Taxpayers ‘let down by delay and climbing costs of Crossrail’

A new report from the Commons Public Accounts Committee says taxpayers as well as passengers are paying the price for continuing Crossrail delays. The link under central London between Paddington and Liverpool Street should have opened in December last year, but there is no firm opening date yet after work on testing the trains and fitting out the stations fell badly behind. The PAC says commuters and other passengers have been ‘let down by a programme that is well behind schedule and has seen costs escalate far beyond what was originally planned’. The cost has also risen from a projected £14.8 billion to £17.6 billion, and there is no guarantee that the rises will stop there. The PAC says ‘the final cost still remains unknown’.