Executive has faced increasing criticism over his role on railway debacle

Andrew Wolstenholme

Former Crossrail boss Andrew Wolstenholme has quit BAE Systems after just 12 months at the defence giant.

According to , a spokesman for BAE confirmed that Wolstenholme had left last month for 鈥減ersonal reasons鈥� but declined to provide further details.

Wolstenholme joined BAE as group managing director for maritime and land in the UK in May last year, confirming the move within weeks of leaving the top job at Crossrail in March 2018.

When he left Crossrail, the project was still being described as 鈥渙n time and on budget鈥�.

But since then the scheme has required an extra 拢2.8bn of public money and will now not open until March 2021 鈥� more than two years after it was supposed to.

Wolstenholme has been increasingly dragged into the firing line over the debacle having been required to appear in front of various inquiries demanding to know what has gone wrong.

He told the Public Accounts Committee (pictured), last month that when he left Crossrail was on track to be delivered on time.

He said: 鈥淭he programme we put together in March 2018 still found a way through to opening in December 2018. This is, with respect, looking at the dials we had at the time. With the benefit of hindsight, one might have read something different from those dials.鈥�

But last month, Crossrail鈥檚 latest chief executive Mark Wild said there was still a quarter of a million tasks left to complete while he has already admitted that Bond Street station, being built by Costain/Skanska, won鈥檛 be ready until some time after March 2021

Wolstenholme spent seven years at Crossrail, having picked up nearly 拢5m in pay during his time there.

At the time of his departure, transport secretary Chris Grayling said his time in charge of the railway 鈥渨ould leave a lasting legacy across the industry鈥�.

However, Wolstenholme came under fire in a London Assembly report published in April which said his decision to query why part of his bonus had not been paid was 鈥渟ymptomatic of a culture that, while encouraging unchecked optimism, has also encouraged a denial of responsibility鈥�.

And the former chair of the Assembly鈥檚 transport committee, Caroline Pidgeon, complained that 鈥渇ormer chief executives who are supposed to be world experts leading on the project鈥 think they need to take more responsibility鈥�.

Prior to Crossrail, he was in charge of Heathrow airport鈥檚 Terminal 5. In his role at BAE, he oversaw some of the company鈥檚 most high-profile UK naval programmes, including the construction of the second of the Royal Navy鈥檚 two aircraft carriers.

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