• Question by: Steve O'Connell
• Meeting date: 06 September 2018

Steve O’Connell AM: I do not have much time on this. Let us get back to the amount of shortfall. We have heard, Mr Mayor, £300 million capital and £21 million and perhaps rising on revenue. That would be public money to finish that, would that be correct?

• Question by: Keith Prince
• Meeting date: 06 September 2018

Keith Prince AM: Thank you, Chairman. Good morning, Sir Terry. I am trying to get some dates straight in my head. You mentioned a Board meeting in July [2018] where it was raised that there could be problems. Could you tell me the date of that meeting in July, please?

• Question by: David Kurten
• Meeting date: 06 September 2018

David Kurten AM: Let us come back to the technical aspects. It seems the main problems are getting the three different signalling infrastructures to talk to each other. If you had an extension from Abbey Wood to Ebbsfleet then you would need Crossrail to go onto Southeastern track, which might be a fourth signalling structure. Would it not be? You are shaking your heads.

• Question by: David Kurten
• Meeting date: 06 September 2018

David Kurten AM: Thank you, Chairman. Good morning. Mr Mayor, your Transport Strategy talks about extending Crossrail from Abbey Wood to Ebbsfleet. I do not know whether that is something for the far distant future or something you would like to see happen sooner. Will this delay in the central part of Crossrail affect your plans for a Crossrail extension?

• Question by: Caroline Russell
• Meeting date: 06 September 2018

Caroline Russell AM: OK. I am going to ask Mike now. The status quo on Oxford Street is not OK. We know that urgent attention is needed to deal even with the current overcrowding, let alone with the overcrowding that will come from the new Crossrail passengers. Has TfL done a Healthy Streets check on Oxford Street in its current condition, and if not, will you?

• Question by: Caroline Russell
• Meeting date: 06 September 2018

Caroline Russell AM: Thank you. I will move on because I want to ask the Mayor about whether this delay could be used positively for the millions of people who will eventually be using Crossrail when it is fully operational. They may be delayed but they are still coming to Oxford Street. You told Assembly Member Pidgeon, in answer to a Mayor’s Question (MQ), that you will not walk away from Oxford Street and you also described it as a “substandard public realm”. This delay could give you a chance to bring that public realm up to scratch in time...

• Question by: Caroline Russell
• Meeting date: 06 September 2018

Caroline Russell AM: Thank you, Chairman. I want to ask about the experience of the passengers who are waiting to use this line but before I get on to those questions I want to pick up on something that Sir Terry said at the very beginning. You said, “We mitigated one risk and others materialised”. I wonder if you could expand on that a bit more, whether that is what has caused this decision about the delay.

• Question by: Florence Eshalomi MP
• Meeting date: 06 September 2018

Florence Eshalomi AM: Mike, obviously there are still major ambitions in TfL’s finances and the TfL budget in terms of Crossrail 2. TfL has said it will be able to pay for half of Crossrail 2. Do you think this would still be the case, given we are seeing a delay in Crossrail 1?

• Question by: Florence Eshalomi MP
• Meeting date: 06 September 2018

Florence Eshalomi AM: Simon, is there anything you want to add to that?

• Question by: Florence Eshalomi MP
• Meeting date: 06 September 2018

Florence Eshalomi AM: Thank you. To come back to Crossrail, on this side [of the table] we definitely recognise the scale of this project but once completed it will be a big success for London. I am definitely looking forward to when it opens. You may be aware of Rob Holden’s [CBE, Chairman, High Speed 1] letter last week in The Times where he stated, “The problems with Crossrail arose from the decision taken in 2011 to delay the procurement of new rolling stock, a decision that has affected the commissioning of those new trains ... signalling was always going...