TfL mulls publishing unredacted accounts of Crossrail problems

The scale of the problems that have engulfed Crossrail may be laid bare once the project is finally complete, the Mayor of London has said.

Sadiq Khan, who is also the chair of Transport for London, made the admission in response to a question from London Assembly transport committee chair Caroline Pidgeon who wanted to know whether unredacted reports from Jacobs would ever see the light of day.

The firm has been providing politicians with monthly updates on the progress of the £18.9bn scheme since it emerged it would bust its initial December 2018 deadline more than three years ago.

But the documents have regularly seen parts blacked out, especially those relating to details of cost and schedule.

Khan told Pidgeon it would “consider” publishing all unredacted documents “at the appropriate” time.

Jacobs' most recent reports have consistently raised concerns around whether the project can be delivered within its existing funding budget and the ongoing costs of having tier 1 contractors still in place at its central London stations.