Crossrail: Where Did It All Go Wrong? | The Trouble With Crossrail | Free Documentary

Crossrail: Where Did It All Go Wrong? | The fiasco of a Mega Project
Secrets of the Mega Landfill: • Secrets of the Mega La...
Exclusive access to why Europe’s hugely expensive and delayed engineering project the Crossrail has been beset by blunders stretching the overall cost to £18 billion. This film asks the experts when will it ever be finished and what is going so wrong?
It is Europe’s biggest engineering project that has been riddled with setbacks and delays and this insightful documentary has had unrivalled and unique access to archive of the project since the very beginning. This overly ambitious project has been thrown off track by everything from the discovery of ancient burial sites to serious fires, endless engineering problems and countless protests.
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[@FreeDocumentary]

I’d like to say that most or at least quite a few countries have their own failure of a mega project. Just look at BER airport Berlin. So, dear people of Britain, don’t feel bad. It happens to the best of them. In that vein, do enjoy. I’ve come to the realization: projects on such a large scale are really hard - it’s more logistics than anything else and obviously is grossly underestimated in the execution. So, yes, enjoy 😉

[@joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536]

My Allah!

[@travelwithtony5767]

China has very few mega projects that fail, in fact most are completed early and under budget, two things that are virtually impossible to achieve in Europe and North America due to the crippling cost of Unionized labor and their shoddy workmanship..so these challenges are limited to the West, China needs to be left out of the discussion.

[@thunderbolt513]

It's not the "dear people of Britain" that should be feeling bad. No. It's the project managers & governments that use the "dear people of Britain's" money in such a criminal way that should feel bad and be accountable for.

[@travelwithtony5767]

@@ingulari3977 I’m China and Japan most of their projects are completed on time and below budget..and the primary reason is that they don’t use highly overpriced unionized labor and contractors are expected to meet deadlines and stay within budget so they get it right the first time…you only have to look at their vast high speed extremely efficient railway network to see the results, they put the West to shame.

[@chettriaone]

Well said, thanks for your wise words,,

[@RCAVDH]

Maybe we should start paying executives and politicians after they deliver on their promises. Right now they always get away with failures and they have no responsibility.

[@GilmerJohn]

Oh, it's worse that that. You effectively reward them for delays. The longer the project is extended the more everyone makes.

[@ScottyPeabody]

Maybe government should spend their own money on this instead of the peoples and it would get done. Instead, the ppl pay 10x as much for the work then have to pay in perpetuity FOREVER for it. “Inefficiencies on a scale that’s above embarrassing”. Yep.

[@perfectallycromulent]

yeah, good luck finding someone who will work for years on a complex project without pay. you know that's how long these things take right? go on, find one person who wants that.

[@maxidal6927]

So much corruptions happening in big project like this in West. Politicians can't open their mouth coz their mouths were filled with public money through cooperation

[@SAPPY4HAPPY1]

@Ray - where do you come off spouting forth such common sense ideas? 😂

[@fosterwhales1027]

Investment is the upper hemisphere of wealth. This is one more reason why you must save and invest to ensure profit and ensure success.

[@fosterwhales1027]

@Stephanie Jacobs Working with Larry Kent Nick has really changed my life a lot, there was a time when I almost quit trading (investing in cryptocurrencies) due to several losses, but he gave me the opportunity to invest with him, I was able to recover everything. my losses and my profits are linked thanks to his experience and his strategies.

[@fosterwhales1027]

@Stephanie Jacobs Larry Kent Nick Trading

[@Isawwhatyoudid]

what has this got to do with the documentary above? Was this spam that originally included a link? KZbin sometimes removes links from comment sections for this very reason. Glad to see it may be doing its job.

[@RobEJC]

I am heartened to find how much hindsight learning these senior managers achieved throughout this project as they waddled to the banks and cashed their cheques; the taxpayers of London may not have such warm feelings.

[@tedbhoy1]

more pissed off that scots tax payers have to chip in

[@sidclark1953]

This is not a new documentary. It is a few years old. Parts of the Crossrail system have been opened and are now operational.

[@mikemotorbike4283]

This is the problem of large public projects: We electorate aren't able to comprehend the astonishingly huge budgets for infrastructure. The bid has to be artificially lowered to get it passed, but knowing the real work costs more. This creates a condition rife for public drama. Then, there comes into play the belief that the govt has a licence to print money. Contractors game the system and Managers are between a rock and a hard place to complete the project. All politicians globally are presciently wise to this minefield. Awaiting the inevitable public outcry, they gird themselves strategically to affect a demeanour of "see no evil" in hopes of keeping their jobs. The issue is that we rely on politicians: integrity, maturity, wisdom, sense of civic duty and professionalism to oversee public funds. Some projects try to contractually enforce deadlines with penalties, but contractor games find a way through the cracks. We have lost the feeling of community connection, that all men are brothers. We feel detached from the repercussions of our actions. We used to esteem civic duty-- but, "He's doing it, why don't I." The end result of this greed and detachment is that families cannot afford to send junior to university, they can only afford college. Over a lifetime of lower earnings, they will have poorer health outcomes, resulting in greater health care expenses to the public, and an earlier demise. This is an avoidable loss of precious human capital. This after effect has been deduced as an inevitability from the corruption causing the US 2008 Mortgage Crisis. This fact needs to be presented to the electorate beforehand, and addressed collectively, when we are asking ourselves to weigh the proposed public benefits of a large infrastructure project.

[@huntermengel2683]

Those budgetary oversights did seem outlandish. I think any project should expect reasonable overage, but that one line was 500% over the original projected cost? That is insane to think about.

[@pbasswil]

This doc was made at the height of frustration about Crossrail (vid released 2019) - when it was years late with no clear end in sight. The ire and scandal are 100% understandable. However, now that C.R. is partly functional (Aug 2022 as I write), and the end definitely _is_ in sight, a chunk of that frustration (not all) has dissipated. What's clear is that Crossrail has been an _incredibly_ complicated undertaking. Actually, it's been more like _multiple_ huge projects piled one atop another. Consider: When you're at the beginning stages of a megaproject - with plans being considered by parliament, dozens of private interests being weighed against collective project goals, contracts being bid on, etc - everything depends on painting a rosy outlook, and promising a triumphant outcome. No one is looking to publicize all the ways something so complex could go wrong; because if the uncertainties were highlighted and all possible cost overruns openly discussed, Crossrail would _never have been_ approved. Who would've received a contract, if their bids had enumerated all possible reasons they might eventually need to spend more public funds?? And that's just when getting the project go-ahead hung in the balance, before shovels were actually in the ground - which would inevitably uncover unforeseen problem after unforeseen problem.

[@joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536]

Amen.

[@MissYijare]

that somehow reminds me of the north-south-tunneling in cologne...

[@lastnamefirstname520]

BoJo is like a freakin 5 year old. He’s always been. He is just a well fed kindergartener, who has grown massive in stature, but not more

[@jiroleon7215]

Bojo was not the initiator ,,he found the mess there ,,,,,China is the answer but USA won't let London do the right thing that may give China stratosphere credit in Europe,,,,,,,,,,go on suffering even USA is stuck with their antiquated contraptions,,,

[@nuraweyteh3164]

😂😂😂

[@maxheadrom3088]

They should have done parallel rails! Jokes apart, one of the problems these types of work face is the tunnels. These types of works where digging is involved calculate price and time based on samples from the soil. There's no way, however, to know everything that is beneath the ground. The tool used to calculate these things is called Stokastic Systems - system of equations where the variables (x,y,z) are not normal real numbers but probablity distributions. Whenever probability is involved there are also good - and bad - luck waves. I'm not trying to excuse the project - this is actually the first I'm hearing about it and I'm not even from the UK - but trying to explain a type of problem these types of projects face. I live near São Paulo city and the most expensive (by meter) tunnel probably ever done houses the subway rails under Paulista Avenue. There was a lot of corruption, granted, but they also had to cut middle height building foundations, hold them there, build the tunnel and then drop the structures over the tunnel that transfer the force to the remaining structures bellow.

[@ianmorris7485]

I find it difficult to understand how project managers seem to be unable to properly put together building schedules and budgets (even here in Western Australia with our Metronet projectsare suffering the same issues). It never helps that they are always awarding contracts to the lowest bidder whilst forgetting to properly stipulate the quality required by the project and imposing sufficient disincentives for failing to hit key deadlines. Doing jobs many times over due to poor materials or workmanship is just criminal. Also, contracting everything out is always a recipe for disaster as the contractors rarely understand or even know the many years of discussion made before they get awarded the contract and that means they do not have the fundamental attachment to the project that can make a project run smoothly. Of course, it never helped that the project was designed to have three totally separate signalling systems that had to be made to work together. That the project eventually will completely open 4 years late and nearly 25% over budget is hardly unexpected in the circumstances of incompetent project management.

[@johnbannister9212]

Happens everywhere. With the exception of Taiwan and South Korea, project cost overruns and construction delays are ubiquitous in SE Asia. The client will squeeze the bidders to lower their prices, will pick the 'winner' that does not have the experience and then employ a foreign supervising engineer who needs to employ local staff to check quality. When the foreigner refuses to pay for work that does not meet the specification, the contractor runs to the employer and the engineer gets thrown off the job. I reckon you've got it pretty much OK in Oz.

[@skipd9164]

I don't know how construction bids work in other countries but I do know in America. You get a major construction company that has a history of big projects. Then they hire an engineering firm to over see construction. Each one of these might higher subcontractors. Materials being use have standards they have to meet and engineering is in charge of accepting materials. I know a major issue with the concrete used for the big dig was temperatures. When it left the plant in Swampscott it drove through 3 cities and then the traffic in Boston. They added ice to the mix to keep it from being rejected. According to your comment it was finished late by 4 yrs and 25% over budget. The Big dig in Boston was probably from 4 to 6yrs overdo and 100% over budget. It was a great investment and will be for 20 to 30 more years before traffic will slow it down

[@andrewlamplugh3082]

I see the under ground trains service to the Perth Airport finally opened on 8th Oct 2022. Congratulations people of Western Australian.

[@joaocosta3374]

@@johnbannister9212 what we do here to avoid funny price is kick off the higher and lower bidder automatically. A small step in getting closer to quality and cost efficiency.

[@lzh4950]

@@johnbannister9212 17:13 Was surprised that the original estimate for the underground station's cost was that low, as even in my country (Singapore) with a lower cost of living (e.g. the workers are from developing countries & legally banned from unionizing) than the UK, underground stations are typically known to cost more than that (~S$300m or ard £170m). Though the gov't has also been criticized for awarding most projects to the lowest bidder (I remember they once stated that only 17% of projects went to a higher bidder) as its feared to be penny wise but pound foolish e.g. some projects have been delayed as the contractor went bankrupt, while our Circle Line tunnels sprung water leaks barely a year after opening. On the other hand though we've also faced cost overruns e.g. the Downtown Line went 70% over budget (from S$12b originally to S$20b), blamed on inflation of raw material costs. Perhaps that was because some of our lines were built more recently, while other places e.g. mainland China might've built their lines earlier to beat inflation, though on the other hand our gov't is probably also worried about stations being underutilized (hence you have some neighbourhoods that've been high density (12-18 storey apartments) for up to 40 yrs before they get a train station)

[@johnpatrick1588]

If I were a construction person I would love 2-year jobs taking 5 years. It is called job security.

[@CUMBICA1970]

18:50 "Because they keep doing the same thing again and again and again..." HAHA same modus operandi everywhere. I'm Brazilian and I remember waaay back in the 1980s when the local government started to construct proper road infrastructure in my neighborhood the sewages people came and did their thing and buried everything. Then a few weeks later the water infrastructure people came to dig up everything again and do their thing and bury again and back and forth and on and on for years. Even as a kid I thought it was the stpidiest, the most inefficient thing in the world but then somebody explained the scheme. Adding the digging process they could jack up the budget not just a little, but like three folds. And everybody, from contractors to municipality reps, were involved.

[@robertaspindale2531]

"We have a reputation as great engineers." Had!

[@fredflintstoner596]

Mrs Richards: "I paid for a room with a view !" Basil: (pointing to the lovely view) "That is Torquay, Madam." Mrs Richards: "It's not good enough!" Basil: "May I ask what you were expecting to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically past?..." Mrs Richards: "Don't be silly! I expect to be able to see the sea!" Basil: "You can see the sea, it's over there between the land and the sky." Mrs Richards: "I'm not satisfied. But I shall stay. But I expect a reduction." Basil: "Why?! Because Krakatoa's not erupting at the moment ?"

[@modtwentyeight]

Priceless!😆

[@fredflintstoner596]

@@modtwentyeight I JUST SIGN MELBURY !

[@JogBird]

its so fascinating to watch these docs that were shot before covid upended everything

[@philltaylor8442]

The reason why nobody get the full BLIAM! Is becoss THER all ON THE TAKE from those in the government's who's been involved from the start! To the the list of DIFFERENT CONTRACTS !EVREY PROJECT IN LONDONASTAN AS RUN OVER! AND NOBODY AS TOO ANSWER FOR THEM? GREAT SET UP THE BRITISH PEOPLE'S KEEPS PAYING STOP SAYING ITS THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT'S money! Give at least the British people's RESPECT BY SAYING THAT THE CURUPT GOVERNMENTS HAVE POURED MORE OF THE TAXPAYERS MONEY AWAY! AND THAT'S WHY WEAR HAVING HIGH PRICE FOOD'S AND PETROL WE DON'T DEPEND ON THE RUSSIANS FOR ENNTHIG THAT SHOULD COURS THE HIGH PRICE YOUR FORCING UPON THE BRITISH PEOPLE'S! WE DIDN'T SAY KEEP ON GIVING UKRAINIAN MORE OF THE BRITISH PEOPLE'S TAXES! TAXES WE HAVEN'T GOT NETHER WILL OUR CHILDREN'S CHILDREN?YOU POLITICIANS OR OUT OF CONTROL HAVE BEEN FOR SUME TIME!.

[@two-face1041]

Honestly when they said 2019 and then they said 2020 the whole time I was thinking and then Covid happened right…come on mention it…no?

[@huss1205]

The Stockholm bypass will take approximately 15 years to finish. Just over 18 km of the total of 21 km of the link are in tunnels. The construction work for the first main contracts started in 2015. I am sure it will take longer given how spoiled are workers in Sweden...

[@tim99291]

28:50 this is about a collective team effort. But ofcourse only the top management people like me have a salary over 200 times of a normal worker, but we are not to blame, we are here to scoop up money, not be resposible with it.

[@chandan1015]

LoooooooooooL DEVELOPED COUNTRY 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536]

Certainly, unkown stoopid.

[@tepidtuna7450]

The attempts to find a scapegoat are very low brow. Yes we want to blame but the sheer scale and complexity of this project will feed to future projects in the form of lessons learned. How can we improve in the future when faced with monumental complexity? Having worked in project governance, one easy lesson I saw was that the project leadership put too much responsibility on the individual workers, esp. the sourcing of materials!! This should have been coordinated at the project planning level, as the project team is the conductor of such a large orchestra. Individual contributors must be left to focus on their core duties and not run around on secondary and tertiary tasks.

[@martyminus90]

Now it is open and it is awesome!

[@johnpatrick1588]

The great engineers of Britain still have not built a reliable car.

[@divinewind6313]

May be they should hand it over to the Chinese. As much as I hate the Chinese hegemonic designs I respect their efficiency in executing big infrastructure projects.

[@joaocosta3374]

Cringe

[@travelwithtony5767]

Should have contracted the Chinese or the Japanese to build it, they would have finished it early and under budget like they have with the rail projects their own countries. No I’m not kidding it’s the truth do the research yourselves.

[@CartoonWeasel]

And then 2 years later it all needs to be redone.

[@travelwithtony5767]

@@CartoonWeasel You obviously haven’t been to Japan or China lately..you should try leaving your Moms basement sometimes.

[@skipd9164]

I have never been to China but have watched a heck of alot of video. Tofu construction. The high speed railroad has had bad accidents. They have had many new bridges fall down along with elevated highways. How about the highest high rise that shakes. Let's talk the dams that gave way. They also refused independent 3rd party engineering to monitor construction. They want an engineer first from China

[@joaocosta3374]

Clumping Japan and China into one group. Racist and 60IQ move right there.

[@hclau362]

@@skipd9164 China's progress is safe from the West .. we need more people like you..

[@maxheadrom3088]

The tunnel boreing machine was invented in the UK and the guy who thought of it never managed to finish the tunnel he was trying to do under the Thames. His machine was built using a lot of wood and the tunnel was held in place using masonry. When iron and steel became cheaper, the tunnel was completed using basically his methods.

[@ChristopheLereverend]

isn't a failure or „national embarrassment“ since the service is 95% operational, and happy to use the Crossrail (Elisabeth line) Happy to be a Londoner! Thanks, everyone to work on his delicate and outstanding project over the last 2 decades.

[@PuffyRule]

is 2022 and is not done yet, still love London,but is a fail atm

[@johnstuartsmith]

Although it's taking longer and is costing more, this project will still be serving generations of Londoners long after they've forgotten the cost.

[@kamauwilliamk]

More 💕 love from Kenya 🇰🇪, in love with this channel

[@isaaner7761]

Kenya !. In 1976 I met a young Norwegian man who was the head engineer of Malindi. His salary, paid by Norway, was double his annual budget provided by the Kenyan Government.

[@joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536]

❤ is in the air.

[@joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536]

Kenya does exist?

[@travelwithtony5767]

“Britain has great Engineers” Two minutes later…. There was a transformer explosion that caused a knock on effect and further delays, then there were problems with the signal system, then the computer caused testing delays, then multiple problems caused further delays with no opening date declared… Kinda renders their claim of the great engineers ineffective don’t ya think?

[@skmetal7]

just look how well their vehicles are engineered... lol

[@travelwithtony5767]

@@skmetal7 Toyota, the #1 selling automobile brand in the world and INDIAN manufacturers are listed above Chevy and GM Try keeping up sleepy head. 😫

[@skmetal7]

@@travelwithtony5767 I'm talking about British vehicle manufactures. Such as Land Rover...

[@mastermnd22]

@@travelwithtony5767 who was talking about anything other than the British? Derp

[@StopTh3Idiots]

They wanted to say "had" London is filled with college graduates that know less than people that self learned from the internet

[@iandann8788]

excellent docu ,thanks

[@fyrman9092]

Sounds similar to the big dig fiasco

[@peredia500]

Time to binge in good episode ❤️🙃

[@soco13466]

The Big Dig in Boston was another example.

[@philltaylor8442]

China makes us British look like beginners! How the mighty EMPIRE as Fallon !.

[@hubbablahloo1843]

The planners of this project should have taken lessons learned from Boston's massively over budget and time "Big dig" project. Seems like any tunnel project is always under budgeted in just how difficult digging a tunnel under an active city can be esp considering that you have to take special measures to not damage the foundations of existing bldg's.

[@4149stonepony]

Liberal urban planning at its finest!

[@archiebald4717]

Not to mention the archeology digs required to study two thousand years of occupation, plagues, executions, burial grounds, monastaries et al.

[@johnpatrick1588]

Britain invented the railroad yet it was still using steam locomotives on the mainline until 1968. The rest of the modern world switched to diesel and electric locomotives decades earlier. Britain invents things but rarely moves to the next level of advancement.

[@umutpiynar9309]

We advance only when needed.

[@lo2740]

@@umutpiynar9309 rather, when capable... which often never occurs.

[@patrickskelly7520]

Money. It's delayed because of money. Politics and money. Lot and lots of money. Loot. Booty for the pirates out there. Green backs. Funds. Moonneeyy. Did I mention that it's about money.

[@joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536]

Money talks everywhere.

[@groob33]

It's entirely possible that it's about money.

[@trainspotting6510]

M5 line in Bucharest had a delay of 8 years, only 9 km and 14 stations, and guess what, is not 100% finished

[@mateialexandrucoltoiu7207]

Another great exemple of a country that *had* great engineers and *could* complete megaprojects before..

[@joaocosta3374]

How on earth you can invent the jet engine but can't make things in time? Wtf I had the best image of your engineering services. Too many politicians putting their hands on the pie??? Please explain as I'm curious.

[@cortransport]

Corrupt politicians is the problem. Hard to believe corruption doesn’t exist in first world countries however the reality is otherwise, that’s where the most corruptions occur.

[@FreeDocumentary]

Oh there’s plenty of corruption in first world countries. Not quite as rampant maybe as elsewhere, it’s definitely subtler, less obvious but it exists.

[@joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536]

And you too are a big problem. 💋s to you.

[@cortransport]

@@joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536 how do?

[@thomasburke7995]

The Washinton DC metro (MWATA ) system has an almost identical albeit smaller (financially) issues with thier new SILVER line.. even with a sudo private/public management in place and a secure revenue stream to build it .. it's still 3 years behind schedule and almost 3x over the orginal cost projections with new loans being secured to fix issues that will be address once the trains start running.

[@bearcubdaycare]

The station costs are insane. The tunneling was only a tenth of the total project cost. So maybe projects should include more tunnel, and figure out something better for stations.

[@jonasstahl9826]

Tunnels are simple, specific diameter from point A to point B. The stations are where politicians, and architects can mess around redesign it 5 times

[@colinspencer2205]

Should have contracted the project to a Chinese firm. Would have been completed on time and under budget.

[@ryananderson8511]

Now that’s it’s 2022 is it done now!?! Hard to say and the real cost I can only imagine 20 billion 25 billion

[@jessicacossin6282]

18.8 billion pounds

[@regulate.artificer_g23.mdctlsk]

You should check out Geoff Marshall's "Secrets of the Elizabeth Line" series.

[@ranniebase1634]

Nice

[@eturkoz]

I need the music playing in the background starting from 1:01. Does anybody know?

[@tb-cg6vd]

Now now, let's get things in perspective. HS2 is expected to be 80 billion more than originally budgeted and be 7 years late on Phase 1 alone. If you're gonna feck things up, you've got to think big, like we could have given a million families 100k to move up north for the cost of HS2, but sod it let's build a railway line to save 40mins from Manchester to London. Bargain. And Bo Jo turned up to the launch of construction without a speech and winged it? Well at least he's consistent.

[@maloyo7901]

Maybe it is because I live in New York City, but this doesn't seem that bad. I am tentatively planning on visiting London in 2023; hope I get to see it!

[@JohnDoe-gg6kc]

Lol, i love how the public and polititions just think this stuff is built overnight, we are pushing contractors to the max and really need to step back and allow things to progress with oversight but reasonable expectations that major issues ocure

[@jonathanthink5830]

the problem: lack of perseverance..... lack of workers.... too many managers.

[@ajunaidr]

when nations going down the hill, they get delays and seldom complete their project on time and costs. that is the case for Europe

[@johntaplin3126]

Compared to the money wasted by the ridiculous response to COVID-19, Crossrail, which will last for generations and will generate countless billions in the future, was a snip. Compared with the rebuilding of Wembley Stadium, which was kid's play in comparison and which was also was over budget and late, Crossrail was beset with political idoits, changes of governments and major unforeseeable setbacks. As a former project manager on these types of projects, I congratulate the engineers on the successful completion of the Elizabeth Line.

[@regulate.artificer_g23.mdctlsk]

Well it's not 100% complete per se, but yeah. They got it mostly up and running now; the workers that made this possible should be given their due credit. I salute them!

[@curtiswheeler2212]

for the longest time i never new my actually ancestry well now i know that i am English/native Canadian finally i know where my good looks comes from Canadian and good old England that's why i am a Wheeler and really like the British people. another thing i am the shortest of the men in my little family at 6foot.

[@prabhushankar8520]

GOOD

[@usa-empireis-dead227]

Cities should know by now that ONLY a certain amount of humans can be in an area without creating congestion! IF a city followed the 1 to 1 ratio of human functionality to housing and plumbing, THEN there would never have been any problems! Greed for fiat paper money is NOT compatible with the social needs of human life balance!

[@robertaspindale2531]

The trouble is that too much of our economy is owned by monopolies that don't need to worry about efficiency, quality and prices. And political correctness probably played a role in this fiasco.

[@FreeDocumentary]

Indeed. There’s always a multitude of reasons; the ones you mention endemic worldwide when it comes to these kinds of projects.

[@robertaspindale2531]

@@FreeDocumentary Yes. But they weren't always. We should be able to do better than this pathetic performance.

[@regulate.artificer_g23.mdctlsk]

How is _political correctness_ and _capitalism_ (what the first paragraph basically describes) related in any way?

[@tokslut]

Come on, at least put in a line that says it it now open... I don't watch a documentary to have to google afterwards...

[@liveyourbestlife1513]

Nice music

[@philippededeken4881]

It's just a failure end to end. In China, the whole project would have been carried out successfully in under 3 years.

[@lylewollenhaupt7424]

and fall apart in 2 !! lol

[@FreeDocumentary]

You’re right about China but it comes at a cost of course. There has to be a good middling way where workers get good wages AND are led by competent managers. But apparently we still haven’t found the way

[@perfectallycromulent]

yeah, if you didn't care about worker safety or the environment, and could use governmental force to compel labor, you could built whatever fast. but why are you acting like that's a good thing?

[@gouravduttaroy5238]

And a lot of the high speed railway are not profitable so what is making it fast if it doesn't make a profit

[@danepher]

@@gouravduttaroy5238 public transportation not always need to be profitable. It should transport people where need be so they can work or travel and spend money elsewhere or earn money from elsewhere, thereby paying more taxes

[@JohnErnstP76]

Maybe they are using the same construction firms Australia used for the Sydney Opera House.

[@scottholloway9506]

sounds similar to the big dig in Boston in many ways

[@ScottyPeabody]

This is what you get when government and a bunch of crooked contractors get their greasy thieving hands on the ppls 65% taxable income.

[@ilcanaledellanatura]

🙏🙏

[@tandemcompound2]

Crossrail looks like a birthday present next to HS2 fiasco.

[@BabyMakR]

It's good to see that short sightedness is not limited to politicians in my county. They pretend that the money is just being burnt, and not being fed into the economy, being spent by Bob and his wife Jenny to buy food and a house and put their kids through school.

[@archiebald4717]

Would be nice to see a fraction of that budget spent across the rest of the country.

[@citroniron3293]

In clinical trials we have the problem that the pharma always tries to underpay the study centres in clinics. We often have a significant higher budget planned for the trial then them. We know how much time and workforce goes into that. We show them in detail how much it will cost. They need to learn to project the real costs.

[@Driverstein]

The level of coruption in Western Europe is just on another level as in Eastern Europe

[@loktom4068]

Canada's Trans Canada Pipeline project is just as bad or even worse. Justin True-dope 🐩 can't even get it started after $ billions spent. Now quietly shuffed under the rug hopefully everyone that uses his famous monopolized marijuana products will forget. 🎃

[@OmmerSyssel]

Might be the case, at least we're paying the show by our own money, and not leeching on others money and good will

[@BobQuigley]

Boston's big dig nightmare

[@widescreennavel]

You should have chosen Hyperloop like we do in the states!

[@regulate.artificer_g23.mdctlsk]

Chosen as the subject for the documentary?

[@skipd9164]

I watched the big dig in Boston. 6 billion and less than a decade to build. All types of problems came up and needed new methods to complete them. To go under rail lines that were active using many tracks out of a major rail station. How could they create tunnels going under the railroad tracks. They tried a new method and froze a major area not just the tracks. They had to create a method to do it and it wood last for months. They also had to remove a major 3 lane elevated highway in both directions. They did this while building the tunnels underground and at some point the tunnels were exposed. They also created a separate tunnel to go under water to the airport. They Finished at twice the cost and years later. It was worth it

[@bearcubdaycare]

Having grown up near Boston, I'll say that not connecting the rail stations was a major missed opportunity.

[@skipd9164]

@@bearcubdaycare yes but we couldn't get it all. Going from R 90 straight to Logan airport is great. Getting rid of the other green monster and creating parks is also a win but your correct

[@huwgrossmith9555]

Simple rules after winning a govt project: 1 print variation books; 2 if anyone from any level of government makes any form of contact fill out and submit variation. Has any UK rail project bar the ECML Upgrades, been delivered on time or budget?

[@LouisEmery]

What mega project ever was a success in the world? The conceit of the politicians is that," this time, it will be different."

[@Sams_Uncle]

The Crossrail line was first proposed in 1941. It was first proposed to Parliament in 1991 but was rejected. It was then proposed by the government as the Crossrail bill in 2005. Construction started in 2009 and, heavily delayed, the central section opened on 24 May 2022 with full completion due in 2023. 😂😂😅😅

[@bojcio]

When I think Britain I never think "great engineers". Ever. I don't know where they got that idea from. You think Germany, Switzerland, Japan, China, Russia etc. The British do tend to think very highly of themselves with a tendency to look down on others, so maybe its just a symptom of that.

[@dumyjobby]

Why this went the way it went? Because Britain hasn't done anything like it in a long time. Now do it agat and again and I'm sure they could do it in half the time with half the budget

[@trent5555]

14:18 Queen Victoria? RIP Elizabeth.

[@chrisdumea961]

London, we have a problem!

[@richardhetrick4770]

A large metro area , metro rail is needed and if managed right it will make money and will have good economic impact to area. Pay parking lots and taxi may lose metro rail should go to large airport and long-distance stations also shopping malls and sports venues and run so late shift workers can use them

[@KyrilPG]

It's so strange and counterproductive to expect these kinds of infrastructure to make money. Do you expect roads to make money ? No, you expect them to offer a service that benefits the public, the society and the overall economy. The service, value and economic boost that infrastructure gives are important, not its own, direct profitability (or lack thereof). Plus, you have to add all the savings that clean infrastructure brings : thousands of cars of the road = less accidents, less pollution, less healthcare costs caused by both. And also the huge number of minutes no longer lost in traffic jams > added productivity, social / family ties, consumption... The "benefits" of infrastructures like new rail or subway lines are not in their ticket sales but much broader and diffuse. Some cities / countries have chosen to make them free to access because the broader benefits far outweigh the costs. Many others have a partial or symbolic price for tickets. And some sadly hammer their users with sky high prices, even though their infrastructure is one of the main pillars of their economic strength.

[@loktom4068]

How did it go wrong? It's the great DEBT TRAP engineering from the beginning to the end. It's made to do just that. It's AMAZING 😍😻!

[@regulate.artificer_g23.mdctlsk]

Portions of Crossrail is operation now since mid 2022

[@ic0511]

Thank you smuch 😊. Watching from Malaysia 🇲🇾

[@punisher7635]

from malaysia too 😊

[@joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536]

💋s to malasians.

[@punisher7635]

@@joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536 thank you my freind

[@joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536]

@@punisher7635 I am not friend of anybody.

[@joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536]

@@punisher7635 friend I am not.

[@TerryClarkAccordioncrazy]

Isambard Kingdom Brunel would have finished the project.

[@mikerock8177]

Not knowing how to properly budget plan ahead materials and such and thievery

[@FreeDocumentary]

I know. You’d think the project managers would confer with managers who’ve had experience with mega production. It’s not that hard to predict these things ALWAYS are delayed and ALWAYS mega over budget due to incompetence etc. sheesh

[@ie2adm212]

But now it all works perfectly and London's traffic has become very fluid.

[@martyminus90]

Can you actually feel the impact in the city? That is awesome

[@RonPiggott]

What year was this documentary made?

[@zephheine9681]

well thats sad all the price rises are just otg

[@clivehorridge]

It’s common for feasibility studies and project cost estimators to hugely underestimate so-called financial and time targets. Time after time Clients give totally unachievable times for completion, but what bidder is going to refuse the opportunity to win a project like this? It’s ironic that our dear Queen Elizabeth never got to see her line opened. RIP Your Majesty.

[@regulate.artificer_g23.mdctlsk]

You mean _fully_ opened. Parts of it have been operation now (just recently). This documentary is old, you know...

[@ilovelimpfries]

Pffftttt.. talk to me when it reaches HS2 100billion pounds level of "gone wrong"

[@quest4adventure495]

Over 4 years late. This is what happens when government becomes too big and engages in corruption with big businesses.

[@usethenoodle]

Perhaps this project should have been planned, managed, and built by Marti. Those folks really know how to do something like this. It looks to me like too many politicians were involved.

[@ecelsozanato5603]

Good documentary 😍. Very bad backdrop music: too high volume! 😡. Unnecessary…

[@hanssolos3699]

the new campfire song for kids : crossrail doowop that thing that thing that thing that thing eeekkkss eeekkksss....

[@bwilsonduncan]

Why is there no date on this item?

[@alejandrayalanbowman367]

Too many politicians with their hands out as always.

[@danielbliss8014]

Strikng seeing this documentary from a couple years ago and people missing the forest for the trees. And the forest is that the UK rail and construction industry are woefully out of practice on major infrastructure. There's no continuity, no in-house capability, a heavy dependence on hired-gun consultants who have to ramp up and scale down for each project. And then they rely on CEO messiahs to patch a systemic problem. It's all a sorry contrast to 40 years ago when BR was turning out the Selby diversion at a price that, index linked, is not unlike what the French still manage to do with new segments of main line. There needs to be some sort of major infrastructure construction happening, somewhere in Britain, all the time, so that vendors build experience. Continuity counts.

[@travelwithtony5767]

Has crossrail been completed yet? (Aug 2022)

[@FishplateFilms]

A lot of it of it is running and more opening soon. Check out the "Jubilee Line" . Gregg :-)

[@travelwithtony5767]

@@FishplateFilms Alrighty then, only five years late and a gazillion £’s over budget. If that happened in China the contractors would have had their assets seized and thrown in jail..without getting paid. Also why they never run over budget and delays. The UK should be more like China.

[@FishplateFilms]

@@travelwithtony5767 I can't argue it's not a stuff up of huge proportions...but I don't think we can compare the UK to a communist China? Maybe somewhere in the middle is where we should be looking? Australia still has 3 different railway gauges.....at least the Poms fixed that in the 1800s..LOL Gregg :-)

[@usa-empireis-dead227]

Massive projects should get paid based on completed results! IF a tunnel rail is 1,600 miles long, THEN private companies ONLY get paid based on completed sections! Companies should be fined and CEOs jailed for life for being way over budget and low quality results or safety concerns!

[@dogwedl1167]

[@grahamroberts479]

Did it go wrong. I seriously doubt that. The passenger numbers are quite incredible already even though the project is not fully complete.

[@kerrykrishna]

Is it running yet in Sept 2022?

[@EdwinaTS]

Looks to me, trying to build underground in built up areas should not be attempted. Far better to build overhead transport in built-up areas. It is a bit more expensive than plain overground, but very predictable in schedule and outcome, and far less disruptive in the building works.

[@Tiger1x1]

Lobby is working against this project.