Systems integration is the challenge

When Mark Wild took over as Chief Executive of Crossrail Ltd in late 2018 one of his first moves was to halt, and then reverse, the reduction in key people working on the project. With a then quoted opening date of December 2018 the assumption had been that it made sense to let staff go given that their roles would become obsolete once the new railway opened.

Romford: seven-car unit No 345003 on a Liverpool Street – Shenfield service on 31 October 2018. Plans to remodel the Shenfield platforms at Liverpool Street High Level from three short platforms to two longer ones capable of accommodating nine-car ‘345s’ have been brought forward to Easter 2021, so that experience can be gained with nine-car operation on the route prior to sending the Shenfields down the cross-London tunnel in 2022. Philip Sherratt

As we now know, with the opening of the Elizabeth Line still a year or more away, this was premature. Mr Wild set about rebuilding the company’s human resources, appointing more people to check off work and focus on what still needed doing. This strategy has culminated in the promotion of Crossrail’s Mark Cooper to the new role of Chief Projects Officer and the top-level signing of Jim Crawford from HS2 Ltd to the newly created post of Chief Programme Officer.