Exhibit of the LYING Guardian's twisted confession that it has been CRASS in peddling the Crossrail hole plot

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News
Politics
Transport policy
Cash shortfall threatens London's tube upgrade
· Potential funding gap could be as much as £5bn
· Mayor may have to go to Treasury for extra money
Dan Milmo and Matthew Taylor
The Guardian, Monday May 19 2008 Article history
Boris Johnson faces a funding crisis which threatens to paralyse London's public transport system and overshadow his term as the capital's mayor, according to sources close to the financial negotiations.

Senior transport figures say the £16bn Crossrail project, an underground rail link from Heathrow in the west to Canary Wharf in the east, will stifle investment in the ageing tube network, meaning a number of station revamps and line upgrades could be postponed or cancelled.

According to City Hall insiders, Johnson, who was criticised for his lack of experience managing large-scale projects during the mayoral campaign, has yet to get to grips with funding problems. Speculation within transport industry circles is putting the potential funding hole at up to £5bn.

Tony Travers, director of the Greater London group at the London School of Economics, said the consequences of such a big shortfall could be disastrous. "It could create serious problems for the new mayor and for efforts to modernise London's antique transport system," he said. "Worse, it is increasingly unclear who is responsible for any shortcomings, Gordon Brown, Ken Livingstone [Johnson's predecessor] or Boris Johnson."

Johnson faces going cap in hand to the Treasury or pushing through a rise in bus and tube fares if the shortfall proves insurmountable.

The alleged funding gap covers improvements to London's tube network up to 2017. Transport for London is currently budgeting the works programme for the period and senior figures believe it could be up to £5bn short. One source said Livingstone had underestimated the financial support needed for the Underground network when he negotiated the Crossrail deal last year.

"In order to get government funding for Crossrail, the mayor agreed a funding package that took the risk of cost overruns onto TfL's budget. It also implied a settlement for London Underground which did not recognise fully the likely cost of the tube over the next 10 years," he said.

A TfL spokesman said the organisation was confident it had the funding for the next phase of the upgrade: "We simply do not recognise these numbers," he said. "TfL has a fully funded business plan to 2010 and a financial settlement from government out to 2017 that represents the largest investment in London's transport system since the [second world] war."

But last week the head of TfL, Peter Hendy, said the organisation did not know whether the present settlement would cover the next phase of the tube upgrade. TfL expects to complete a financial assessment of tube plans by the autumn.

The funding problems are a legacy of the failed tube contractor Metronet, which collapsed last year after a £2bn overspend. With Metronet's contracts due to be transferred to TfL, Johnson is responsible for delivering the work on budget.

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