Someone Somewhere wrote:
On 03/04/2019 23:08, Recliner wrote:
Someone Somewhere wrote:
On 03/04/2019 15:24, Recliner wrote:
Basil Jet wrote:
On 03/04/2019 11:47, Graeme Wall wrote:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-47787367

"None of the stations are yet finished"

Surprising word order aside, that is staggering. How could every one of
them be running late? Weren't they built by different contractors?


Yes. I suspect that once the opening was delayed, they cut back on the
overtime working that would have been required for even the most complete
stations to meet the December 2018 target date. It's cheaper to complete
the stations at a more relaxed pace.

How much overtime weere they planning to work? The delay was finally
admitted 4 months before opening, which was 5 months ago - even if
everyone was working double shifts they should have finished by now...


I believe a few of the new stations could have been just about ready to
open, but not necessarily complete, by the December target date; at least a
couple were many months behind, and wouldn't have been able to open at all
by then. Now, they can take their time to finish even the near-complete
stations.

It's obviously extraordinary that the widespread delays to the stations,
train signalling and testing weren't noticed (or at least reported) by the
management until so close to the planned opening date. Was it a deliberate
cover-up, or just incompetence at the senior management and political
levels (or both)?

I understand removing overtime, but surely they could have finished one
or more of the stations by now? If so, then any associated workforce
may be able to be used on other parts of the project to not slow that
down any further.


There's no point rushing to finish a station, then moth-balling it for a
year or so. What they did have to finish quickly was any trackside work,
such as installing the PEDs, so that it didn't get in the way of test
running.

In any case, the stations will be at different levels of completion. Some
may still be having wiring, lifts and escalators installed, while the more
complete ones are probably just getting the final decorative finishing.