please empty your brain below
Do we know the reasons for the costs more than doubling, and the project taking coniderably longer than expected? Even TfL seems unable to give a firm end date, so it can't all be HCC's fault...

Andrew | 17.06.15 - 7:19 a.m. | #

This seven year-old Croxley resident in 1978 was equally excited by the scheme... and still won't see its completion by the time he reaches 47. Oh well, if something's worth waiting for, it's worth waiting half a lifetime I guess.

(Andrew - go and check out the CRL article and thread on London Reconnections for more in-depth analysis).

THC | 17.06.15 - 7:35 a.m. | #

That two year-old London Reconnections article (plus 311 comments) is here
http://www.londonreconnections.com/2013/croxley-rail-link-granted-transport-works-act-order/

diamond geezer | 17.06.15 - 8:08 a.m. | #

I assume the dates are vague because of the sub-surface lines (SSL) re-signalling which is now heading for completion in the early 2020s, London Reconnections has another article on it.
http://www.londonreconnections.com/2015/subsurface-railway-resignalling-saga-continues/

| 17.06.15 - 9:58 a.m. | #

Of course, the true cost is massively understated because it only includes conventional signalling which will be ripped up two or three or so years later and replaced with the latest signalling for the Metropolitan and other related lines. However the resignalling project is so delayed that the resignalling costs have been transferred to that project as it is that even greater delay which has caused this cost to need to be factored in somewhere and it would be unfair for Croxley Rail Link to pick up the tab.

Pedantic of Purley | 17.06.15 - 10:06 a.m. | #

Thanks for that link, THC.

So the cost is doubled because the project is delayed, because of another £40m of "risk" (is that just contingency, or code for something else), and to upgrade the infrastructure to allow an Amersham rail link?

I wonder how much cost HCC and TfL have incurred so far. Presuambly HCC did not need to take out the c.£30m loan mentioned in the original article, if (most of) the works have not yet taken place?

Andrew | 17.06.15 - 12:19 p.m. | #

Give the project to the DLR to manage..... with the notable exception of the Stratford International line, the DLR seem to bring in their projects on time and within budget....

Paul | 17.06.15 - 1:00 p.m. | #

I somewhat wonder how the Chelsea-Hackney line beneficiaries would feel if they knew the plan has more than a century of history, and wouldn't be open for another quarter century at best.

Patrickov | 17.06.15 - 1:08 p.m. | #

I shall miss Watford Met station when it closes as I lived just down the road from it when I was a boy. It was a great place to start our trips to London and journeys to holiday at the seaside. My Dad and the many other commuters of the 1950s would be amazed to know the line will now go round to Watford Junction. I was always told that the Met line was going to be extended into Watford town centre but they ran out of money. It was said you could still see the facade of the terminus station in the town that had been converted into a shop. I wonder if it's still standing in its original condition.

Anthony Finerty | Homepage | 17.06.15 - 4:20 p.m. | #

@Antony Finerty
It is - here

timbo | 17.06.15 - 5:26 p.m. | #

The proposed central Watford terminus, circa 1925, is now a Wetherspoons.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/wirewiping/7493414856

diamond geezer | Homepage | 17.06.15 - 5:26 p.m. | #

Thanks DG and Timbo. I'll look it up the next time I go home.

Anthony Finerty | Homepage | 17.06.15 - 5:30 p.m. | #

Perhaps dg will have a commemorative Becks in now-Wetherspoons when the Link opens.

If Becks are still brewing.

Gordon | 17.06.15 - 8:56 p.m. | #

I'm not sure I would lay the entire blame for the delays at HCC's door. The project had to go through umpteen stages of appraisal with the DfT. I suspect it only made it to the approval stage by virtue of the timing of the general election and Watford being a three way marginal seat.

I think the numbers have gone up largely because HCC were using highways expertise in costing the job and then relying on a simple transfer of constructed infrastructure to LU to then install a railway. It seems this approach has been subject to repeated challenge and this has pushed up the numbers as well as forced the switch in responsibility. I think DfT have pretty much insisted on the swap of project control. I have a sneaking suspicion that TfL have insisted on a "generous" settlement to reduce the risk of any overruns (which they're responsible for). I would not be shocked to see the project come in a tad under budget and a bit earlier than the dire forecast dates being bandied about. It feels like expectations are being lowered now so that the possibility of future "good news" stories is increased.

PC | 18.06.15 - 11:01 p.m. | #

Board papers released in July 2016 propose an opening date of 13th December 2020.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 01.07.16 - 6:35 p.m. | #











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