Written statement to Parliament

Crossrail annual update 2021

The 2021 update on actions, achievements, funding and finances for the Crossrail project.

The Rt Hon Chris Heaton-Harris MP

My noble friend, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport Baroness Vere of Norbiton has made the following ministerial statement.

In October 2020, the governance of Crossrail transferred over to Transport for London (TfL).

As part of the governance transition, the Crossrail Sponsor Board was stood down and the Mayor of London, who chairs the TfL Board, established a new Special Purpose Committee of the TfL Board, called the Elizabeth Line Committee (ELC). The ELC is chaired by the Deputy Mayor for Transport and provides high-level oversight of the Crossrail project.

The TfL Transport Commissioner is now responsible for the successful delivery of the project and realising the required benefits. The Commissioner chairs the Elizabeth Line Delivery Group (ELDG), which was also established as part of the governance transition, to bring together the key TfL executives responsible for bringing the Elizabeth Line into operation. The TfL Transport Commissioner reports to the ELC.

The transition of governance moves the Crossrail programme closer to TfL as future operator of the Elizabeth Line, allowing it to bring management focus and effort, to ‘pull’ the Elizabeth Line into operation. These changes were a positive and essential step as we move closer to delivering the full operational railway.

Major construction work on the project is now completed, and trial running began on 10 May 2021.

Given the commencement of trial running and the transfer of governance to TfL, this will be the last annual written ministerial statement on Crossrail.

Further details on Crossrail Limited’s funding and finances in the period to 29 May 2021 are set out below.

The relevant information is as follows:

  • total funding amounts provided to Crossrail Limited by the Department for Transport and TfL in relation to the construction of Crossrail to the end of the period (22 July 2008 to 29 May 2021): £14,893,427,506
  • expenditure incurred (including committed land and property spend not yet paid out) by Crossrail Limited in relation to the construction of Crossrail in the period (30 May 2020 to 29 May 2021) (excluding recoverable VAT on Land and Property purchases): £813,125,000
  • total expenditure incurred (including committed land and property spend not yet paid out) by Crossrail Limited in relation to the construction of Crossrail to the end of the period (22 July 2008 to 29 May 2021) (excluding recoverable VAT on Land and Property purchases): £15,785,802,000
  • the amounts realised by the disposal of any land or property for the purposes of the construction of Crossrail by the Secretary of State, TfL or Crossrail Limited in the period covered by the statement: nil

The numbers above are drawn from Crossrail Limited’s books of accounts and have been prepared on a consistent basis with the update provided last year.

The figure for expenditure incurred includes monies already paid out in the relevant period, including committed land and property expenditure where this has not yet been paid. It does not include future expenditure on contracts that have been awarded.

Published 8 July 2021