Crossrail Update
Transport for London is planning to sell and lease back the new trains for the Elizabeth Line to part-fund a new fleet of trains for the Piccadilly Line.
The move was revealed at a meeting of the London Assembly Budget and Performance Committee on 3 January when TfL interim Chief Finance Officer Simon Kilonback responded to a question by London Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon. She had asked him to explain an £875 million capital receipt included in TfL’s 2018-19 budget.
Mr Kilonback told the meeting: ‘This capital receipt relates to how we finance our rolling stock… We have decided in this business plan to press ahead with the procurement of the Piccadilly Line rolling stock and we will be looking to award that contract in the first half of 2018. We’ve therefore made a decision about taking some of our existing rolling stock and doing a sale and leaseback of that, to finance the Piccadilly Line rolling stock.
Specifically, TfL is in negotiations to refinance the Class 345 fleet, currently being deployed on routes that will become parts of the Elizabeth line later this year, in order to raise the money to make a downpayment on bespoke rolling stock for the Deep Tube programme. This wou…
