Our role in the Crossrail project

Crossrail is Europe’s largest transport project, delivering a new 21km underground urban railway and connections to the existing UK national rail network, increasing capacity of London’s transport network by 10% along with transforming the city-region’s connectivity. 

The two sponsors of the project, Transport for London (TfL) and the Department for Transport (DfT), required expert advice and guidance on developing the case for Crossrail, establishing its requirements and managing delivery.

Steer was involved in developing the business case which secured approval for Crossrail’s construction. We were also responsible for undertaking the procurement of a private sector concession to operate and maintain the railway.

The key activities and outcomes for this project included:

• Wider economic benefits: supported the development of innovative economic concepts to be incorporated into the business case including agglomeration/productivity benefits on how business is impacted by Crossrail, as well as aligning these to more traditional user benefits.
• Service alternatives: supported TfL in developing the optimal service proposition such as timetabling, service performance and customer service.  Aligned final specification to the business case & strategy.
• Performance contractual matrix: assessed the link between performance and ridership, focusing on how even small delays and variability in journey times impacts on ridership and therefore fare revenues. Developed a matrix to link payments to performance outcomes.

As Crossrail’s Commercial Sponsor, a key member of Steer’s staff was responsible for ensuring the effective delivery of the project and securing approval with TfL and the DfT, including:

• Requirements: developed and secured approval for the project scope requirements which drove the procurement scope as well as aligning them to the project business case and outcomes.
• Procurement strategy: developed approach to procurement considering alternative contractual structures.
• Alternatives analysis: assessed options to consider scope value which was used to deliver over $1bn in project savings while retaining benefits.
• Funding strategy:  developed an innovative funding strategy considering income streams which had not been used before, including a business rate supplement and land value capture mechanisms.

Successes and outcomes

Steer was instrumental in establishing the business case for Crossrail along with the rationale for its wider economic benefits. We also developed an outcome based procurement structure to maximise performance of the railway.

Our unique approach to deliver rolling stock saved 30% on alternative strategies used in the UK. With our support the approval of a £14.8bn funding package demonstrated the economic benefits of Crossrail to businesses from improved connectivity.