On 23 Dec, 19:03, Mizter T wrote:
a 16 billion pound question stands out in particular.

What 16 billion pound question? CROSSRAIL HAS FUNDING! Earlier this
month TfL and the DfT signed the long-awaited contract that obliges
them to provide all of the £16bn funding apart from the ~£3bn covered
by Network Rail, BAA and the City, which I believe also now have
binding deals in place. For some reason the press releases chose to
emphasise the latter over the former, presumably thinking we'd been
hoodwinked by the non-deal funding deal announced a year ago. I even
specially reopened my supposed-to-be-dead blog to cover this event, as
it seems to have passed everyone by.

(Even the £3.5bn business rates question mark is covered by TfL/The
GLA, as they're underwriting that portion)

Crossrail has funding in as committed a form as there ever will be
until they actually start digging. There isn't another announcement to
come.

U