please empty your brain below
Canary Wharf was welcoming visitors down their nascent hole in 2011, but I can't remember if I had to wear a hard hat.

martin | 09.12.18 - 8:06 a.m. | #

Once again, defeat snatched from the jaws of victory: A platform roof which doesn't quite make it to the train, ensuring wet, unhappy customers.

Penny | 09.12.18 - 9:05 a.m. | #

Really interesting post, thank you

Simon Guy | 09.12.18 - 9:28 a.m. | #

Excellent post. Exactly what I wanted to know, thanks.

Jimmy | 09.12.18 - 9:48 a.m. | #

The next train to Abbey Wood is running 400,000 minutes late. We apologise for any inconvenience.

| 09.12.18 - 10:01 a.m. | #

I suppose with the revised deadline, the urgency of updating the signage at Tottenham Court Road went a long way down the priority list. Interesting that the Crossrail panel had its own roundel pre-fixing it rather than the Underground-style line colour across the top. My bet is that the replacement will be the latter.

To use two memorable expressions from Geoff and yourself in one sentence: it'a still a long tantalising wait before we can all experience the nerdgasm rush of the Queen's Purple Tunnel finally opening.

NickW | Homepage | 09.12.18 - 11:22 a.m. | #

What's the betting that even when it does open in 2019, it STILL might 'launch' with Woolwich and/or Bond Street if they're still running behind - just like when the Jubilee Line extension opened in 1999, but Westminster wasn't finished so trains ran non-stop there for a couple of weeks until it was ready.

Geofftech | 09.12.18 - 11:27 a.m. | #

"The nerdgasm rush of the Queen's Purple Tunnel finally opening."

Sadly, i think that's too long to get printed onto a t-shirt. OR IS IT?

Geofftech | 09.12.18 - 11:28 a.m. | #

Looking at some of those active worksites makes you think that even 'Autumn 2019' is going to be a challenge.

Rob | 09.12.18 - 12:46 p.m. | #

@Geofftech "Nerdgasm Fest : Queen's Purple Tunnel Opens" (or opening etc)
Will fit on purple t-shirts. Plenty of time to get your Chinese suppliers to fulfill your orders....ha ha

B | 09.12.18 - 1:16 p.m. | #

I wonder why many of the surface buildings are so bunker-like ( and ugly ). Might there be a heavy blast proof specification? #signofthetimes

So far, nothing I've seen of the architecture has made me stop in my tracks like the Jubilee line stations did. It all looks very well made but not much that seems genuinely beautiful. Hopefully the wrappings are concealing some glorious surprises.

drD | 09.12.18 - 3:52 p.m. | #

Some fascinating pictures.

It does, though, re-open the question about how TfL and others could claim that they didn't know that today's deadline was going to be missed until a few weeks ago. I know hindsight is wonderful, but didn't anyone in authority carry out a subset of DG's tour and twig much earlier that Dec 18 was a dead cert no?

Malcolm | 09.12.18 - 4:48 p.m. | #

Do TfL claim they didn't know the deadline wasn't going to be met? I'd be surprised if they did as it was patently obvious -- even without the heads up from people/experts like DG and Geofftech -- that many aspects of the project were woefully behind scedule.

It's rather like the train timetable fiasco. That too was never going to happen and months after it's introduction many of us in SE London are still waiting for it's full implementation.

Chris | 09.12.18 - 6:51 p.m. | #

Everything's obvious afterwards.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 09.12.18 - 7:17 p.m. | #

Doesn't look good: https://www.ft.com/content/a4e79458-fbbe-11e8-ac00-57a2a826423e

"Ministers are poised to announce a fresh bailout for Crossrail as early as Monday as fears grow that the start date for the flagship London project will be pushed back even further. [...] In August, Crossrail announced it would not begin operation until autumn 2019 at the earliest. Even that now seems “wildly optimistic”, one source close to the project said, given the problems with signals, trains and stations. leading to “growing panic” among executives at TfL. A number of people close to the project now saying it may not be ready until late 2020."

C | 09.12.18 - 10:17 p.m. | #

This makes me wonder on why we can never get infrastructure projects complete on time. Why? Is it the health and safety laws? Asia can build giant mega projects in the time it takes for us to erect a bus stop. How can we ever hope to compete with them of we can't even complete a 10 year multibillion £ project on time when the Koreans or Japanese could've built an entire city with that same time and money?

Milton117 | 09.12.18 - 11:08 p.m. | #

@ Milton117 - Beware the "others do it better" illusion. Several metro line projects in Hong Kong are in dire shape - years late, design problems, fraudulent flawed construction by contractors, no oversight by the client, way over budget. Hong Kong used to be a byword for early opening / under budget projects (ironically when LT was advising!) but not any more.

Lines in Singapore have suffered tunnel collapses, incompetent construction practices, huge signalling problems. MRT in Singapore also got their asset management wrong with respect to understanding how and when to replace tracks, sleepers and power supply cables. This was because they'd never had to do it before as the railway's under 40 years old!!

Yes Crossrail's woes are massively disappointing but it's not the only Metro project in the world that's got problems. And we won't mention the new airport in Berlin which makes Crossrail's issues look like a walk in the park.

PC | 10.12.18 - 12:08 a.m. | #

@Milton

A lot of the train issues have arisen from the fact Crossrail isn’t just a new railway. It’s also joining together several older ones. The sections east of Liverpool Street and west of Paddington are largely existing infrastructure. Also I believe that the Heathrow area has a different signallling system again compared to other parts of National Rail.

Jon | 10.12.18 - 9:08 a.m. | #

Crossrail delay: £1.4bn bailout as autumn 2019 launch delayed

Gosh! a British infrastructure building project over-budget and not on time, who would have thunk it...

Agent X | 10.12.18 - 8:56 p.m. | #

Ah, Canary Wharf not actually "utterly finished".

"The Canary Wharf retrofit was required as the station had not been built to the requisite safety standards. TfL had spent £75m, and it was envisaged that more would be required, to replace or install essential safety critical systems"

diamond geezer | Homepage | 11.07.19 - 12:24 p.m. | #

I apologise again for saying that Canary Wharf was "utterly finished."

In fact it was only utterly finished (i.e. handed over to TfL) on 25th January 2022, 1143 days later.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 25.01.22 - 4:02 p.m. | #











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