Crossrail delayed until mid-2022 as cost near £19bn

The bill for Crossrail has soared to almost £19bn with further delays to the opening of the east-west line. Crossrail’s board has warned that completing the line linking Abbeywood in the east with Shenfield in the west is now likely to hit £18.7bn. This is £450m more than the upper cost estimate announced last November and £1.1bn higher than the financing package agreed in December 2018. Originally budgeted at £15bn a decade ago and scheduled for completion in