Crossrail project on track for approval

There have been just 399 petitions lodged so far against London's £10bn Crossrail project - remarkably fewer than the 1,000 lodged against the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL).

Speaking at Civils 2006, Clinton Leeks OBE, corporate affairs director of Crossrail, told delegates that the scheme, which is currently subject to a hybrid Bill going through Parliament, was making good progress and that costs were reducing as a result of value engineering, which aims to reduce the base capital costs of the project from £7.5bn (at 2002 prices) to £6bn. Operating and maintenance costs for the scheme are expected to be around £200m per annum.

"We are getting there, but I can't give you an exact figure of where we are yet," he added. Despite the relatively few petitions against the scheme - 286 other petitions have already been withdrawn - Leeks said each of them had to be resolved.

The Bill is expected to complete its journey through Parliament in March next year before it has to make its way through the House of Lords. Royal Assent is anticipated at the end of next year, with construction due to start in 2009. A fully operational service is expected in 2016.

Leeks said that a Construction Code has now been published and a design manual, which will feed into the tender packages, was currently being drawn up. He added that it was "too early" to talk about procurement and how the works would be packaged up. However, best value is expected to be the cornerstone of how it tenders the job.

[Contract Journal, 6 December 2006, p 4]