To the sounds of synchronised teeth-gritting from the two governments in London, money (£600M) has been found for the - relatively small, given the background - overspend on Crossrail.
JoJo got the job of announcing it:
As reported in the update to Parliament last year, cost pressures have increased across the project. Both the department and TfL» remain committed to the successful delivery of this project and have agreed an overall funding envelope for delivery of the project of £15.4 billion. This will enable the completion of the project at a cost lower than planned under the last Labour government. The anticipated cost of the project was previously estimated at £15.9 billion in 2007 and increased to £17.8 billion in 2009, before the Coalition Government took steps to bring down the costs following the June 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review.
The additional funding is being provided to both Crossrail Limited and Network Rail. £300 million is being made available to Crossrail Limited, with the Department for Transport and TfL contributing £150 million each.
Around £290 million is being provided for completion of the programme of works on the national rail network, and is being funded by the Department for Transport and Network Rail. It remains the case that over 60% of the project’s funding has been provided by Londoners and London businesses.
PS: There's a TfL board meeting tomorrow, at which this will presumably be signed off. Nothing about it is yet visible in the papers on line.
