The curse of the greatest work of engineering of Europe: The 12th line of the London underground is delayed again

The project, which was announced as the largest infrastructure of Europe, was inaugurated on December 9, 2018 with about 17,000 million euros

Where I said I say, I say Diego. The eternal curse that falls on many of the large public projects is now being repeated in the construction of line 12 or Elizabeth of London underground. The difference in this case is that until the past month of June the builders boasted of working within the planned schedule and with the allocated budget since 2012 when they placed the first stone. The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has acknowledged that “in recent months we have seen how the managers of the project painted a picture overly optimistic”.

No date for the opening of the new line which was to open on the 9th of December 2018 to the end, and that came to be the height of sophistication with glass doors between the tracks and trains for better passenger safety. The opening is scheduled, today, to 2020. At least, more than a year of delay. The initial budget for the construction of more than 50 kilometres of pathways, the most by underground tunnels to 30 meters deep, crossing the city from east to west, was of 14,800 million pounds (16.280 million euros), a figure that is increased in about 3,000 million pounds (3,300 million euros). Including 600 million pounds (660 million euros), which had planned to raise in metro tickets the Department of Transportation during the year 2019, in which will still be in the works. The new line will have 40 stations, 30 are adapted to current and 10 new creation. These 40 will be added to the 270 existing in the 11 lines that run through the city.

The Ministry of Transport of the uk government and the Department of Transportation of the City of London created the company, Crossrail Ltd. to finance and build the twelfth metro line, also known with the name of queen Elizabeth. Crossrail gave his first signal delay and bankruptcy the last month of

July to ask for an urgent injection of 590 million pounds and warn that trains do not arrive to the destination for the 9 of December. Those in charge of the project maintained that there were still sections to be constructed, and that the signalling system would require more evidence than that required for its proper functioning.

In October, the builder asked for 350 million pounds to continue the project funded the two departments mentioned above. At the beginning of December, Sir Terry Morgan, chairman of Crossrail Ltd. resigned from his post ahead, as he himself said, to dismissal. Tony Meggs has been appointed in his place.

The mayor of the city, Sadiq Khan, has given the face these days by saying that “with the population of London growing at the pace it does, our priority is to finish as soon as possible this monumental project to ensure that londoners can benefit from it”. Initial estimates anticipated that the new metro line would displace about 200 million passengers per year and would increase a 10% the transportation capacity of the city. Forecasts that are still maintained although with a delay of more than a year and a budget that skyrockets.

The Secretary of State for Transport (minister in the Spanish hierarchy), Chris Grayling, has made pineapple with the mayor in favor of ending the works as soon as possible. None of them wants to venture the effect that will generate the Brexit in the economy and the development of London and even the new metro line.

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