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Furloughed staff in Crossrail鈥檚 supply chain hurt the project鈥檚 ability to remobilise after the covid-19 lockdown, board minutes have revealed.

Recently published minutes from the board鈥檚 meeting at the end of May have revealed that resourcing difficulties in its supply chain had caused problems when work on the 拢19bn project restarted.

The papers said: "Furlough seemed to be having an impact on productivity and how quickly the supply chain could remobilise their staff.

"The board requested clarity on the issue of the impact of furlough on smaller suppliers鈥� availability."

Work on Crossrail was brought to a stop on 24 March, the morning after the prime minister ordered a national lockdown, in efforts to stop the spread of coronavirus.

It also said part of the work being done on the recovery programme was to ensure that resources match the scope of works still to be completed on the project.

> TfL planning for 2023 Crossrail opening

> Crossrail: How the delay has unfolded

Crossrail鈥檚 board will met yesterday (21 August) to thrash out a new opening window and budget for the project after last month confirming it would not be ready next summer.

At the time, Crossrail chair Tony Meggs said a 鈥渕ore comprehensive update鈥� would be outlined following this Crossrail board meeting but added more 鈥渙ver-optimism鈥� about opening dates was avoided.

Meggs said: 鈥淲e have suffered on Crossrail in the past for prematurely providing forecasts that haven鈥檛 been through sufficiently rigorous analysis.

鈥淲e do not want to do that again, so we plan to provide a revised cost and opening windows on 21 August but I do want to put that caveat in there. We will not issue a forecast that we do not have full confidence in.鈥�

Meggs said covid-19 had been one reason for the programme missing its latest deadline but added delays caused by the pandemic were not the sole issue. He has previously said the scheme has been plagued by productivity problems.