FEATURE: CROSSRAIL
Interestingly, the responsibility is not only with the full-time managers, but all the members of his board, too. “All the non-execs have oversight of a particular major site for the purpose of board meetings,” he says. There is a determination to avoid the overruns that have led to such controversy on past schemes such as the Jubilee Line Extension. To Morgan, the opportunities
afforded by the project are nearly as important as the scheme itself. The legacy, he emphasises, should not just be a new railway. In particular, he wants to use Crossrail as a way of raising the skills of the workforce, something which Britain has been poor at. His emphasis on this aspect of the project undoubtedly lies in his background: “I did not go to university to learn engineering, I was an apprentice and learnt on the job,” he tells me. Consequently, he was shocked when, taking over the chairmanship of Crossrail, he became aware that there were simply not enough tunnel engineers in the country to carry out the work: “I realised it needed 1,300 people with underground construction skills. Yet
06 RailCONNECT
in the whole country there were about half that number – and, worse, their average age was 55.” That is why Crossrail has set up its own training centre in east London – the Tunnelling and Underground Construction Academy, which is, in fact, open to the wider industry and therefore does not carry the Crossrail name. It has so far seen more than 1,000 people through its doors. It is both a training centre and an accreditation centre, and also runs courses for pre-employment, with the aim of getting local people into the workforce, another important aim for Morgan. Improving skills is not, though, just about people on the bottom or middle rungs of the ladder. Morgan believes that managers, too, do not always have the required capabilities: “My other passion is leadership. I feel great companies have great leaders and that the question of leadership skills is underestimated at your peril,” he says. A skilled workforce, however, also needs access to the right tools, and that’s where technology comes in. Morgan is proud that his background is in technology and that he learnt
The legacy, chairman Terry Morgan emphasises, should not just be a new railway. In particular, he wants to use Crossrail as a way of raising the skills of the workforce, something which Britain has been poor at.
its importance at a time that Harold Wilson’s slogan the “White Heat of Technology” resonated with the workforce of the day. He is concerned that the focus on technology has somewhat been lost: “At the time, technology was seen as the way to create competitive advantage and the government underpinned that with a lot of money. That’s not so much the case any longer.” Crossrail is a mouth-watering
prospect and one that even the most cynical Londoner will get excited about – the only problem being that they will have to wait for more than half a decade to appreciate it. In the meantime, the disruption at all those sites across London continues.
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Images: Crossrail
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