Project Management Lessons: Eurotunnel's Impact on Crossrail Programme

This report provides a comparative analysis of the Eurotunnel and Crossrail programmes, two major infrastructure projects. The introduction establishes the context, highlighting the similarities in underground construction and the relevance of Eurotunnel's project management experiences to the Crossrail project. The report then delves into detailed analyses of both programmes. The Eurotunnel section examines project management practices, including the role of the project manager, the use of sub-contractors, timeline creation, and the importance of contracting strategies and quality control. The Crossrail section focuses on funding, project structure, procurement strategies, commercial arrangements, environmental standards, and data management challenges. Key lessons from the Eurotunnel programme are identified, such as the importance of maintaining high standards, dividing projects into smaller parts for better management, and the significance of effective contracting. The report suggests applying these lessons to the Crossrail project to enhance its execution and reduce complexity.

Running head: EUROTUNNEL PROGRAMME EFFECT ON CROSSRAIL PROGRAMME
Eurotunnel Programme Effect on Crossrail Programme
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Abstract:
The main aim of this report is to discuss about the completed Eurotunnel programme and the
current running Crossrail programme. In this report various of project management
procedures that has been used in both of the Eurotunnel programme and the crossrail
programme has been discussed. From the discussion of Eurotunnel programme many project
management lessons has been learned and from those lessons three lessons has been selected
which can be implemented on the crossrail project for enhancing the overall project. Those
three identified lessons has been discussed briefly in this report.

2EUROTUNNEL PROGRAMME EFFECT ON CROSSRAIL PROGRAMME
Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3
Analysis of Eurotunnel Programme:..........................................................................................3
Analysis of the Crossrail programme:........................................................................................5
Key lessons learned from the Eurotunnel programme:..............................................................7
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................8
Reference:................................................................................................................................10

3EUROTUNNEL PROGRAMME EFFECT ON CROSSRAIL PROGRAMME
Introduction:
The Eurotunnel program is one of the largest rail tunnel program of 50.45 kilometres
and it links United Kingdom with Northern France beneath the English Channel. This link is
the only fixed link between United Kingdom and the mainland of Europe (Park and Chang
2013). This tunnel consists train line that is used for exchanging goods that helps in the
growing economy of the surrounding nations. There is also a similar type of underground
tunnel project, which is currently executing in London, United Kingdom and this project is
known as Crossrail project or the Elizabeth line (Black, Dodge and Lawrence 2015). This is
117 kilometre railway line in England which connects London with Berkshire,
Buckinghamshire and with Essex (Black, Dodge and Lawrence 2015). This two projects can
be considered as a similar type of project as both are constructed in underground environment
and same type of project management techniques are required for both these projects. Thus
project management and programme of the Eurotunnel programme might be useful in the
other project of Crossrail.
In this report investigation will be done whether actually the programme and project
management experiences from the project of Eurotunnel programme can be useful for the
current CrossRail programme or not. To investigate this detailed academic analysis will be
done for both the programme and key lessons will be identified from the Eurotunnel
programme that can be used on the CrossRail programme.
Analysis of Eurotunnel Programme:
The Eurotunnel programme is considered one of the largest infrastructure project in
the modern era. This project was initiated for enhancing transportation services in between
the mainland Europe and United Kingdom. From the project it has been assessed that
effective management of the programme was one of the main reason behind the successful

4EUROTUNNEL PROGRAMME EFFECT ON CROSSRAIL PROGRAMME
completion of the Eurotunnel programme (Thomas and O’Donoghue 2013). In project
management department the role of project manager is very much important as the project
manager is responsible for effectively organising the project for meeting the project goals and
the design and specifications regarding construction process. In this project the project
manager has appointed some small sub-contractors for executing various steps of the project
(Kirkland 2014). The project manager also ensured that there is a good interconnection
between the English and French Government while the tunnel was in construction phase for
better execution of the project.
In the management of Eurotunnel programme creating a perfect timeline for the
project was also very much important which was done with perfection. Though a perfect
timeline was created for the project still the project faced delay in the project completion and
also the budget of the project increased drastically.
In management of the Eurotunnel project, the strategy of the project management was
also very much vital. As the project was a huge project, the project was broken in several
smaller projects which was running simultaneously for successful management of the project
(Mir and Pinnington 2014). In this case realistic time estimated for the project from a detailed
schedule planning while the project was in the interception phase. This activity included
activity sequencing, activity definition and activity duration for the development of baseline
schedule of the Eurotunnel project. Thus by this type of management proper reporting to
management, overall strategic planning and detailed information of regarding daily activities
has been recorded for monitoring the project from every aspects.
Also the contracting process has a huge role to play in the project management
aspects. Thus for the Eurotunnel programme contract strategy played an important role. As
this was a huge project contract agreement was done on the basis of estimated cost. One of

5EUROTUNNEL PROGRAMME EFFECT ON CROSSRAIL PROGRAMME
the main factor of this contracting strategy was its cost division. The contract was done with
the TML for the construction of the tunnel (Chang 2013). As per this contract if the TML was
able to finish the construction in lesser than the targeted amount of cost then TML will get
50% of the saved amount. However, if the targeted cost exceeds then TML needs to pay 30%
of the total exceeded cost a maximum of 6% of the total project cost (Chang 2013). This type
of contract encouraged the contractor to finish the project within targeted time but actually
the project was finished after the actual deadline of the project.
Quality of the output product is very much important for a successful project
management (Bardhan, Krishnan and Lin 2013). In this project, though the project was
delayed but quality of the project was not compromised. The quality of the final output was
very good and this factor saved the project from becoming a total failure (Anguera, R., 2006).
High standards was maintained throughout the project. In this project to bore the tunnel latest
computer and laser technology was used which helped to complete the tunnel with perfection.
Also, in the development process of the tunnel a well PAC was framed. IGC was formed
properly and there was no marginal error in the development. So, high quality tunnel was
achieved. During the implementation phase very high accuracy was maintained throughout
the project and at the end of the project quality parameters was achieved.
Analysis of the Crossrail programme:
The Crossrail programme is also a huge infrastructure project like the Eurotunnel
project in Europe. The crossrail project is currently under execution in United Kingdom
which will boost their railway system (Davies et al. 2014). This project also followed the
principles of the project management for successful completion of the project. In this project
first of all, following the principles of project management funding and delivery of the
project has been set up. For the funding of the project an innovative type of funding idea has

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been developed in this case. Here twice-third of the total project cost is collected from the
future passenger revenue and from businesses in London. As most of the funding was coming
in this way it is assured that project scope would be delivered affordably. Also, key partners
of this project is very much important. As this project is very large in size, this project must
have some appropriate project management structures for supporting the project. Thus in this
case the project structure is established using various project management tools.
For successful delivery of the project a programme director was chosen by the
crossrail for leading the integrated delivery team. This delivery team was consisting project
staff and programme staff and the supply chain partners for construction, design and
implementation.
In the crossrail project the services provided by project delivery partner is very much
important thus ensuring this services is very much important for the project management
initiation. Services provided by the project delivery partner was secured by crossrail project
and by securing this crossrail has taken on day-to-day responsibility for delivering central
section and the constituent contact of its to time to get the desired quality of output.
Services of the programme partner is also secured by the crossrail for providing
professional programme, support of management and oversight and engineering management
services of the project at programme level to client team.
Here in the project management the procurement management is also an important,
thus procurement strategy is very much important (Crawford 2014). Here the six pillar of the
procurement strategy helped to deliver best value, objective and fair, ethical and complaint
procurement that are associated with the requirement of the project sponsor. Here the
procurement strategy has fulfilled the scope of delivering the advanced railway system within
the estimated budget without any type of challenges.

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Also here in the project management right commercial arrangements among
contractors and crossrail was very much important for this programme. Several contracts has
been made in this programme including NEC3: Engineering and Construction Contract
(NEC3 2013). This contact has benefitted the crossrail programme by providing full visibility
of the cost to the client and by encouraging dispute resolution. Also this contract has
proactive positive relationship that has full focus on completing the job.
Environmental standards is also maintained in this crossrail programme which is an
important aspects of the project management (Marcelino-Sádaba, González-Jaen and Pérez-
Ezcurdia 2015). The environmental standards are maintained in this case by monitoring and
engaging the supply chain and by setting ambitious targets. By minimising the environmental
impacts and reuse of the waste has become beneficial for the crossrail programme. This step
of the project management has substantial contribution to build the wildlife reserves and to
enhance the archaeological archive of London.
Data challenge is also a huge problem in the crossrail as the complexity and the scale
of crossrail is very much high. This data challenge becomes more critical as the peoples need
secure data access to different part of the project. Thus here virtual railway system has been
created which is fundamental in this process. Also, in UK crossrail was the first project that
used the collaboration process defined in BS 1992 (Black 2017). Also, building information
modelling environment development has explained the principles that are accepted for
sharing and managing data while the project is being delivered.
Key lessons learned from the Eurotunnel programme:
From the project management of the Eurotunnel programme various of key lessons
has been learned which is currently using in the crossrail programme or can be used in this
programme. First of all from the Eurotunnel programme it has been seen that output product

8EUROTUNNEL PROGRAMME EFFECT ON CROSSRAIL PROGRAMME
quality was excellent. For the excellent output of the Eurotunnel project high standards was
maintained throughout the project. Also, high accuracy is maintained in the Eurotunnel
project. As the crossrail project is currently in the execution stage this lesson of maintaining
high standard can be applied to the crossrail project.
In the Eurotunnel programme it has been also seen that the project manager has
divided the whole project in some smaller parts. By dividing the project in smaller section the
project actually becomes easier to handle and becomes more agile (Kerzner and Kerzner
2017). The crossrail programme is also very much big and complex project and it is hard to
maintain the complexity of this project. Thus again this lesson learned from the Eurotunnel
programme can be applied to the crossrail project for reducing the complexity of this project
which will make the execution of this project more faster.
In the Eurotunnel project contracting also played an important role. It was previously
contracted that if somehow the project budget overruns then the contracting company TML
should take the responsibility of 30% total overrun cost up to 6% of total budget of the
project. In later cases it has been seen that the project was overrun both from the time and
budget aspect (Chang 2013). Thus in this case the previous made contract was helpful as 30%
of the total overrun cost was saved. This not only saved 30% of the cost but also charged the
contractor to finish the work within the time in the initial stages. Thus this lesson is highly
recommended to implement in the crossrail project.
Thus from the overall discussion of the Eurotunnel project and the crossrail project
the main argument that has been developed is that the project management techniques form
the Eurotunnel project can be used for crossrail project and by implementing this the project
can be executed in a better way.

9EUROTUNNEL PROGRAMME EFFECT ON CROSSRAIL PROGRAMME
Conclusion:
From the above discussion it can be conclude that project and programme
management experiences from the Eurotunnel programme can very much effective in the
management of crossrail programme. In this report various of project management
procedures has been analysed for the Eurotunnel project which might be applicable for the
current running crossrail project also. From the detailed evaluation of the Eurotunnel project
total three lessons has been identified which can be applied for the crosstunnel project. The
first identified lesson was maintaining high standards throughout the project. It has been seen
that though the Eurotunnel project was not completed within the provided time and budget,
still the quality of the project was not compromised at all. The project ended with high
quality of standards with negligible errors. Thus this lesson was applied to the current
running crossrail project. With this the other two lessons applied to crossrail project from the
Eurotunnel project was dividing project into smaller parts and creating a perfect contact with
the project constructor. Also, in this report crossrail programme has been also analysed. From
the project management of the crossrail programme also various of project management
lessons has been learned. Eurotunnel programme was one of the most critical and important
project in the modern era and this has helped many ongoing critical projects. Crosstunnel
program has also become beneficial from the project management techniques of Eurotunnel
project.

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Reference:
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