Railways: Crossrail

Debate between Earl of Courtown and Earl Attlee

Wednesday 5th June 2013 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Courtown]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made to date on their plans for Crossrail.

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, the Crossrail project is progressing well. The six tunnel-boring machines active under London have completed around 12 kilometres of tunnels. Several milestones have already been reached, including the tunnel breakthrough at Canary Wharf attended by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State and the Mayor of London last Friday. While maintaining focus on the delivery of infrastructure, work is now well under way on the operational phases of the project: in other words, making Crossrail a fully operational railway.

[The Earl of Courtown]

I thank the Minister for that helpful reply. Will my noble friend join me in congratulating the many small and medium-sized enterprises that have been part of this very important infrastructure project? It would also be very useful if he would tell the House whether any decision has been made on who the future operator of Crossrail will be.