The present head of London and Continental Railways has been named as the new chief executive of Crossrail

Rob Holden, who made his name building the successful High Speed 1 line linking the Channel Tunnel to London鈥檚 St Pancras station, will take over Europe鈥檚 biggest construction project on 1 April.

When Holden takes over, Douglas Oakervee, the 拢16bn scheme鈥檚 executive chairman, will become non-executive chairman until Terry Morgan, the Tube Lines chief, takes over later this year.

Holden said he was excited to be working on the 鈥渕assive鈥� project. However, experts are warning that Crossrail will be a tougher task than the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), in part because of its high political profile. Rail commentator Christian Wolmar said: 鈥淎t the CTRL, the politics had been sorted out before he got there. Crossrail will be very difficult.鈥�

Tony Travers, director of the Greater London Group at the London School of Economics, said: 鈥淐rossrail has changed from being a railway line into the Hoover Dam. It was always big and complicated, but is now big, complicated and symbolic.鈥�

Holden鈥檚 appointment was widely expected, with rail sources suggesting it had been delayed because of pay negotiations.