staff reporter(wp/bbc):::
here has been an "unacceptable" lack of accountability over the delays to Crossrail, a report has said.
Crossrail, Europe's biggest infrastructure project, had been due to open in December 2018, but will not now open fully until 2020 at the earliest.
Three emergency cash injections have seen the cost of the route rise from £14.8bn to £17.6bn.
The Department for Transport (DfT) said it "absolutely rejects" claims there was insufficient oversight.
Both the DfT and Transport for London (TfL) are joint sponsors of the project, which is run through an "arms-length" body, Crossrail Ltd.
'Warning signs ignored'
A report by the Commons' Public Accounts Committee found an "unacceptably laissez-faire" attitude to project costs from the overlapping organisations.
The DfT and Crossrail Ltd "are unable to fully explain how the programme has been allowed to unravel," the report found.
All three bodies were "unwilling to pinpoint responsibility to a single individual or entity", the committee said.
Four months before the line was due in December 2018 a delay was announcedto allow more time for testing.
A "fixation on a delivery deadline of December 2018" led to warning signs being missed or ignored when the programme was in trouble, the report said.
TfL estimates it will miss out on at least £20m in revenue due to the delay.
Elizabeth Line trains are already operating between Shenfield and Liverpool Street, and between Paddington and Hayes & Harlington.
When fully open, the project will help ease London's chronic congestion.
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Trains will run from Reading and Heathrow in the west through 13 miles of new tunnels to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east.
Crossrail says the new line will connect Paddington to Canary Wharf in 17 minutes and described the 10-year project as "hugely complex".
An estimated 200 million passengers will use the new underground line annually, increasing central London rail capacity by 10% - the largest increase since World War Two.
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