Crossrail Ltd will need to transfer nearly 200,000 documents to TfL for safety and handover purposes before the Elizabeth Line comes online, it has been revealed.

In a monthly update to London Assembly Transport Committee chair Florence Eshalomi, Crossrail chef executive Mark Wild detailed the complex handover plans.

Wild confirmed the Custom House, Farringdon and Tottenham Court Road stations would reach completion by the end of 2019, which leaves them “on track” to finish all the activities in related tunnels by January 2020, while giving an update on Bond Street and Whitechapel.

He added that signing off the 200,000 handover documents was now the "key challenge" for the project promoter.

He said: "A key focus during 2019 has been finalising the stations, tunnels, portals and shafts.

"Physical works are nearing completion at many stations as well as within the tunnel section. Our key challenge remains the volume of handover assurance and documentation required

to bring these assets into passenger operation. Nearly 200,000 documents need to be completed as part of the assurance and handover process and safety certification for the Elizabeth line."

Wild added: "At Bond Street and Whitechapel stations we now have high productivity and a clear path to completion. Whitechapel station has reached the Staged Completion 1 point, which is a

significant achievement for the programme. This means that Whitechapel has reached a sufficient level of completion to support entry into Trial Running in 2020 and will support the creation of a standardised requirements checklist which will be implemented across all stations.

"To further streamline the handover of the remaining 28 major assets, local lesson sharing sessions have been held on the process at Victoria Dock and Pudding Mill Lane portals following their successful handover to the infrastructure manager. This allows for collating and disseminating lessons learned and sharing best practice in a collaborative environment with our contractors to create exemplar templates for every assurance document type."

As announced last month, Wild confirmed that the project’s cost is set to rise by up to £650M while the central section will no longer be complete by 2020.

Wild admitted this was “disappointing news,” but added the line had to be “completed to the highest security and quality standards.”

Wild also gave an update on Crossrail's health & safety record after a number of recent incident. Wild detailed three separate accidents which occurred recently. One involved a worker fracturing his ankle at the Liverpool Street site, while a worker at the Plumstead Deport broke his foot after a gas bottle fell out of a storage cage.

New Civil Engineer wrote in September that two scaffolders were injured at the Farringdon station site when scaffolding collapsed, while three workers were hurt at Bond Street Station after a temporary bench gave way.

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