awarded soon. I do think the West London stations won't be ready until late 2020 at best because the scale of work is pretty considerable. Works at Ilford and Romford are apparently fully funded but I'm not sure where the procurement process is. It is worth noting that there were serious questions about whether works at Ilford would be done - it now seems that issue is resolved. As for the bus changes well TfL don't care about the zone 1 stuff. They want people on the tube instead and will live with any overcrowding in the short term. As for the suburban stuff it can wait - that's clear from TfL's current approach to, say, the 104 and 472. The 497 might start in August this year as it's very modest in scale and is an outer London improvement. Other things like the H32 and 180 extension to new housing areas will be dependant on the scale of the housing development so, again, TfL can wait. The rest of it is not hugely relevant until a train service starts running in earnest given almost all of the schemes are revenue neutral.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2019 17:40:32 GMT
New Crossrail boss admits he has no idea when line will open Now looking like 2020 at the earliest. Stations at the Western end on the GWML all look FAR from completion with some showing very little evidence of work having even taken place. If it is 2020 or up to 2022 then I wonder what dire implications are for TfL's income and then service improvements on the tube or with the buses. And what of all the proposed Crossrail bus changes that are still on track for implementation this year, as well as those already in effect ... 25?! I also expect TfL to be granted approval to take over the Reading stopping services from December. If that does indeed happen, which I guess probably should as I can't think of anything stopping it, would it be with the 7car RLU or the 9car FLU? Would the RLU/FLU be dependant on the station works/platform extension programmes?
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Post by snowman on Jan 31, 2019 18:25:26 GMT
I also expect TfL to be granted approval to take over the Reading stopping services from December. If that does indeed happen, which I guess probably should as I can't think of anything stopping it, would it be with the 7car RLU or the 9car FLU? Would the RLU/FLU be dependant on the station works/platform extension programmes?
The platform extensions were all supposed to be ready for shadow and test running from Aug 2019 However some of the station improvements (booking halls, lifts, etc) are known to be running late (and last I heard the contract still hadn’t been let for 3 stations), although enabling works have been done separately. My own guess is 9 car trains otherwise it will cause a lengthening problem later (will take many days, to lengthen fleet) , and can’t really mix 7 and 9 car trains in tunnels with doors
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2019 18:29:29 GMT
If that does indeed happen, which I guess probably should as I can't think of anything stopping it, would it be with the 7car RLU or the 9car FLU? Would the RLU/FLU be dependant on the station works/platform extension programmes?
The platform extensions were all supposed to be ready for shadow and test running from Aug 2019 However some of the station improvements (booking halls, lifts, etc) are known to be running late (and last I heard the contract still hadn’t been let for 3 stations), although enabling works have been done separately. My own guess is 9 car trains otherwise it will cause a lengthening problem later (will take many days, to lengthen fleet) , and can’t really mix 7 and 9 car trains in tunnels with doors There are no tunnels on the GWML to Reading. I'm not talking about core services, unless the PAD-RDG services would begin from Paddington (low-level). My assumption was they'd begin at PAD (mainline station) if it is just the GWR replacement.
Certainly core services have to be FLU but whether they would continue to run RLU on the GWML as the Hayes & Harlington bay is not yet long enough for 9cars.
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Post by snoggle on Jan 31, 2019 19:37:37 GMT
I also expect TfL to be granted approval to take over the Reading stopping services from December. If that does indeed happen, which I guess probably should as I can't think of anything stopping it, would it be with the 7car RLU or the 9car FLU? Would the RLU/FLU be dependant on the station works/platform extension programmes? FLUs subject to a further software release on the trains to fully recognise all platforms where SDO is required if FLUs are to stop. TfL are desperate for the money from getting a share of Paddington - Reading flows and GWR were always planning to relinquish their stopping services this December anyway. On that basis I'd say it was as close to a certainty as possible. Also DfT want GWR to take over the HEX service with 387s ASAP so it frees up the Heathrow Express depot which is in the way of HS2 construction at Old Oak Common. Getting rid of the 332s also allows the signalling to be sorted on the Heathrow Tunnel thus allowing 345s to run into Heathrow too. TfL will be glad to get out of the lease of the unreliable 360s as fast as they possibly can but they're in the hands of Bombardier creating compatible software than can work with ETCS in the Heathrow tunnel.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2019 20:27:01 GMT
At this rate the the bus related changes will never get started and 104 will run the whole contract without the split into two routes
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Post by snoggle on Feb 4, 2019 19:05:07 GMT
Oh look a Crossrail train running in the tunnels and managing to stop in the stations. Shame it's running wrong direction. Crossrail platforms are all islands in the core so platforms should be on the right hand side. A new series of the £15bn Railway about Crossrail starts on BBC on 13 Feb 2019. Should be interesting to spot all the delayed and incomplete work.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2019 20:25:44 GMT
New Elizabeth Line signage was put up last week on the Custom House station lift last week but unlike the sign on the actual station this was left uncovered. Only a year or two early
Testing of information displays also taking place.
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Post by routew15 on Feb 4, 2019 22:05:41 GMT
Hypothetical here. If dynamic testing is successful throughout the coming 6 months would the railway not be ready to open by September or even December 2019... Are buildings other systems that severely behind?
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Post by Eastlondoner62 on Feb 4, 2019 22:16:40 GMT
Hypothetical here. If dynamic testing is successful throughout the coming 6 months would the railway not be ready to open by September or even December 2019... Are buildings other systems that severely behind? Last I heard Woolwich, Custom House and Farringdon were the only ones which were abjure to be/had been handed over. So it's not looking particularly good for the other buildings, especially for Bond Street which is very far behind.
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Post by snoggle on Feb 4, 2019 22:35:45 GMT
Hypothetical here. If dynamic testing is successful throughout the coming 6 months would the railway not be ready to open by September or even December 2019... Are buildings other systems that severely behind? The dynamic testing has to build up substantially and the trains and signalling have to get through ever increasingly difficult tests and prove to be both robust, reliable and safe. On one level none of this is particularly new stuff - it just takes time and effort and suppliers who can respond quickly when the inevitable problems arise. Obviously it has to get through safety approval or else passengers won't be allowed on the trains. Securing the requisite sign off should be relatively smooth *if* the Crossrail team have been engaging with the regulatory authorities as they have claimed in past update reports. I am confused about the stations to be honest. Clearly some are behind schedule - we've known that for a long time. However there are swirling rumours that a lot of basic installation mistakes have been made - such as cabling which means various systems can't work because the cabling is too close to other cables resulting in interference. Worse the cables were specced to a standard whereby they can't be made to work with reinstallation. There are also rumours that leaky feeder cabling in the tunnels is not "leaky" enough thus requiring rectification work. Another latest view is that construction work isn't complete at Paddington which I find a bit surprising but there have been rumours about all sorts of issues plaguing that location. Places like Whitechapel and Bond Street are known to be running way late with construction still ongoing in parts of the sites. Fit out, commissioning, testing and handover of station systems is a very complex job. You really need all construction work to be finished or else you've dust and cr*p flying around which damages assets / compromises testing. There are also issues about integrating station systems into station management systems or wider network systems like the TfL ticketing system, IM networks, network fire systems etc. There are also suggestions that at one or two places Crossrail assets may be incapable of integration into LU systems - Bond Street is one such place given the complexes are linked together and thus systems have to talk to one another. To give a tiny example of how difficult this stuff can be look at the lifts that NR installed at Blackhorse Rd overground platforms. Those lifts could not talk to the station management system that runs the LU station. It took eons for that interface to be resolved so the lifts could be used by passengers. That small example will be multiplied upteem fold on Crossrail and some will be difficult to resolve quickly. My entirely unsubstantiated view of things is that Crossrail are aiming to get the core open this year [1]. This is entirely dependent on there being really significant progress. I would have guessed at late September a few weeks ago but I suspect it will be nearer to December. MTR Crossrail are expected to take on the London - Reading stoppers from GWR in December too. This then leaves a window beyond December for TfL to be sufficiently convinced that they can stabilise both services and start planning and test runs to get the Shenfield and Reading lines linked into the core. I can't see the Shenfield route being linked in before May 2020 as it'll have to be linked to a timetable change. There is usually an "end of Summer" timetable change in September which could afford TfL a chance to link in the Reading service then but there is a huge dependency on progress with Heathrow signalling, GWR fleet cascades and other things. I've read today that GWR seem to be suffering delays in the introduction of new trains and related cascades which is a worry. [1] Yes I know the media are all going "won't open until 2020" etc but it's clear from the redacted KPMG reports that Crossrail (and TfL) certainly have working assumptions as to when services could run. I don't believe those assumptions are for everything to open in 2020 but I recognise circumstances can change.
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Post by routew15 on Feb 4, 2019 22:42:58 GMT
Hypothetical here. If dynamic testing is successful throughout the coming 6 months would the railway not be ready to open by September or even December 2019... Are buildings other systems that severely behind? Last I heard Woolwich, Custom House and Farringdon were the only ones which were abjure to be/had been handed over. So it's not looking particularly good for the other buildings, especially for Bond Street which is very far behind. I find it hard to believe that the likes of Tottenham Court Road and Canary Wharf are not close to handover as well...
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Post by snoggle on Feb 5, 2019 22:52:42 GMT
Someone got a little too enthusiastic in predicting when more stations will go "step free" in the latest Customer Service and Ops performance Cttee Papers. In the main report there is reference to Moorgate (Elizabeth Line) going step free between Jan and March 2020. There is also a mention of Ealing Broadway and Whitechapel going step free at the same time.
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Post by snowman on Feb 13, 2019 10:54:54 GMT
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