If it's 9th December then it must be time for my annualreminder that Crossrail isn't open yet. The central section was supposed to open two years ago on 9th December 2018 but never did, and still hasn't, and won't be opening next year either.
How did Crossrail's bosses ever persuade us that their project would be opening "in a few months time" when even two years later only one of the central stations is finished and the software for running the trains still hasn't entered the final stages of testing? Either the project's governance back in 2018 was criminally blinkered or TfL and the Mayor were telling us whopping white lies for months. Still, we are where we are.
I live within walking distance of ten Crossrail stations so for this year's non-anniversary I've been to see how not yet finished they are. [9 photos][official update]
Farringdon
Farringdon is the only central London station whose construction is finished, but only just. Crossrail announced as recently as Monday that the station is now "substantially complete" which means that the subcontractors can start demobilising from the site. Hurrah! But it isn't properly finished, this is only the "T-12 landmark", the point at which the station is considered to be 12 weeks away from handover to TfL. That'll be the end of February, and even then there'll still be extensive testing and commissioning of systems to complete because finished isn't the same as ready. [press release with interior photos]
Farringdon's ticket hall has been up and running for nine years as a cavernous space used by Thameslink passengers. The interior is divided by a massive sweep of ticket barriers and beyond that on the right hand side, brightly illuminated, is the diamond-patterned ceiling above the first set of escalators. They're short escalators, which I know because I stood at the bottom of them on the Farringdon Station Open Day 908 days ago. It might be another 500 days before I get to go back.
Crossrail stations generally have two entrances, and if you hike the length of Cowcross Street and skirt the meat market you'll find the other. It too is finished, but secured behind temporary barriers and a ring of City bollards. The glass around the ticket hall is printed with a silvery pattern inspired by Smithfield's ironwork, and a plaque on an external pillar reminds punters that the City of London Corporation helped part-fund all this. Eventually you should be able to reach Barbican station's westbound platform from here, but the sign above the entrance only references Farringdon.
Liverpool Street
It's nearly there, or at least the entrance is. A wedge of glass pokes up into the pedestrianised end of Liverpool Street, the street, no longer surrounded by quite so many hoardings as it was a few months ago. Years of deep excavations have been paved over, a proper purple roundel-on-a-pole has been erected and the former Crossrail offices alongside have been vacated. Meanwhile in the freshly-refurbished Octagon Arcade, connecting to the mainline station, a raft of luxury lifestyle stores is opening ready to siphon excess wealth from passing Crossrail passengers.
This time the bonus entrance is the other side of Finsbury Circus on Moorgate, an entire tube station's distance away. It's a woefully unimpressive entrance at present, hoardinged off and tucked beneath a dreary unfinished office block. An unbarriered passageway into the tube station, revealing nothing of any purple glories beyond, is currently closed until early in 2021. But the state of play is positive, as a notice pinned up for contractors reveals... "The station is transitioning to its permanent state. Temporary lighting and temporary power supplies are being removed." Patience, weary traveller.
Whitechapel
It's almost five years since the main entrance to Whitechapel station was sealed off and a bleak 'temporary' ticket hall was opened round the back. It's somehow still in operation, offering passengers a faceful of construction activity as they go in and out. The plan had been to reopen the much improved front entrance sooner, given that access to the tube and Overground is much nearer to the road than all the Crossrail malarkey but no, the blue hoardings still poke out into Whitechapel Market.
You can tell there's still much work to be done inside the Whitechapel complex because even on a Sunday morning contractors in Crossrail hi-vis can be seen spilling out of the security door to purchase snacks and meaty refreshment. I broke the habit of a lifetime and asked one of them whether the work was nearly done. "I hope so," he said. "It's going to be fantastic, it looks really nice in there." I can't wait to see it, although I know I'm going to have to.
Canary Wharf
This is the station where Crossrail construction began in 2009 so you'd think it'd be the furthest ahead of schedule, but no. It looked ahead of schedule when we all trooped down for Open House in 2017 without the need for hard hats, but no. One of the complicating issues has been fire resistant panels which failed to meet safety requirements, because sometimes it doesn't pay to go early. Over the weekend I spotted a group of workmen getting a safety briefing at the top of the escalators, as well as Do Not Enter signs, big reels of cable and a couple of cages full of scaffolding poles. Access from the rest of the Canary Wharf estate is good, as you'd expect given who's paying for the station, but access from disadvantaged Poplar remains pitiful.
Custom House
Custom House is the only new-build station which is already properly finished, as might be expected given it's the only one entirely in the open. Even then it was only handed over to TfL in May this year, this milestone having previously been pencilled in for the previous October (which just goes to show how tortuous the accreditation process is). Peer in through the hoarding on the DLR footbridge and you can see a brief line of ticket gates as well as two electronic departure screens ticking down the times of the next 10 non-existent passenger services.
Custom House is also the best place to see actual Crossrail rolling stock running actual trial operations. Since 5th November six Class 345 trains have been operating in close headway at line speed to test out the latest version of the signalling system. I watched a few of the trains slow to a stop, open their doors for nobody and then whizz off towards one of the tunnels to either side. It was almost exciting. But this isn't yet the start of Trial Running, the next official stage of operational testing, because the signalling software still has one outstanding unmitigated issue. Empty services'll be running for several months yet.
Stratford Been ready for yonks. Nothing to see here. Maryland The only remaining issues are outside the station where Newham's junction-remodelling contractors still haven't finished relaying the pavement. Forest Gate New lifts and new stairs were completed last year. Feels hugely less futuristic than the stations in the central section, a bit like comparing Neasden to the Jubilee line extension. Manor Park The new pronged footbridge delivers passengers halfway down the platform, so best travel in the centre of the train. I saw an unbothered member of staff in the ticket office here yesterday, which feels increasingly unusual in a TfL station.
Tottenham Court Road I haven't walked this far, sorry. Ian's Open Day post from summer 2018 shows just how finished a station can look and yet still not be ready 29 months later. Bond Street This is still the nightmare station holding things up due to poor construction processes. Earlier this year Crossrail paid £19m to terminate its contract with Costain Skanska and are now focusing on transferring operations to a new set of contractors. Bond Street needs to progress a lot further before Trial Operations can begin in the tunnels next summer, and there's still every chance it won't be passenger-ready when the rest of the line opens four years late. Paddington One of the exits from the mainline station onto Eastbourne Terrace reopened in the summer. But the cloud-topped Crossrail entrance alongside still has about 70 weeks to go, if we're lucky.
(you can of course look forward to another update on 9th December next year, but hopefully not on the 9th December after that)
