黑洞社区

The National Audit Office has confirmed it will be launching a probe into Crossrail鈥檚 delay.

In , the public sector watchdog formally announced that it would launch its investigation into the 拢16bn rail project early next year.

The NAO said: 鈥淥ur investigation will examine the causes of the cost increases and schedule delays, the terms of the additional funding, and the governance and oversight of the programme.

鈥淲e will also examine the steps being taken by Crossrail Ltd, Transport for London, and the department [for transport] to minimise the impact of the cost increases and delays.鈥�

The probe was mooted in a letter London mayor Sadiq Khan sent to the NAO flagging concerns about how Crossrail is being run.

The letter, seen by 黑洞社区 yesterday, said Khan has instructed TfL to provide any support to the NAO鈥檚 review, which at that stage was unconfirmed, that the watchdog would find helpful.

Khan wrote: 鈥淚 know that the remit of the National Audit Office does not extend to the Greater London Authority or TfL, but clearly, I have a strong interest in learning those lessons both as a joint sponsor of the Crossrail project and as the Mayor of London in the context of the significant pipeline of infrastructure investment that is needed to support our city鈥檚 growth.鈥�

In the same letter Khan suggested Crossrail executives had either misled him or failed to anticipate delays and further cost overruns.

Khan said he believed a 拢300m sum handed over to Crossrail in July would ensure the Elizabeth line was opened in December 2018 as planned  following repeated assurances from senior Crossrail figures but that 鈥渨e [DfT and Khan] now know that the scale of the issues faced was in fact much greater鈥�.