The boss of Crossrail today said the crisis-hit project would be “worth the wait” as he held open the prospect of its being ready next year.
Mark Wild said his new leadership team was “really getting a grip” on the £17.6bn project, which he promised would be “sensational” when completed.
A “window” of potential opening dates, measured in months rather than weeks, will be announced by the end of April.
“Early 2020” has been ruled out and Mr Wild was unable to say whether Crossrail, which was meant to have been opened by the Queen last December, can open before the mayoral elections on May 7.
He told the Standard: “It’s not going to be 2019. We very much want it to be 2020.
“Rest assured, the amount of work going on here, and the scrutiny, is quite high.
“We are doing it from a purely engineering and pragmatic point of view. It will be underpinned by a lot of assurance. Everybody is giving us a lot of space to do this.”
The BBC today reported that the line, which will eventually link Reading and Heathrow with Shenfield and Abbey Wood via new tunnels under central London, could be delayed until Spring 2021 in a “worst case” scenario.
A fortnight ago the Commons public accounts committee said it was “not convinced” the line would open next year or that costs would remain within the new £17.6bn budget, which has soared by £2.8bn.
Mr Wild said an analysis of the final cost had not begun as all attention was focused on the opening schedule.
But he “fully expects” it to remain within the £17.6bn budget.
Testing of the new trains and on-board software was “going well”, although trains are still unable to run close together at speed.
Station completion was “accelerating”. Tottenham Court Road “looks phenomenal” but Bond Street is “an outlier” and the line may have to open without it being completed.
The challenge of “knitting together” the Crossrail and London Underground systems was proving more complex than expected by the former project leaders. Work also remains unfinished in the tunnels.
Mr Wild said: “The uncertainty is about software operating the train and signalling system. We have only been testing for three or four months. We have picked up several serious issues that explain why we want to be testing.
“It’s such a brilliant project. Going forward, the city has got to get behind this. It’s going to be sensational.”
