Crossrail: Liberal Democrat Caroline Pidgeon slams latest Elizabeth Line delay as 'terrible news for passengers and business'

Crossrail engineers
PA
Kit Heren24 July 2020

The latest delayed opening of Crossrail due to coronavirus is "terrible news" for passengers, a top London politician has warned.

The new line's central section linking Paddington with Abbey Wood in south-east London, will not open this summer, operators said on Thursday evening.

The Elizabeth Line, which links Berkshire to London's west with Essex in the east, was originally due to open in December 2018 before delays pushed it back.

And Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat member of the London Assembly and deputy chair of its Transport Committee, slammed the latest setback.

Crossrail builders
Getty Images

She said: “This further delay is terrible news, for passengers and London’s businesses. The hole in Transport for London’s budget is also set to become even bigger.

“Only in June, the chairman of Crossrail was publicly claiming to ‘meet or beat’ the opening date of Crossrail.

“Clear answers are now needed as to why such claims were made just a few weeks ago. The lack of honesty about the real progress in completing Crossrail has been staggering.”

Ms Pidgeon added that it was time to stop “peddling misleading claims” on Crossrail.

One of the platforms for the new line at Bond Street station
Victoria Jones/PA

A spokesperson for Crossrail said: “A programme of this scale and complexity was already challenging, the impact of Covid-19 has clearly made the existing pressures more acute.

“Due to a pause of physical activity on sites and significant constraints on ongoing work, time has been lost, only some of which can be recovered.

“The opening of the central section between Paddington and Abbey Wood next summer, as announced earlier this year prior to Covid-19, is not achievable.”

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