Roland Perry wrote:
In message
-sept
ember.org, at 08:20:54 on Thu, 31 May 2018, Recliner
remarked:

London Underground in 1995, were claiming St Pancras would open for
Channel Tunnel traffic in 2002 and the Jubilee Line extension to
Stratford by 1998.

That was close: it opened in 1999.

"Construction officially started in December 1993, expected to take
53 months [#8, which is Hansard June 1993]." (Wikipedia)

1/1/93+53mths = Jun97; thus I suspect the "by 1998" above was an attempt
to convey "might slip to the end of 1997".

Er, Dec 1993 isn't 1/1/93. 53 months after Dec 1993 would be April 1998.


I'll give the benefit of the doubt to Wikipedia that subsequent dates
quoted are a correct reflection of the cites...

"By November 1997 a September 1998 date was planned.[10] By June 1998,
opening was planned in Spring 1999.[11] By November 1998, a phased
opening, previously rejected, was being considered, with Stratford to
North Greenwich planned for spring 1999, to Waterloo for summer 1999,
and the link to the Jubilee line for autumn 1999.[12][13] This scheme
was followed, with the first phase opening on 14 May 1999, the second on
24 September, and the third on 20 November. Westminster, complicated by
the interface with the subsurface platforms, which remained in
operation, opened on 22 December 1999, shortly before the Millennium
Dome deadline".

So yes, a gentle slide, rather than a major calamity.


The bigger slippage was the signalling. The originally planned moving block
signalling had to be hurriedly replaced by conventional signalling so as to
get the extension open during 1999, just in time for the hard deadline of
the midnight party in the big tent.

In fact, they only got the moving block signalling working in mid 2011,
just before the next hard deadline of the London Olympics:

http://www.risktec.tuv.com/knowledge-bank/technical-articles/sending-the-right-signals---new-signalling-technology-for-the-jubilee-line.aspx