Transport Minister Jo Johnson announced that Government was making this short term repayable financing available to the Mayor of London last week. “This will ensure that full momentum is maintained behind Crossrail,” said the Minister in a written statement to Parliament.

The announcement comes after a delay to the planned opening of the Elizabeth Line came to light at the end of August. The scheme had been due to open through central London this December but services are now not expected to start until next autumn.

Government’s £350M injection of cash for the scheme represents an interim measure while discussions with TfL continue as to how any additional funding will be provided. An independent review of Crossrail’s governance and a separate review on the project’s finance and commercial position have also been commissioned.

“The public will be dismayed that yet again mismanagement of this project has meant an extra injection of taxpayers’ money, which TfL will have to pay back,” said London Assembly Budget & Performance committee chair Gareth Bacon.

“While we welcome the decision to enable the project to go forward as soon as possible, Transport for London and the Mayor have serious questions to answer about the shambles that is unfolding.”

The Assembly’s Transport Committee chair Caroline Pidgeon also welcomed the funding but said it was only a “sticking plaster” to keep the project going. “Londoners need to know what work is left to open the line, how much this will cost and ultimately who will pick up the tab,” she said.

Jo Johnson said a further update on a financing arrangement would be delivered once talks conclude but added that London – as the primary beneficiary of Crossrail – is expected to bear any additional costs.

Commenting, London’s transport commissioner Mike Brown said: “The confirmation of an interim financing package between the Government and the Mayor of London will enable Crossrail to continue its construction work and vital testing at pace to open the Elizabeth line to passengers as quickly as possible.”

He said the £350M would go towards completing the final fit out of tunnels, work on stations and extensive safety and reliability testing for the new railway systems.

The move to boost short term funding for Crossrail comes following recent comments by Chris Grayling about financial difficulties facing TfL. The Transport Secretary was asked whether Government had looked at the financial implications of freezing fares by the Transport Select Committee, as part of its inquiry into rail timetabling.

“The real issue around freezing fares is this: you just have to look at what has happened to Transport for London with its partial freeze,” he said. “Transport for London is in deep financial difficulties at the moment, and not simply because of the challenges over Crossrail.”

“The problem with a fares freeze is that if your costs continue to go up every year, and you continue to pay more to your staff, you build a long term and growing underlying problem within your own finances. Over a period of time, you are sucking a cumulatively larger and larger amount out of the money available to run the network.

“The only way of counteracting that is that people who do not travel on the railways have to pay more and more taxes to provide a counterbalance.”

(Photograph: Crossrail/TfL)