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Transport for London鈥檚 finance boss has revealed that 鈥渟ignificant parts鈥� of Crossrail remain unbuilt months after it was first revealed the scheme was being delayed.

Answering questions at a meeting of the London Assembly鈥檚 budget and performance committee on Monday, TfL鈥檚 chief finance officer Simon Kilonback told assembly members there was still plenty of work to do to finish the project.

He said: 鈥淭he new team has discovered in a short space of time that significant parts of the core railway infrastructure are yet to be completed.

鈥淥ur business plan does not assume specific opening dates for the Elizabeth Line and I am told that the new management team led by Mark Wild have completed their work to deliver a credible and robust delivery schedule.

鈥淚t is clear it is going to take longer than we were originally told by Crossrail鈥檚 management.鈥�

Kilonback said the transport body鈥檚 business plan had factored in delays of up to 18 months, which could cost TfL 拢600m over the next three financial years.

The 拢15.4bn scheme was originally due to have opened last month before the deadline was put back to this autumn.

But it was delayed again after Wild said last month he could not 鈥渃ommit to an autumn 2019 opening date鈥�. At the same time, Crossrail said the cost of completing the job had gone up by a further 拢2bn.

During the same meeting London鈥檚 deputy mayor for transport Heidi Alexander continued to add fuel to the fire in the ongoing war of words between mayor Sadiq Khan鈥檚 office and ousted Crossrail chairman Sir Terry Morgan.

Alexander, who took up the position six months ago, said she had been told by Morgan as recently as June last year that it would only take 拢211m to complete the scheme.

Crossrail announced its timeline and budget blowouts in August.

Alexander said: 鈥淚鈥檝e been in this job six months and I find it frankly astonishing that when I started in this role in June the then chair of Crossrail was telling me that it wouldn鈥檛 cost a penny more than an extra 拢211m to complete Crossrail.

鈥淲ithin the space of four or five months that figure is no longer 拢211m but is 拢2bn and I think the work that has been underway to put the new leadership team in place and do the review of governance and the commercial and financial practices within Crossrail is absolutely essential.鈥�

Morgan is set to face the assembly鈥檚 transport committee later this morning.