By Lynda Myer
In accordance with Jacob’s latest project representative (PREP) report, advancement in the Crossrail project is being remarkably hampered by ongoing issues with site access.
Continuity of the current site access problems will cause more delays and extra costs according to Jacobs’s warn.
Jacobs in its latest PREP report, covering 1 May – 29 May, cautions that the schedules to complete Bond Street and Canary Wharf stations are most at risk of suffering due to the access issues.
“Station productivity has been severely constrained by the significant loss in access opportunity,” Jacobs states in his report.
He continues: “This is starting to improve from a position of approximately 10% success rate against the plan in 8 weeks. However, reliable access remains a risk to stations delivery and completion, particularly at Canary Wharf […] and Bond Street Stations.”
The intended report adds: “As a result of site access issues Crossrail is implementing an alternative strategy which is expected to result in additional costs and there are risks that further delays will emerge.”
Jacobs also flags safety concerns in relation to site accessibility guidelines.
“The control and implementation of access to the railway under the RfLI [Rail for London Ltd] Rule Book has proved extremely difficult and posed the greatest safety risk to the Programme. A contributing factor has been the size of the RfLI organization which, while appropriate for a steady-state railway, has been unable to cope with the volume of Programme completion works,” adds the report.
According to Crossrail’s response to Jacobs: ” Jacobs is accurate to state the challenges CRL has experienced across the Programme since transitioning to a ROGS [Railways and Other Guided Transport Systems (Safety) Regulations] environment.”
Crossrail’s official response states: “These challenges have been principally related to access previously stated, the newly implemented AIIP initiative set out to support existing access procedures and manage access requirements between RfLI and CRL has achieved some success with access improvement with actions in place to further improve access outcomes for the remaining Trial Running period.”
In this response they also assert: “Further improvements are expected to alleviate existing challenges including addressing the resource deficit required for key positions, production of a consolidated safety-critical resource plan that clarifies CRL and RFLI training requirements, and production of a Lock Down Access Plan for the remaining Trial Running period.”
