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The Trouble with Crossrail

Duration: 1 x 47'

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Exclusive access to why Europe’s hugely expensive and delayed engineering project the Crossrail has been beset by blunders stretching the overall cost to £18 billion. This film asks the experts when will it ever be finished and what is going so wrong?

It is Europe’s biggest engineering project that has been riddled with setbacks and delays and this insightful documentary has had unrivalled and unique access to archive of the project since the very beginning. This overly ambitious project has been thrown off track by everything from the discovery of ancient burial sites to serious fires, endless engineering problems and countless protests.

Work on Crossrail began with the highest of hopes exactly ten years ago. When eventually finished, it will cover 73 miles, linking Essex, south-east London and Berkshire, running under central London. But none of its new stations are finished, key engineering tests have been failed, deadlines missed and there have been enormous cash black holes. It now looks likely to be delayed yet again, the first train due on the Elizabeth Line will be arriving three years late, all at a cost of £18 billion which is £3 billion more than expected.

This programme talks to experts about what’s gone wrong and why; to whistleblower workers who describe how bad it’s been and to those affected by the delays and the likely impact of more to come.

For Channel 5

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