Crossrail has identified potential savings worth hundreds of millions of pounds.The company building a new line across London will reveal today that it can point to significant possible savings over the construction of stations in the West End and the City as well as the main tunnels, due to be built from late next year.

An insider revealed that hundreds of millions of pounds could be shaved from the £15.9 billion budget when Crossrail presents the Government with an updated delivery cost estimate by the end of the year. Since January, the company has put every facet under review and has identified station design and tunnelling as key areas where savings can be made. Canary Wharf station has been redesigned, along with Whitechapel, with savings of £30 million. Light fittings, lifts, escalators, signs and other components will be standardised.

One source said: “Crossrail is looking to save several hundred million on the new stations alone. Everything is getting looked at to see where savings can be found, including the major tunnel contracts, and this is putting pressure on the construction industry to drive down costs. Major infrastructure schemes such as Crossrail will be scarce for the next few years and there is a huge amount of competition to win work from Crossrail.” Executives are confident that the railway will survive deep spending cuts expected to hit the Department for Transport in the spending review. However, they are acutely aware of the political imperative to keep costs down. Since April, the biggest companies in London have paid a supplementary business rate of 2p in the pound to raise £3.5 billion over the next 30 years. The DfT has pledged £5.1 billion, Transport for London £2.7 billion, Network Rail will undertake works worth £2.3 billion and BAA, the airports operator, £230 million. So far, £2 billion has been spent on a project first mooted in the 1990s, shelved by the Conservatives, then revived by Labour.

The Government and the Mayor of London are publicly committed to Crossrail.

Philip Hammond, the Transport Secretary, said: “Obviously the budget is under constant review ... but we want to see this project delivered in its entirety.”

Terry Morgan, the Crossrail chairman, said: “Sensible efficiency savings will be made at every opportunity.” Crossrail and the DfT say that the railway must be built in full from Maidenhead and Heathrow in the west, through 21km of tunnels beneath Central London to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east. However, financiers predict that the extremities may be clipped to save money.The procurement of 60 trains will begin this year. The 200 metre-long, ten-carriage trains are expected to carry up to 200 million people in the first year of operation.

Source:http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/industries/transport/article2741892.ece