CRASSrail hole plot is exposed as being incompetent, in their own trade!

This latest admission [see, BELOW THIS COMMENT, the texts of the article being commented on here] by all concerned with the promotion of the CRASSly conceived 'Crossrail' scam proves just in time that unless scrapped now, the scam will cause interminable additional waste at the expense of the vital existing transport infrastructure in London that has been long in need of improvement [maintenance] and repair. Issues I have here summarised would have and should been extensively looked at, examined and debated by the two Select Committees in the Houses of Parliament. But they were stooged committees made of stooged time servers, especially in the House of Commons. In the House of lords, most of the time was waste din reconfiguring or even re-collecting [=as in picking up from scattered fragments] the derailed brains of those supposedly leading the ‘select committee’. The Crossrail Act is an insult to the idea of ‘democracy’. It is still not too late to scarp it and address the transport needs of Lon don and in the context of the economy, the communities and the environment. NOT fly on some fantasy spin about ‘world class city’. There is no such thing. What there is is a responsible, caring, accountable population. If the Government of the day respects the people of London then that will and should be the basis of all decisions about spending £billions in the peoples’ name and from the peoples’ pockets..... The ‘delay’ of 3 months featured in your current report is nothing as compared to the years of wasted life for so many people subjected to the dislocation, devastation and destruction by the CROSSRAIL hole agenda and the £Billions in costs overruns and other institutionalised abuses that will pile up.....As far as the inner city East End of London is concerned, there is NO demand for a 'Crossrail' in any shape or form. What there is is the need to do up the existing lines and to improve the behaviour of those who control the routes and these services towards the ordinary public...Extend this logic to cover the rest of London and the problems of transport will be solved with a fraction of the public money that Crassrail will cost .....



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Selection of Crossrail design team hit by three-month delay
8 August 2008
By Dan Stewart
Framework appointments put back until the end of the year after client asks for more detailed bids

The appointment of architects and engineers to design seven stations on the £16bn Crossrail project is to be delayed by at least three months.

The firms, many of which have already been attached to the project for several years, responded in April to a notice in the Official Journal calling for expressions of interest.

They then expected to be told whether they had been appointed to the scheme’s design framework by September.

But in the first sign of delays to the programme, which is seen as crucial to the industry’s well being over the next eight years, Crossrail has said it could be the end of the year before appointments are officially made.

The delay has been caused by the client’s decision to ask firms shortlisted after the expressions of interest to submit another round of bids.

“With Crossrail, everything takes six months longer than it is supposed to architect bidding for work”
One architect bidding for a place on the framework said: “I’m not surprised. Why am I not surprised? We’ve been working on Crossrail since the early nineties, and everything seems to take six months longer than it’s supposed to.”

Designers who have already worked on the scheme include consulting engineers Mott MacDonald, Scott Wilson and Arup, and architects Wilkinson Eyre, HawkinsBrown, John McAslan + Partners and Weston Williamson.

Bechtel, the giant US engineer and project manager, is understood to be in pole position to win the role of delivery partner. Other firms competing for the £300m contract include two other US firms, CH2M Hill and Parsons Brinckerhoff, and Britain’s Balfour Beatty.

Crossrail said: “The process to appoint a delivery partner, design consultants and other partners is progressing well. Invitations to tender will be sent in August. We are on track to select our partners by the end of this year.”

When it is complete, Crossrail will run between Shenfield in Essex and Maidenhead in Berkshire.

Postscript :
For more on Crossrail search www.building.co.uk/archive

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