Utrecht CS renovations up to €100 million over budget

The renovation of Utrecht Central Station is running a year behind and may go up to 100 million euros over the 270 million euro budget, the Financieele Dagblad reported on Thursday based on internal documents of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment. A spokesperson for the Ministry confirmed that the renovation has been delayed and will only be completed by the end of 2016, and not the start of that year as was the plan, the Volkskrant reports. An investigation into the causes of the budget overruns was launched in April. The Ministry hopes to cut the extra costs down to 30 million euros. A spokesperson for ProRail told NU that the renovations will turn out to be 30 million euros more expensive than the initial estimation. ProRail is responsible for the project Flow Through Utrecht Central Station, aimed at renewing the network of tracks, signals and switches in order to be able to lead more trains through the station at higher speeds. One of those involved told the FD that the project has grown out of control and that the plans are adjusted time after time. This complex project has been divided into 25 stages, with much of the work having to be done at night and over weekends so as to not inconvenience the 300 thousand daily travelers going through the station.