Recommendations & Conclusions
3 items
5
Recommendation
Twenty-Fourth - Crossrail: A progress u…
Accepted
The Department has still not demonstrated that it is embedding lessons learned into its major programmes. This Committee has examined many major transport programmes, such as HS2, Great Western route modernisation and Thameslink, many of which have had significant problems in their delivery. We have told the Department many times …
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The Department has still not demonstrated that it is embedding lessons learned into its major programmes. This Committee has examined many major transport programmes, such as HS2, Great Western route modernisation and Thameslink, many of which have had significant problems in their delivery. We have told the Department many times that it needs to learn lessons, from Crossrail and from other major transport projects, so that it does not repeat the same mistakes. In our evidence session, the Department told us again about the report it produced with the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, the innovative approach to delivering railway systems in HS2, and its project delivery improvement plan. While these are welcome developments, with the exception of the approach to delivering railway systems on HS2, the Department has not explained to us in practical terms what it is doing differently, nor the real-world impact its changes have had on delivering major programmes. Recommendation: The Department should write to the Committee by the end of November detailing what it has changed in its approach to delivering major programmes with its arms-length bodies, giving examples of tangible improvements or impacts on specific projects where possible. 8 Crossrail: A progress update 1 Schedule risks, cost and funding
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Government response AI summary
The government states that it wrote to the Committee on 30 November 2021, as requested, providing an update on progress and specifically outlining the changes in its approach to delivering major programmes with its arms-length bodies.
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HM Treasury
15
Recommendation
Twenty-Fourth - Crossrail: A progress u…
Accepted
Once the central section opens, commuters must still change to other Elizabeth line services to continue their journeys on the eastern and western ends. The opening of full east-west services must align with national rail timetable changes which take place in May and December each year. TfL told us it …
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Once the central section opens, commuters must still change to other Elizabeth line services to continue their journeys on the eastern and western ends. The opening of full east-west services must align with national rail timetable changes which take place in May and December each year. TfL told us it was reviewing the staged opening approach inherited from the previous Crossrail Board in order to deliver more services sooner. TfL told us there is potential to operate services, for example, from Shenfield in the east, through the central section to Paddington, or Heathrow through to Canary Wharf, as soon as September 2022. Crossrail Ltd told us that this approach would deliver the majority of passenger benefits by September 2022. TfL told us that it does not expect to run full east-west services, without an interchange, until December 2022. The Department told us that it expected the final Elizabeth line timetable of services to run from May 2023.43 We have previously reported on the challenges and risk of disruption following the introduction of timetable changes and new services onto the National Rail network. In our Rail management and timetabling report we found that the Department did not ensure, as it should have done, that those responsible for the railway were clear about their roles and that they worked together effectively, contributing to major disruption and misery for passengers.44 34 Qq66, 67 35 Mayoral Decision MD2702, Additional funding for Crossrail, November 2020, para 1.6 36 Government agrees conditions-based £1.08 billion funding deal with Transport for London - GOV.UK (www.gov. uk) 37 Q 18 38 Transport for London, Financial Sustainability Plan, January 2021. 39 Q 18 40 Q 48 41 C&AG’s report, para 10 42 Q 16 43 Q 32–35 44 Committee of Public Accounts, Rail management and timetabling, Eighty-first Report of Session 2017–19, HC 1793, 27 February 2019 12 Crossrail: A progress update
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Government response AI summary
The government confirms the phased opening of Elizabeth line services, with full end-to-end services opening by May 2023, specifically stating this will align with National Rail timetable changes.
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HM Treasury
24
Conclusion
Twenty-Fourth - Crossrail: A progress u…
Accepted
The Department also referred to the lessons it and HS2 Ltd have learnt from the difficulties Crossrail had in integrating the 36 main works contracts and ensuring that they work together. Informed by the Crossrail experience, at our June 2021 session on HS2, HS2 Ltd and the Department told us …
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The Department also referred to the lessons it and HS2 Ltd have learnt from the difficulties Crossrail had in integrating the 36 main works contracts and ensuring that they work together. Informed by the Crossrail experience, at our June 2021 session on HS2, HS2 Ltd and the Department told us of their different approach to contracting for railway systems, which involves an alliance approach.63 However, the Department has not demonstrated to us in practical terms what it is doing differently in its management and oversight of major projects, what tangible improvements it has seen, nor the real- 56 C&AG’s report, paras 4.14, 4.16 57 C&AG’s report, para 4.17 58 Q 74 59 Q 76 60 Committee of Public Accounts, Modernising the Great Western Railway, 44th Report of Session 2016–17, 22 February 2017; Committee of Public Accounts, Sheffield to Rotherham tram-trains, 9th Report of Session 2017–19, 11 December 2017; Committee of Public Accounts, Update on the Thameslink Programme, 20th Report of Session 2017–19, 5 February 2018; Committee of Public Accounts, High Speed 2: Spring 2020 Update, 3rd Report of Session 2019–21, 6 May 2020; Committee of Public Accounts, Transport infrastructure in the South West, 104th Report of Session 2017–19, 24 June 2019. 61 Q 78; Lessons learned from transport for the sponsorship of major projects, Department for Transport and the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, April 2019. 62 Q 78 63 Q 78; Committee of Public Accounts, Oral evidence: High Speed 2, HC 329, Qs 22–23 Crossrail: A progress update 15 world impact its changes have had. Without this information, we cannot be assured that the Department has embedded lessons throughout the Department and its arms-length bodies. 16 Crossrail: A progress update
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Government response AI summary
The government states it is at the forefront of developing a lessons management approach for major projects and has already provided a letter to the Committee on 30 November 2021 outlining changes in its approach and the real-world impact of these changes.
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HM Treasury