Crossrail Ltd chief executive Mark Wild said the railway – which will run between Berkshire and Essex via central London – will open next year with no more money required. Mr Wild was appointed in November 2018 after confirmation that Europe’s largest transport scheme had overrun its timetable and budget due to a series of problems. (Lovemoney) But Mr Wild acknowledged that progress on verifying safety aspects of the railway has been “slower than we expected”, which means it will not be ready during the first half of the latest six-month target opening window which runs from October 2020 until March 2021. He claimed there is a chance that passenger trains will begin running within the second half of the window, although a further update is expected later this month Mr Wild said he is “totally committed to doing the job safely and, secondly, doing this as fast as possible”. Mr Wild announced in November that up to £650 million more funding could be needed on top of a previous commitment made in December 2018, but insisted that is likely to be the last budget increase. “We do not expect to need any more money to do this and we expect this railway to open in 2021,” he told PA. “Barring a very, very unexpected event, we’re going to live within our means.” Mr Wild, whose career history includes a two-and-a-half-year stint as managing director of London Underground, and being responsible for all public transport in the Australian state of Victoria, described leading Crossrail Ltd as “the job of jobs”. Full services from Reading and Heathrow in the west to Abbey Wood and Shenfield in the east will then commence “as soon as possible”, according to Crossrail Ltd.
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