14.07.16
TfL requests £34m increase in Crossrail 2 funding
Funding for Crossrail 2 will need to be increased by £34m, according to papers published ahead of the Transport for London (TfL) board meeting on 19 July.
In December 2015, the TfL board increased the project authority for Crossrail 2 to £21.459m to allow progress to be made until the publication of the National Infrastructure Commission report into the project.
The report was published in March, saying Crossrail 2 should be completed by 2033. However, the government did not formally give Crossrail 2 the green light to go ahead until the Budget, at which point TfL had already approved its budget and business plan for 2016-17.
Mike Brown, the commissioner of TfL, initially approved an unbudgeted financial authority of £25m as an interim measure. But TfL has now confirmed that the money isn’t enough and a £33.61m project authority will be needed to allow the work for Crossrail 2 to stay on target in 2016-17, taking the total budget to £55.07m.
The Crossrail 2 team’s objectives for this year include refining the scope, cost estimates and benefits forecast of the project in order to update the business case, refining the route alignment and preparing to start the Hybrid Bill preparation from April 2017.
It was announced yesterday that the Atkins and CH2M partnership has been awarded a £1.5m contract to develop upgrade designs for Crossrail 2, after also carrying out strategic transport modelling, route development, transport planning and economic appraisal for the project.
TfL and Network Rail also recently published the results of a joint consultation into public concerns about the Crossrail 2.
The TfL papers also say that it is carrying out an assessment on the impact of the UK’s vote to leave the European Union as part of preparation for its Five Year Business Plan.
It said that although there was no immediate impact on TfL’s finances, it could be affected in the future by the effects of a downturn in the financial services and manufacturing industries or difficulties securing funding through the European Investment Bank.
(Image c. Ewan Munro)
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