What progress has been made since Royal Assent?

There is much activity on Crossrail, as with any major project, in order to get it from outline approval to the stage when main construction works can actually start. This includes detailed design work, obtaining approval of planning details, mobilising land acquisition, negotiating agreements, and developing the contracting strategy.
Since Royal Assent, Crossrail has been moving rapidly ahead and progress includes:

• Construction work at Canary Wharf Crossrail station started on Friday 15 May 2009
• New Crossrail Board appointed with six Non-Executive Directors
• Terry Morgan appointed Chairman, effective 1 June 2009
• Rob Holden became Chief Executive from 1 April 2009
• Tony Gregory appointed Crossrail Complaints Commissioner
• Appointment of Transcend as Crossrail Programme Partner
• Appointment of Bechtel Limited as Crossrail Project Delivery Partner
• Compulsory Purchase Notices issued and property acquired at Tottenham Court Road
• Tender issued for £500m London Underground works at Tottenham Court Road. The contract for the Crossrail works at Tottenham Court
• Signing of £230m funding agreement with BAA
• Signing of £350m funding agreement with the City of London
• Signing of main agreements underpinning governance
• Signing of £150m funding agreement with the Canary Wharf Group, with CWG taking responsibility for design and construction of the Crossrail Canary Wharf station.

What are the costs of Crossrail?

The budget for delivering Crossrail amounts to £15.9 billion cash cost over the expected period of construction up to 2017 when the railway opens. The costs within this budget have been extensively reviewed.
The project will be managed and run in line with the financial requirements and testing models of the Office of Government Commerce.

What is the overall funding of Crossrail?

Crossrail's forecast cost of up to £15.9bn will be met by Government, business and farepayers.
Government will contribute by means of a grant from the Department for Transport of over £5 billion during Crossrail's construction.
Crossrail farepayers will ultimately contribute through projected operating surpluses used to service debt raised during construction by Transport for London, and by Network Rail in respect of the works on the national rail network;
London businesses will contribute through a variety of mechanisms, including the Supplementary Business Rate.

What will the private sector contribute?

There will be considerable financial contributions from some key beneficiaries of Crossrail:

• The City of London Corporation agreed to make a direct contribution of £200m to the Crossrail project. In addition, the City Corporation will seek contributions from businesses of £150m, and has guaranteed £50m of these contributions. The Government will offer the Corporation its support, where necessary, to deliver these additional contributions
• A £230 million funding package from BAA was announced on 3rd November 2008 An in-principle agreement has been reached with Berkeley Homes for them to construct, at their own cost and risk, a station box at Woolwich; and
• Canary Wharf Group are to contribute £150m towards the costs of the new Canary Wharf Crossrail station. CWG will also design and build the new station.

Will the project be affected by construction inflation?

The £15.9 billion budget for Crossrail is a fully inclusive cost, allowing for both contingency and expected inflation. These costs and allowances have been tested by independent advisers, according to strict Government guidelines. Specifically, our forecasts allow for construction inflation in excess of general inflation to mitigate the potential for higher than expected prices.

In addition, the construction process will be managed and run in line with the requirements of the Office of Government Commerce which include testing for the impacts of different levels of inflation. Crossrail Ltd and the project's sponsors are confident that costs will be contained within budget.

What is happening regarding the major contracts?

Programme Partner

On 11 March 2009 Crossrail Limited announced its intention to appoint Transcend, a joint venture between AECOM, CH2M Hill and Nicholls Group, as its Programme Partner for the Crossrail project. This is a significant appointment, worth in the region of £100 million.

The Programme Partner role is one of strategic programme management. Transcend will help Crossrail to deliver safely the overall programme to time, to the desired standard and within budget. Transcend also brings additional qualified, skilled and experienced resources to supplement the core Crossrail team.
Transcend started working on the project on 30 March 2009.

Project Delivery Partner

On 1st April 2009 Crossrail Limited announced its intention to appoint Bechtel Limited as the Project Delivery Partner for the Crossrail project.

As Project Delivery Partner, Bechtel Ltd will be responsible for overseeing delivery of the core central tunnelled section of the Crossrail route and will also manage the design process. The value of the Project Delivery Partner contract is in the region of £400m. To deliver the actual construction of the railway, Crossrail Limited will subsequently award a series of design and construction contracts.

Design Frameworks Consultants

In December 2008 Crossrail announced the 12 firms who have secured Design Framework Agreements. The chosen firms will have the opportunity to compete for packages of design work on the Crossrail project, including work on tunnels and shafts, stations, and railway systems.

Following an evaluation of all the received bids, the successful bidders are:
Aedas Group Ltd, Atkins Ltd, BDP Ltd, Capita Symonds Ltd, Halcrow Group Ltd, Hyder Consulting (UK) Ltd, Jacobs Engineering U.K. Ltd, Mott MacDonald Ltd, Ove Arup & Partners International Ltd, Parsons Brinckerhoff Ltd, Scott Wilson Railways Ltd, and WSP UK Limited.

The frameworks will run until the completion of the Crossrail scheme.

What is the procurement process?

Crossrail wishes to be seen as an attractive client and is very keen to attract the best quality suppliers who can work in a partnership approach to help deliver a successful project outcome. To help achieve this, Crossrail intends to engage closely with the supply chain in the development of the detailed procurement processes and arrangements. It should be noted that Crossrail's procurement procedures will be subject to normal UK Procurement Regulations.
Crossrail understands the need for the supply chain to be able to plan and develop its resources to be able to help deliver a major project of the scale of Crossrail as effectively and efficiently as possible.