Critical Evaluation of Cross Rail Project

This report critically evaluates the methods and phases of the Cross Rail project in London, analyzing its success and failure factors. It also includes a reflective report on the project management skills used.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT
- PART 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE PROJECT...........................................................................3
REFLECTIVE REPORT.................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
It is important in the project management to critically evaluate the methods and the phases
of the project management used. It basically breaks down the parts and analysing them critically
by means of theories and models. This section of the report will critically evaluate the methods
used in the cross rail project and the ways in which it can decide the success and failure of the
project. Reflective report will be written in order to share the experience and the writer’s own
views regarding the project management of cross rail railway construction.
CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE PROJECT
The project was based on the cross rail project which is basically a capacity enhancement
rail project mainly centred in London. It will be the largest infrastructure project in Europe which
is basically underway now. This will create a new rail link between the west and east of the
capital of United Kingdom. The main contributor in the project is the Hanson UK which will
supply more than 400,000 cubic metres of the concrete which is ready made to the London’s
main building sites. This will be used to construct the access shafts, precast tunnel segments and
the underground stations. Along with this, more than 100,000 tonnes of cement and sand will
also be supplied in producing shotcrete which is basically a special concrete mix which will be
used for lining tunnels and also provide them the necessary stability.
This Elizabeth line will be the full new underground line in London since 30 years. This will
increase more than 1.5m people who will be able to travel to the central London in not more than
45 minutes. This will be a great project which will include 8 new subsurface stations, 40 stations
served, 42 km of the new tunnels, 2 new stations above ground, 40 public place improvements
and the new trains which will be 200 metre long in London (Taylor, 2017).
The project is started by following the systematic plan of the activities which will be
followed for the successful completion of the project. Systematic SMART goals and objectives
of the project are made which do not only help in gaining the profitability but also helps the
community and the people of the society by being facilitated in travelling along with providing
positive impact to the environment. The project will help to connect two major railway lines
which will be terminated in London.
Critical Success Factors were also used which helped in deciding success of the project. This
helped in analysing that the success of the project mainly depends on the stakeholders, team
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members, workers, project managers, owners and many other contributors. This was evaluated
that the project objectives can only be achieved easily when the goals are achieved by making
use of the available resources in the decided timeframe. This cannot be completely achieved as
there can be time and cost overrun. This is why; there must be proper development of the plans
for the performing of all the activities within time and in budget. All the activities and the
changes must be communicated with all the people and groups who are involved in the project.
The scope of the project was decided and was communicated to everyone. This examined
that project will be divided into five major phases initiation, planning, implementation,
monitoring and closure. These phases were then subdivided into various activities which were
going to be performed in the complete project. The major challenge which was found in the
project was that it could be delayed due to the cost as well as resource overrun. This is the major
challenge which can be faced in the major projects which can lead to delayed as well as
comparatively inefficient projects. This is why, the two main analyses were done in this project
of cross rail which were stakeholder analysis and risk analysis. Stakeholders are the major
groups or the people who are involved in the project and are impacted greatly by the success and
failure of the projects. The report also analysed the need to communicate each and every change
and the decision to the stakeholders so that they can be engaged. It is must to scale them for
engagement according to the power as well as interest of them. This can be analysed from the
stakeholder matrix. For example, the stakeholder who has high power as well as high interest
needs to be managed closely and on the other hand the stakeholders who have less power and
less interest need minimum effort and mere monitoring.
In the project of cross rail, the major stakeholders identified were the owners, workers, team
members, media, suppliers, shareholders, banks, government etc. All the stakeholders possess
different power as well as different interest and according to the same they needs to be involved
and engaged. Not only this, it was also analysed that if the stakeholders are not communicated
and engaged properly then they can withdraw their involvement which can keep the project at
risk. Due to this, the need of risk analysis was also created in which major risks are identified
and various strategies are analysed for mitigating those risks. In this project, major risks
identified were labour shortages, budget issues, health hazards, natural hazards, withdraw of the
stakeholders and lack of resources. The causes and the impacts of all such risks were identified
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along with scoring them according to its probability. The mitigation strategy for all the risks
were also examined which can be used before and after the happening of the risks.
The major challenge which was analysed in the construction of this project is the tunnelling.
This deals in making the tunnels which covers areas of almost 42 km beneath London. For this,
huge tunnel boring machines worked along with the sewer lines network and the combination of
gas and water mains and building foundations (Lawrence and Black, 2019). There must be
careful planning, study and efforts of ground reinforcement which can minimize the ground
settlement which can affect the infrastructure above the tunnels. There must be monitoring of the
structures which are above the twin-bore tunnels.
This was also observed in the project management that there must be proper and appropriate
budget made for every type of expenses so that the project manager can get an idea regarding the
total cost of the project. This can help in managing the cost along with the resources available. If
this is not made then there can be risks of budget and resource overruns which can leave the
project in between and can also create a need for the other sources of capital such as loans from
banks, financial help from shareholders etc. which increases the dependencies on others instead
of taking the decisions alone. The project can be in state of crisis when the costs are increased
than the estimated one. The proper budget is made for the cross rail project i.e., £18.25bn but it
is also assumed that the project can costs more by £2-3bn which is basically a problem for all the
stakeholders as well the people who are involved in the project (DeJong and et.al., 2019).
The report also focussed on the pandemic of COVID-19 which created a need for social
distancing not even while working but also in case of the customers. The project owners also
shed light on the social distancing as there is a decrease in the speed of the work of the labourers.
The communications between all the people and the stakeholders will be done remotely which
can slow down the processes which can delay the project as compared to the time which was
estimated. So, the fix time cannot be decided for this project but can only be estimated. In the
budget made, the contingency fund was also added which is the fund which can help at the time
of cost overrun. After deciding the cost of every activity, there are many chances in which the
costs can be increased so the contingent fund can help in such times. There is a need for the
details of the investment which is to be done in separate activities instead of making an
estimation of the total cost. So, this can be recommended that the project must be done by
dividing it into major phases which are mentioned above and then allocating the responsibilities
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to the specified people. The perfect monitoring and evaluation must be done regarding the
performance ongoing (Mboumoua, 2017). The project owners and managers must be prepared
for every type of risks after taking the prevention measures so that it does not affect the overall
progress and success of the project. The project related information must be consolidated and
communicated effectively with all the stakeholders and the entire team including the workers.
Their needs must be satisfied so that they can contribute towards the success of the project.
Detailed plan must be made along with the alternatives which can be used when the plan is not
followed. The leadership and technical competencies must be developed which can help in
tackling the difficult workers or the people along with complex situations. Meetings must be held
and wrapped up frequently so that everyone gets the opportunity to share the progress and to
discuss the things went wrong and which needs improvement. This will help in work
management which do not only help in the ongoing project but also in the future projects.
REFLECTIVE REPORT
I realized while doing the project that in order to manage any project, there are various skills
which are required which the project manager must have to carry out each and every phase of the
project. This can be analysed from the report that in every stage of the project, the different skill
of the project manager needs to be used. For example, the initiation step in the project uses the
research skills of the project manager to set the objective as well as doing the feasibility study. I
also used my communication skills to discuss the objectives of the project with the other
members. Meetings were also held for the same purpose in which communication skills were
used the most. Project schedule and the activities were made in the planning stage where the
scheduling skills were used. I realized that I am good at scheduling skills which is why I did not
face many problems. Cost management skills also play a major role in making budget as well as
estimating the cost which needs to be spending in all the activities (Tucker, 2017). I ensured that
the budget is realistic which helped me in estimating the total amount which was required for the
overall project but my budgeting skills and negotiating skills were not good which made me face
various problems in estimating the cost of each activity to be performed. I also observed that I
was much good at managing the tasks which are to be performed for the successful completion
of the project. All the steps of the project were carried out efficiently and effectively but also
there were some challenges faced because of lack of some of the skills. In any project, there is a
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need of the a sense of humour because of which the stress can be relieved for the project
manager as well as the team. Sense of humour also helped me in thinking from different
perspectives along with thinking out of the box.
I faced some problems in managing the complex situations where the work did not go well.
This is because I did not have patience and also I did not encourage the team members to be
patient which is why I faced challenges in running the project smoothly. In a project, it is not
compulsory that in every face success will be faced, failures also comes in one or the other phase
(Lobo and Abid, 2020). I also felt that I was not much good at managing the risks which is why I
faced the problems of cost and resource overrun which needs to be managed in an efficient
manner. I think that I must improve the skills which I don’t have so that I can prove to be better
in managing future projects. I also realise that I must improve my budgeting and numerical skills
so that I can manage the expenses spend in doing every task and I come to know about how
much expenses need to be done. All the other skills need to be enhanced for smooth going of the
projects.
CONCLUSION
The above report is based on the critical evaluation of the project of the cross rail
construction in London which is going to be the Europe’s largest railway which will be
underway. It evaluated all the steps and phases of the project management which was used in the
current investigation along with analysing the critical factors which can lead to success or failure
of the project. The reflective analysis was based on the skills which were used in managing this
project and evaluated the skills which need to be possessed by the project managers which can
help in managing the project more efficiently and effectively.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
DeJong, M.J. and et.al., 2019. Impact of the Crossrail tunnelling project on masonry buildings
with shallow foundations. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers-
Geotechnical Engineering. 172(5). pp.402-416.
Lawrence, U. and Black, M., 2019. The role of risk and assumption in the engineering geology
of Crossrail. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology. 52(4).
pp.425-434.
Lobo, S. and Abid, A.F., 2020. The Role of Social Media in Intrastakeholder Strategies to
Influence Decision Making in a UK Infrastructure Megaproject: Crossrail 2. Project
Management Journal. 51(1). pp.96-119.
Mboumoua, I., 2017. Revisiting the growth coalition concept to analyse the success of the
Crossrail London megaproject. European Planning Studies. 25(2). pp.314-331.
Taylor, M., 2017, November. Crossrail project: building a virtual version of London’s Elizabeth
line. In Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers-Civil Engineering (Vol. 170,
No. 6, pp. 56-63). Thomas Telford Ltd.
Tucker, W., 2017, May. Crossrail project: the execution strategy for delivering London’s
Elizabeth line. In Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers-Civil
Engineering (Vol. 170, No. 5, pp. 3-14). Thomas Telford Ltd.
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