Liverpool Street station passage to the Northern Line (image: Monica Wells)
The delay to the opening of the new Elizabeth Line in London, being built as part of the Crossrail project, has dented Transport for London’s (TfL) revenue projections by more than £1bn, it has emerged.
In its business plan for the next five years, TfL revealed that its finances were under “substantial pressures”.
Crossrail said that it needed to absorb a total of up to £1.35bn in lost revenue over the next four financial years. It had already announced in last year’s plan that £600m needed to be absorbed. In November, it recognised another sum of between £500m and £750m in lost revenue.
Since last year’s plan, Crossrail confirmed that it needed more time to complete software development for the railway’s signalling and train systems and for overall safety approvals on the line. The opening of the central section of the Elizabeth Line now won’t open in 2020 but will be delayed until “as soon as practically possible” in 2021. Originally it was expected to open at the end of 2018. The delay has created “significant additional capital investment and revenue pressures,” TfL said.
