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A £350 million government bailout for the delayed Crossrail scheme was announced today.

It came in the form of a loan to City Hall - which Londoners could end up paying back through fares for years.

The money safeguards London’s most critical and costly new infrastructure project - but will hugely increase the deficit run up by Transport for London, currently almost £1 billion.

Announcing the bailout, Rail Minister Jo Johnson said: “Today, as an interim measure, we are announcing that £350 million of short term repayable financing will be made available to the Mayor for the year 2018/19.

“This will ensure that full momentum is maintained behind Crossrail.”

In pictures: the progress of Crossrail project 36 show all In pictures: the progress of Crossrail project 1/36 Farringdon Outside Farringdon Crossrail station Crossrail 2/36 Farringdon Overhead view of Farringdon eastern ticket hall Crossrail 3/36 Farringdon Art installed at Farringdon Crossrail station Crossrail 4/36 Farringdon Inside the new Farringdon Crossrail station Crossrail 5/36 Farringdon Central concourse at Farringdon Crossrail station Crossrail 6/36 Farringdon Inside Farringdon Crossrail station Crossrail 7/36 Paddington Paddington station Crossrail 8/36 Paddington Paddington Crossrail station's cloud index artwork is installed Crossrail 9/36 Paddington Builders install cloud index artwork at Paddington Crossrail Crossrail 10/36 Paddington Cloud index artwork at Paddington station Crossrail 11/36 Paddington Pre-cast brickwork at Paddington Crossrail station Crossrail 12/36 Canary Wharf Outside the new Canary Wharf Crossrail station Crossrail 13/36 Canary Wharf Public roof garden above Canary Wharf Crossrail station 14/36 Canary Wharf Escalators at the new Canary Wharf Crossrail station Crossrail 15/36 Canary Wharf Escalators lead down to the platform at Canary Wharf Crossrail 16/36 Bond Street Inside the new Bond Street Crossrail station Crossrail 17/36 Bond Street Glass fibre reinforced concrete panels at Bond Street Crossrail station Crossrail 18/36 Tottenham Court Road Tottenham Court Road station ariel view Crossrail 19/36 Tottenham Court Road Escalators at Tottenham Court Road Crossrail Crossrail 20/36 Tottenham Court Road Panels at Tottenham Court Road station with Soho street map Crossrail 21/36 Tottenham Court Road Escalators at Tottenham Court Road Crossrail station Crossrail 22/36 Tottenham Court Road Central concourse at Tottenham Court Road Crossrail station Crossrail 23/36 Tottenham Court Road Architectural brickwork at Tottenham Court Road Crossrail station Jack Hobhouse 24/36 Royal Victoria Dock Royal Victoria Dock portal head house Crossrail 25/36 Whitechapel Steel being installed at Whitechapel Crossrail station Crossrail 26/36 Whitechapel Ariel view of Whitechapel Crossrail station Crossrail 27/36 North Woolwich North Woolwich portal head house Crossrail 28/36 North Woolwich North Woolwich portal head house Crossrail 29/36 Woolwich Overhead view of Woolwich Crossrail station Crossrail 30/36 Woolwich Escalators being installed at Woolwich Crossrail station Crossrail 31/36 Woolwich Escalators at Woolwich Crossrail station Crossrail 32/36 Thames Tunnel Crossrail through the Thames Tunnel Crossrail 33/36 Liverpool Street Views at Liverpool Street Crossrail station Crossrail 34/36 Royal Oak Crossrail racks approaching Royal Oak portal Crossrail 35/36 Stepney Green Crossrail tracks installed at Stepney Green cavern Crossrail 36/36 Connaught Tunnel Crossrail tracks through Connaught Tunnel Crossrail 1/36 Farringdon Outside Farringdon Crossrail station Crossrail 2/36 Farringdon Overhead view of Farringdon eastern ticket hall Crossrail 3/36 Farringdon Art installed at Farringdon Crossrail station Crossrail 4/36 Farringdon Inside the new Farringdon Crossrail station Crossrail 5/36 Farringdon Central concourse at Farringdon Crossrail station Crossrail 6/36 Farringdon Inside Farringdon Crossrail station Crossrail 7/36 Paddington Paddington station Crossrail 8/36 Paddington Paddington Crossrail station's cloud index artwork is installed Crossrail 9/36 Paddington Builders install cloud index artwork at Paddington Crossrail Crossrail 10/36 Paddington Cloud index artwork at Paddington station Crossrail 11/36 Paddington Pre-cast brickwork at Paddington Crossrail station Crossrail 12/36 Canary Wharf Outside the new Canary Wharf Crossrail station Crossrail 13/36 Canary Wharf Public roof garden above Canary Wharf Crossrail station 14/36 Canary Wharf Escalators at the new Canary Wharf Crossrail station Crossrail 15/36 Canary Wharf Escalators lead down to the platform at Canary Wharf Crossrail 16/36 Bond Street Inside the new Bond Street Crossrail station Crossrail 17/36 Bond Street Glass fibre reinforced concrete panels at Bond Street Crossrail station Crossrail 18/36 Tottenham Court Road Tottenham Court Road station ariel view Crossrail 19/36 Tottenham Court Road Escalators at Tottenham Court Road Crossrail Crossrail 20/36 Tottenham Court Road Panels at Tottenham Court Road station with Soho street map Crossrail 21/36 Tottenham Court Road Escalators at Tottenham Court Road Crossrail station Crossrail 22/36 Tottenham Court Road Central concourse at Tottenham Court Road Crossrail station Crossrail 23/36 Tottenham Court Road Architectural brickwork at Tottenham Court Road Crossrail station Jack Hobhouse 24/36 Royal Victoria Dock Royal Victoria Dock portal head house Crossrail 25/36 Whitechapel Steel being installed at Whitechapel Crossrail station Crossrail 26/36 Whitechapel Ariel view of Whitechapel Crossrail station Crossrail 27/36 North Woolwich North Woolwich portal head house Crossrail 28/36 North Woolwich North Woolwich portal head house Crossrail 29/36 Woolwich Overhead view of Woolwich Crossrail station Crossrail 30/36 Woolwich Escalators being installed at Woolwich Crossrail station Crossrail 31/36 Woolwich Escalators at Woolwich Crossrail station Crossrail 32/36 Thames Tunnel Crossrail through the Thames Tunnel Crossrail 33/36 Liverpool Street Views at Liverpool Street Crossrail station Crossrail 34/36 Royal Oak Crossrail racks approaching Royal Oak portal Crossrail 35/36 Stepney Green Crossrail tracks installed at Stepney Green cavern Crossrail 36/36 Connaught Tunnel Crossrail tracks through Connaught Tunnel Crossrail

He said that discussions between TfL and government were underway as to how any additional funding will be provided, “with London - as the primary beneficiary of Crossrail – bearing any additional costs via a financing arrangement.”

Crossrail was due to open next month - but problems with signalling tests put back the date to next autumn.

Today’s figure is the first official indication of the cost to London of a delay that means lost fares, and a delay to valuable property and commercial deals.

Mr Johnson went on: “When open, Crossrail will be transformative and carry up to 200 million passengers a year, delivering £42 billion of investment into the UK economy.”

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan admitted the full cost implications were not yet known.

He said the bailout would “allow Crossrail Ltd to continue their construction work and the testing process”.

“An independent review into Crossrail Ltd’s commercial practices, cost projections and governance is already well underway, and that will help us understand the exact implications of the project over running,” said Mr Khan.

He warned: “Some very challenging work remains to be completed.”

He announced TfL has commissioned KPMG to carry out independent reviews into Crossrail Ltd’s governance and financing to “ensure its projections are robust”.

Tory leader at the London Assembly Gareth Bacon welcomed the money as good news for an essential project.

But he said: “I think the mayor has some culpability for the delay. Crossrail is a subsidiary of TfL and it is a sad state of affairs when the Government has to bail out the Mayor who was apparently asleep on the job.”

London’s Transport Commissioner, Mike Brown, said: “The confirmation of an interim financing package between the Government and the Mayor of London will enable Crossrail Ltd to continue its construction work and vital testing at pace to open the Elizabeth line to passengers as quickly as possible.

"The funding will go towards Crossrail Ltd completing the final fit out of the tunnels, work on stations and the extensive safety and reliability testing needed for the new systems."

Caroline Pidgeon, Chair of the London Assembly Transport Committee, said: "We welcome this announcement by the government, but it is only a sticking plaster to keep the project going.

"Londoners need to know what work is left to open the line, how much this will cost and ultimately who will pick up the tab.

"This is a joint project with Government and all partners need to pay their fair share."

Mr Khan has said he only found out about the delays to Crossrail two days before it was made public.

City Hall and the Government seemed equally reluctant to bear full responsibility for the project this afternoon: Mr Khan stressed that Crossrail was being built in “partnership” with the Government - however Mr Johnson emphasised that Crossrail Limited was “a wholly-owned subsidiary” of City Hall.

The overall cost of the project now rises from £15.4 billion to around £15.75 billion.

When it is completed, the new route, known as the Elizabeth line, will run from Reading and Heathrow in the west through 13 miles of new tunnels to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east. It is due to increase London’s rail capacity by 10 per cent.

In July it was announced that it was running £600 million over its original £14.8 billion budget.

The delay means that some £20 million of new revenue will be lost to TfL, whose deficit has risen from £458 million in Mr Khan’s first year in office, 2016/17.

Transport Commissioner Mike Brown said in September the £20 million in losses were manageable.

The financial bind is made worse by Mr Khan’s own flagship pledge to freeze fares, which sucked £640 million from revenues, and by the loss of £700 million in subsidy this year under government cutbacks.

There has been controversy about why the delay was not announced earlier.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has claimed TfL is suffering “deep financial difficulties” because of Mr Khan’s partial fares freeze, in addition to the Crossrail project