I have so many comments but this is the chicken coming home to roost on many things https://twitter.com/standardnews/status/1296726595823120384

the tracks are done, the tunneling is done and the stations are mostly done

the big problem is the interface between network rail and the new tunnels - the signalling, the old stations taken over etc

ppl understand crossrail as a brand new train line when it's mostly not, it's an integration of two unrelated rail lines BY a new line

and there always have been critical supply bottlenecks - ESPECIALLY in terms of skilled labour, in terms of management and in terms of integrating the signalling side

Department of Transport has been always warned about this, we always should have a holistic view of how projects interact with each other

if we were honest about upgrading our railways we should start there, train skilled workers before the construction even starts instead of relying on private sector

again it's Network Rail rather than the crossrail side that has been given the largest problems

I want to see a similar thing that Swiss Railways do, they plan timetable, then plan the infrastructure, then plan the construction schedule, then match up teams needed across the entire country

as in the skilled management is in-house at all times, control is vested in SBB across the entire process and contracting out is done as part of a central plan