please empty your brain below
Did I imagine it, or were there not plans to extend the footbridge at Poplar DLR all the way across to Crossrail Place?
(This may be a hazy memory from visiting a large hole in the ground there at Open House in 2010 or so).

martin | 09.12.20 - 7:11 a.m. | #

In the arcane terminology of its users, it's not scaffolding poles, it's scaffold tube. Always singular/collective. Individual ones are referred to by their length in feet. (And never planks, but boards). Just thought you might like that.

Sarah | Homepage | 09.12.20 - 7:49 a.m. | #

Fascinating post.
The situation is absolutely ridiculous and it does show that some part of the management structure was grossly incompetent. But the word "criminally" may be an understandable overstatement. There may be evidence of a crime somewhere, but if there is I don't think it has been made public.
This contrasts with other nationally famous bits of mismanagement such as Greenfell.

Malcolm of Kent | 09.12.20 - 8:08 a.m. | #

A reminder that while the Crossrail delays are bad, they are not unique. The new Berlin airport, which opened just over a month ago, was scheduling flights until May 2012, 26 days before its original opening date.

Michael Churchill | 09.12.20 - 8:43 a.m. | #

Never mind Crossrail's bosses persuading us that their project would be opening "in a few months time". How on earth did the Mayor not realise it wouldn't happen when the evidence was so easy to see?

AS | 09.12.20 - 9:20 a.m. | #

The canopy at Manor Park is a crime against architecture.

Someone was paid for that.

R | 09.12.20 - 10:04 a.m. | #

That we got so near to the opening date before the first postponement, and then the endless series of further postponements reflect very badly on all parties involved, including the current and former Mayors for not taking a close enough interest in the detail OR not asking the right questions.

Mikey C | 09.12.20 - 10:07 a.m. | #

Despite the efforts of several knowledgeable people, I have not succeeded in grasping what "crossrail" actually is (i.e. in what ways it differs from an underground line, or a series of extensions of existing surface lines) I suspect it will only be when I ride on it myself it will finally make sense. So bring it on!

cau1khead | 09.12.20 - 10:19 a.m. | #

Too late to say this but maybe lessons can be learned for Crossrail 2, if it ever happens:

In my view it would have been better for the project to simply have been a tube line - smaller tunnels, less ambitious works etc.

I think crossrail really should have been a bit like Thameslink, with loads of through journey options, links to the WCML, Chiltern, etc to ease pressure on London termini. Given that it won't do that (because £££) they should have massively descoped it and done what they did with the Victoria line - an express Tube focussed on interchanges. You'd still get most of the benefits of this scheme with a lower cost.

E | 09.12.20 - 10:26 a.m. | #

More voxpops in your posts please.

Lux | 09.12.20 - 10:43 a.m. | #

Martin, my hopes of seeing the Poplar footbridge extended were dashed the other weekend when I realised the current works are 'just' to replace the lifts. No sign of an extension, sadly. Wrong side of the tracks and all that...

flange | 09.12.20 - 11:43 a.m. | #

For those interested in the contrasting construction of the Victoria line this is a fascinating 35 min documentary.

Flare | 09.12.20 - 12:25 p.m. | #

Also, I'm glad the Paddington entrance has finally reopened. I missed that news. It'll shave off a good couple of minutes not having to deal with the chaos at the traffic lights at the top of the ramp when trying to get the central line.

R | 09.12.20 - 1:45 p.m. | #

Thanks go to Flare for the Vic line video link. Brought back memories of the Oxford Circus umbrella, and using the brand new train a couple of hours after the Queen inaugurated it in March '69.

NicK | 09.12.20 - 9:32 p.m. | #

Martin. Your memory isn't failing you. There are (were) plans to connect the Canary Wharf Crossrail with Poplar DLR. The plan was this would be done (by CW Group) as they developed the land between Crossrail Place and the dual carriageway. However, as Covid has been terrible for CW Group, huge fall in rental income, they have halted building any new office space. So that link seems to be in limbo.

IslandDweller | 09.12.20 - 10:11 p.m. | #

A major part of the project's problems is the scale and complexity - eg making trains compatible with four different signalling systems has been a nightmare.

Engineering on this scale requires a greater relaxation of cost-benefit analysis, especially when it's the first time anything like this has been done. But as management is obsessed with money they stick to what's tried and trusted as the finance people will sign that off, even tho' the planners know it's pure fiction but aren't allowed to be honest.

It's not an Underground Line because again the money has spoken.

No repeat of Thameslink please. Because of its myriad connections trains must enter the tunnel to cross London on time and in the right sequence. Not all drivers are familiar with all the routes served, so there's restricted flexibility to reroute trains if the service degrades.

On the south side new services have been pushed into existing timetables and paths are tighter the closer to central London where routes converge. One signal failure can wreck most of the operation as trains serving the 'new' branches are too far apart to re-jig the service. It really needed fewer destinations on the south side and more regular services to/from the rest, plus a simplified operations pattern on the north side.

Joel | 09.12.20 - 11:11 p.m. | #

We live opposite the temporary Whitechapel station entrance and recently attended the quarterly Crossrail meeting. In the previous meeting, we'd been told they were going to switch over to the refurbished original entrance this month and start to dismantle the temporary building.

We were looking forward to not seeing the big grey frigate of a building through our windows. We've now been told it will be sometime between July and September next year because Whitechapel is now in a line of dependencies on other stations. We're not exactly holding our breath for the revised timescale either.

It's clearly a hugely complex challenge, but, quite apart from our own frustration, it's so disappointing to see such an ambitious, publicly-funded project go so awry and potentially undermine confidence in similar projects in future, particularly in light of their necessity in the face of climate change.

Colin | 12.12.20 - 10:32 a.m. | #











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