Weekly news round-up - 29 January 2014

Your rapid update on last week's infrastructure stories

Thomas Paterson
27 January 2014
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  1. The £14.8bn Crossrail project was given a thumbs up by the National Audit Office who confirmed that it gives £1.97 of transport benefits for every £1 of cost with potential for bringing wider economic benefits. However Crossrail programme director Andy Mitchell is leaving to join the project delivery organisation for Thames Water’s £4.1bn Tideway sewer project as chief executive.

  2. Balfour Beatty chief executive Andrew McNaughton has been appointed by Government to be a business ambassador, promoting British infrastructure capabilities to an international audience. The role lasts until July 2015.

  3. Nineteen workers suffered carbon monoxide poisoning while working in the Channel Tunnel. An investigation has been launched.

  4. Thameslink has unveiled the Siemens electric Class 700 train that will more than double the number of carriages on the central section of the route between St Pancras and Blackfriars in London.

  5. London Underground engineers used sugar to slow the cure of concrete slurry that accidentally poured into a signal room Victoria Station. The incident  brought the busy line to a halt during the afternoon rush hour but trains were running again by the morning. An investigation is on-going.

  6. The £50bn High Speed 2 project cleared another hurdle when the Supreme Court unanimously dismissed appeals by objectors against the new railway line.

  7. A new chief executive for the HS2 project has been announced.  He is Simon Kirby, currently managing director of Network Rail’s Infrastructure Projects division and joins the project in June on an annual salary of £750K.

  8. Highways schemes of £5M have an average cost benefit ratio of 4 to 1 according to a report published by the Highways Agency.

  9. The Association of British Insurers has had £426M worth of claims arising from UK flooding which began before Christmas. There have been 174,000 claims for damage to homes, businesses and cars. The Environment Agency remains under pressure to justify its river dredging policy after devastating floods in Somerset.

  10. The UK economy grew by 1.9% in 2013, its strongest rate since 2007, according to the Office for National Statistics. Economic output is still 1.3% below the first quarter of 2008.