Crossrail’s bill to balloon by £1bn

LONDON’S new Elizabeth Line could need a taxpayer bailout of up to £1bn after announcing last week that it would fail to meet its December opening date.

Also known as Crossrail, the eastwest train line is now scheduled to open next September, but the delays will see it overshoot its original £14.9bn budget by hundreds of millions of pounds.

Crossrail Ltd, the firm in charge of constructing the line, said it needed more time to ensure a ‘safe and reliable railway’.