Why Crossrail is not all doom and gloom

First published in December 2018

Irrespective of the negative headlines, Crossrail should be considered a triumph for infrastructure investment and an amazing civil engineering achievement.

If you scratch beneath the headlines, you will find that the tunnelling phase of the project was completed on time and within budget, and pioneered some incredible technologies to weave its way through the myriad obstacles that lay in its path (as a Tunnelling Engineer, I am really proud of this).

The delays (and cost over-runs) that are preventing the commissioning of the Elizabeth Line are too complicated for a Civil Engineer such as myself to fully explain; suffice to say that effort required to get state of the art signalling & telemetry to speak to the existing London Underground systems utilising 20th century technology must surely create unforeseeable problems.

What must not happen is for the negativity that surrounds Crossrail at this moment affect potential infrastructure investment in the future.

For every £1 billion invested in infrastructure in tis country, it generates £2.84 billion for UK plc.

In twenty years time, the Elizabeth Line will rightly be regarded as a miracle of civil engineering.

Let's not wait twenty years. Start spreading the news now.