As TfL secured its £1.8bn rescue package yesterday, one of the biggest victims was Crossrsail 2.
The six-month deal which keeps services running across the capital comes with several strings including scrapping all ongoing consultancy work developing the Crossrail 2 scheme and finding an extra £160m of cost savings over the next six months.
The deal should allow essential maintenance and ongoing investment projects to continue until fresh 20/21 budgets are agreed with Government.
Government is also looking for TfL to accelerate the sale of non-essential assets to bring budgets into line by 2023.
The funding deal falls short of Sadiq Khan’s call for £4.9bn for the next 18 months to keep tube and bus services going as a result of the impact of lost passenger revenue from Covid-19.
Khan said: “This is not a perfect deal, but we fought hard to get to the best possible place. The only reason TfL needs Government support is because almost all our fares income has dried up since March as Londoners have done the right thing.”
Discussions on funding the additional costs to complete the Crossrail project were not included as part of this funding package back but are being progressed in parallel. TfL said these remained constructive and were expected to conclude soon.