Crossrail Project Management: Delays, Overruns, and Stakeholder Impact

This report provides an analysis of the Crossrail project, a major railway construction initiative in London, focusing on the reasons behind its significant delays and budget overruns. It examines various elements of project management, including human resource management, communication, and project integration, highlighting the failures in leadership, ineffective communication channels, and poor integration between project owners and contractors. The report also addresses the impact of design changes, risk factors, and the lack of a participative management style on the project's overall success. Furthermore, it emphasizes the importance of effective time management, clear scope statements, and the utilization of project management tools to ensure accountability and achieve project objectives. The report concludes by underscoring the need for improved communication planning, risk mitigation strategies, and a more collaborative project culture to prevent similar issues in future projects. Desklib offers a range of resources, including past papers and solved assignments, to aid students in understanding complex project management concepts.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Elements of the Project................................................................................................................3
RECOMMENDATION...................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Business management focuses on the manage and organize a business resource such as
human capital. Business management put efforts on the human resource's management,
communication and general management theories. The Cross rail is the railway constructed
projects and it is the Elizabeth line has begun to transform travel across the London. It helps in
reduce the journey time, and improve transport journey customers. This report will discuss the
cross rail project with the time, budget, stakeholders, quality and risk factors. This report
specially evaluate on the initial project plan as well as determine that what went wrong and it
leads in the huge delays and overruns.
MAIN BODY
Elements of the Project
Project management is known as organizational approach which is used to manage stages
of project. It is necessary for the company to develop the fundamental principle so that it can
achieve the goals of project in better ways. Along with this, UK has been planning and
implementing different infrastructural development projects and it is in the process of developing
big infrastructural project which is the London Cross rail. The project will entail construction of
underground railway connection East and West London and its nearby suburbs. The project
started in year 2009 and came into operation in year 2018 as well as over 8000 people were
involved in order to complete the project successfully (Newlove-Eriksson, 2020). One of the
technology which has been used in the project is Enterprise Resources Planning system that
includes diverse tools which handles project in better ways as it helps in managing human
resources and accounting. In order to make the project successful it is important for government
of UK to make use of project management principles and practices. Some of the best practices
ate resource management, communication and time.
Vision: To provide customer world class railway facilities at affordable price through partnership
and project excellence.
Human resource Management It is one of the most essential components which used
during the project in order to compete the task on time. Along with this, project manager has a
duty to ensure that available human capital is utilized effectively. There are various external and
internal stakeholders like customer, individual and project owners participate in the process of

project. The London Cross rail project is currently managed by 24 project managers which are
from different project management companies (Milillo and et.al., 2018). The role of manager is
to improve the attainment of the project in better ways as well as to increase expertise in the
respective project managers. Some important aspect of project manager includes organizational
planning and team development. The human resources of Cross rail were aware that project has
been delaying form last so many years and various number of people was being paid by Cross
rail who was not even involved in the development properly.
There was lack of self-sabotage which leads to additional security measures in areas of
some projects. One of the major reason of failure of the project is lack of management across all
level which has created distrustful situation as roles of employees was not given proper. Most of
the workers has witnesses billions of worth waste generated through lack of planning and poor
management (Macchiarulo and et.al., 2019). In addition to this, the design of the project was not
defining at some stages and due to that contractors have guessed what it need to build. Now the
project is in hand of Mark Wild and it has given charge to address the problems which has
caused delayed. The project was supposed to complete by the end of 2018 and it went working 2
years before the deadline until then it was running smoothly. The tunnel side required lot of time
and budget so it required experience workers in order to complete the stage of task. But soon as
the contract ended there were mass delays and large problem has raised. Fit out involves the
installation of different system which needed line workers to complete work of ventilation shafts,
drainage pipes and singling system.
There was delay in it because of lack of specialist subcontractor. In the year of 2016 the
number of companies involved in the project and large firm brought substantial teams due to that
there was ego clash among employees on regular basis and it has complicated site work. It has
been found in the project that there was lot of politics going which could have been easily
overcomes but people in charge was taking lot of holidays in order to avoid work load. There
was no leadership as project managers used to work desperately form the people who worked at
the ground level. In the year of 2016 and 2017 there was no effective management system which
has lead in delay (Lawrence, Menkiti and Black, 2018). Construction managers were going into
meetings on regular basis and getting these deadlines and task. Lack of communication has
delayed the work and most time no design was available to workers and due to that it has no clue
from where to start. Moreover, there were no specification of design and project like cross rail

requires extreme levels of quality control to ensure it fits for the public used. Thus, poorly
planned work has lead into so much delay and the project was not completed on time. Along
with this, contracts cross rail has signed with builder which were based on fixed price lump sum
agreements. These deal provide contractor with finish job as it was given whole job and time to
complete the task. In addition to this, due to continuous change in the design billions of money
has been wasted and workers were asked to rip of construction which was not according to
design. One of instant is whole ceiling need to be changed which was built on contractor
designed as well as whole thing was removed when new designed was implemented.
In order to improve the contribution of the project team members the project manager has
to initiate practices related to shared value and adopt them in order to implement projects. The
culture should be presented through policies and procedure as it will influence the performance
of project in better ways. One of the major delay in project is poor leadership quality so in order
to deal with it project manager should consider in developing culture in which employee can
freely interact with the project managers (Giardina and et.al., 2019). There was lack of
participants and in effective project environment in Cross rail. Thus, there is need of participative
management style as it will improve the likelihood of developing positive project culture.
However, London Cross rail was based on functional structures and the project was organized
into different functions such as accounting, engineering, and marketing. There was adopting of
sub creative leadership which has rheumatic leadership which as breakdown interaction within
project team members. It has been found in the case that senior project managers have created an
ineffective project culture which makes project teams members terrified to share their safety
incidents and mistakes with the leadership.
Project communication is also one of the important part which greatly dependent on the
level of collaboration amongst various project team members. It is the duty of manger to
promote the activity details, timely generation and collection of project information. Along with
this, communication leads to establishment of important links between stakeholders of projects
and motivate them to stay connected with the company (DeJong and et.al., 2019). It is necessary
for the project stakeholders to share and receive project information freely in order to achieve the
project success. The London Cross rail project has faced various challenges due to the lack of
effective communication. For instant, the project team members are scared of reporting the
issued faced by them while working as they had fear of being laid off. It is well-known fact that

implementation of project is not threat free and one of the major threat faced by Cross rail was
death of one of the team member Rene Amikacin that occurred in March 2014 due to site
injuries. In order to deal with the above challenges of communication project manager has to
implement communication planning, information distribution, administrative closure and
performance reporting. While planning communication pathway it is essential for project
manager to gain specific information required by different project stakeholders, when it is
needed and the mode of communication as well as party charged with the responsibility of
providing data. It is necessary in order to achieve the success of project without any delay.
Moreover, it is beneficial for the company when communication is done at intimal stage
and review need to be done in order to determine their efficacy (Cocconcelli and Medda, 2021).
In addition to this, Cross rail project manager should determine the communication process
requirements and the goals can be achieved by assessing the type and value of information. The
project manager has to make sure that main task should be divided into hang able project
components and the responsibility needs to be implemented the sub projects should be allocated
to the various teams. It will help in maintaining the accountability and identify the needs of
various departments.
Project integration helps in identifying the outcomes through level of coordination
amour various project team members. It is important for project manager to make sure that
necessary objective need to be set for gaining success. Another reason which has affected Cross
rail is lack of optimal integration. There was ineffective relation between the project owner and
the contractors. In the project there was videoing and photographs was taken so that mistakes
can be identified as well as this approach has negatively affected the project team members'
morale. Project manager has to take control on the change that should involve developing of
board which deal with project change (Chodorowski, Ingram and Black, 2021). Along with this,
project time management was predetermined the first phase of Cross rail project is expected to
be operational by 2018 but due to ineffective time management limit that delayed in the project
outcomes. One of the major factors which have delayed in the project was poor relation between
owner and the contractor. The Cross rail need to make proper arrangement for designing the
project time schedule. The activities need to be identified properly and commentated in order to
find out derivable effectively. There is need of work breakdown structure that will define
activities which need to be undertaken. A clear scope statement should be designed that outline

roles and responsibility of each employee. This approach will contribute in success of project as
project manager should be able to manage subcomponents (Chen and et.al., 2018). Although
different tools and techniques need to be considered for managing the time of project such as
tools like Precedence Diagramming method and the arrow diagramming method in order to
construct and illustrate the dependencies amounts the project activities. The Cross rail project
should be based on an effective schedule development that will determine start and end of finish
dates. Moreover, projects schedule should be realistic in order to achieve the set outcomes of the
project.
Risk Register
Risk identify Likelihood Impact Severity Mitigation
Budget estimate
discrepancy
between 2018 and
2020 project
agreement
Moderate High High Engage in
funding for
collecting
income and
meeting high
prices.
Delay in progress
from responsible
authority
Moderate High high Report of
project need
to be align
with services
and delivery
in order to
meet the task.
Incomplete
installation of
equipment’s.
High High High Make use of
quick
technology
solutions with
help of expert
so that
implementati

on is quick.
Government
initiative lacking
Moderate High Moderate Progress
reports from
governing
body.
Critical time
deadlines
High High high Follow short
terms goals.
Low
professionalism
form engineers
High High High Create
performance
appraisal
programs.
Among all the risk one of the major risk is budget incompatibility and it needs to be managed by
authorities. It is important to make appropriate risk plan so that task can be achieved in
minimum budget plan. The contingency plan is important because it allows company to devise
plan for an unforeseen event in the future. For the success of project, it is crucial that all the risk
need to be addressed properly (Avgerinos and et.al., 2018). For addressing the budget issues, it is
importunate to frame change in the prices which have occurred from 2018 to 2020 and present it
to body of government. It needs to hire expert techniques which can help in installing of
equipment and make use of advance technology so that success of the project can be achieved in
better ways. In addition to this, there is need of proper communication in order to maintained
proper flow of information.
State assumptions
 The governments of United Kingdom might also not bale to pay the required funding for
the cross rail ways project.
 The project also might be delay further because of the conflicts between the cost ruction
company and governments of united kingdom regarding the project legacy and funding
requirements.

 There are also might be the unhealthy competition between the tow companies if
companies require the same equipments and software's which are required and being
created (Helten, 2021).
 There may be conflicts between the employees and manager regarding the turnover and it
is the biggest challenges for construction company because employees and human
resources are most essential for company to accomplish the project.
RECOMMENDATION
o The cross management plan can be used for the future project to achieve the
business goals and also can use for the other aspects of the work to make sure that
the project of future will be handled and manage in proper ways. The maintenance
in the project management are most important and compulsory to manage the
present project with the official consecutively. The process of enabling and
tracking project activities with the appropriate project plan. It is the essential
factor for the overall project success (Nguyen, 2022). The project must be
maintained with the planning as well as it must be compared with current report to
achieve the successful report. The project manager should also use the better
strategies for the proper maintain within the project to achieve it.
o The comparison of equipment’s prices should also be prospect at the strategies
stage of the project with the help of forecasting plan. The significance of the
equipment’s and their alignments with the component of the tunnel system also
should be prioritise by the business to manage its effectively and efficiently. It
also helps in tackle the risk properly and mitigate the business risk with control
measure on project management with importance of equipment’s.
CONCLUSION
As the conclusion, the business management are mainly focused on the business to
manage on the organized and well manner with the resources and stakeholders. This report
discussed the project plan of Elizabeth line. It is constructed project in London at united
kingdom. This project offer the blueprints for the major metro projects around the world. It s
encompassing with the new infrastructure, new stations, new trains and new track. This report

elaborated the details about the projects and analysis projects in the logical and practical ways
with the projects plan. This report also recommend about the projects plan of cross rail
(Elizabeth line).
REFERENCES
Books and journals
Avgerinos, V. and et.al., 2018. Predicting tunnelling-induced ground movements and interpreting
field measurements using numerical analysis: Crossrail case study at Hyde
Park. Géotechnique. 68(1). pp.31-49.
Chen, Y. and et.al., 2018. Back-analysis of Crossrail deep excavations using 3D FE modelling—
development of BRICK parameters for London Clay. In Numerical Methods in
Geotechnical Engineering IX (pp. 1145-1153). CRC Press.
Chodorowski, A., Ingram, P. and Black, M., 2021. Crossrail project: the impact of 4–18 Bishop's
Bridge Road on the new Elizabeth line, London, UK. Proceedings of the Institution of
Civil Engineers-Geotechnical Engineering. 174(1). pp.83-90.
Cocconcelli, L. and Medda, F., 2021. Innovative financial mechanisms for transport
infrastructure in time of crisis: The case of London Crossrail. In Urban Form and
Accessibility (pp. 307-325). Elsevier.
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.
Giardina, G. and et.al., 2019. Example Applications of Satellite Monitoring for Post-tunnelling
Settlement Damage Assessment for the Crossrail Project in London. In Structural
Analysis of Historical Constructions (pp. 2225-2235). Springer, Cham.
Helten, K., and et.al., 2021. Concept for a persona driven recommendation tool for process
modelling approaches. Proceedings of the Design Society, 1, pp.711-720.
Lawrence, U., Menkiti, C. O. and Black, M., 2018. Regional-scale groundwater investigations
for the Crossrail project. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and
Hydrogeology. 51(1). pp.31-37.
Macchiarulo, V. and et.al., 2019. Settlement-induced building damage assessment using MT-
InSAR data for the Crossrail case study in London. In International Conference on
Smart Infrastructure and Construction 2019 (ICSIC) Driving data-informed decision-
making (pp. 721-727). ICE Publishing.
Milillo, P. and et.al., 2018. Multi-temporal InSAR structural damage assessment: The London
crossrail case study. Remote Sensing. 10(2). p.287.
Newlove-Eriksson, L., 2020. Accountability and patchwork governance in urban rail
interchanges: junctions of London Crossrail and Stockholm City Line compared. Public
Works Management & Policy. 25(2). pp.105-131.
Nguyen, Q., and et.al., 2022. TaDeR: A New Task Dependency Recommendation for Project
Management Platform. arXiv preprint arXiv:2205.05976.
Online references

A, B., 2018. [Online]. Available through <>