The estimated cost of the modernisation project of the Great Western railway network in England and Wales has grown by £2.1 bn (€2.4bn) since 2013 to £5.6 bn (€6.4 bn), according to the UK’s National Audit Office (NAO). Delays have added between 18 and 36 months to the project’s timescale.
The NAO’s report puts the blame for the project’s problems on poor government planning. Among the problems identified by the NAO were that by the time an overall plan was eventually devised last year:
– new trains had already been ordered two years before, and even before infrastructure planning had been completed
– electrification work had already been going on for more than a year
– the estimated costs of the project were unrealistic
– the number of bridges that would need replacement or alteration was underestimated.
The result was that electrification alone would cost an extra £330m (341.4 million euros) and the new trains would have to be reconfigured so that they could run under both electrical and diesel power.
Modernisation of the Great Western network started in 2014 and involves electrifying various lines including the one between Maidenhead and Cardiff; ordering new trains; modifying or building new bridges; and changing various services.
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