Crossrail governance transferred to Transport for London

UK: Responsibility for governance of the Crossrail programme formally transferred from the independent Crossrail board to Transport for London with effect from October 1, as the project to build an east–west commuter line across London transitions from the current construction phase to operations and maintenance.

TfL said the long-planned transfer was intended to ensure that decision-making by project promoter Crossrail Ltd and TfL was ‘seamless and fully aligned during the critical final phases of the programme’ as the remaining parts of the line are transferred to TfL and operational testing is undertaken.

‘As it gets closer to becoming an operational railway the time is right for the responsibility for Crossrail to transfer to TfL and the people who will run it’, said Transport Commissioner Andy Byford, who will chair a single Elizabeth Line Delivery Group comprising senior members of TfL, London Underground and Crossrail Ltd.

Crossrail Ltd CEO Mark Wild will report directly to Byford.

High-level oversight will be provided by the Elizabeth Line Committee, a special purpose committee of the TfL board which will meet in public every eight weeks; this will include a special representative from DfT as joint sponsor of the project and because of the railway’s national significance.

‘We have always planned that the governance of Crossrail would transition into TfL, and now we are executing that plan’, said Crossrail Ltd Chair Tony Meggs. ‘The new structures will simplify and align decision-making over the coming months as the railway is brought to completion and commences intensive operational testing. I am very pleased that, in addition to the Crossrail executive team, a number of our highly experienced non-executive directors will continue to provide their support and expertise to the programme under the new governance arrangements; this continuity is vital.’

Elizabeth Line branded passenger services on the central section of the route across central London are now expected to begin in the first half of 2022, with the subsequent start of through running onto existing routes to the east and west being aligned with National Rail timetable changes.