His pay and bonus package roared ahead as latest Transport for London accounts showed the number of Crossrail staff paid over £100,000 in 2013/14 rose to 40 from 30 a year ago.

Wolstenholme is the highest paid executive on the project. His basic pay jumped 18% to £523,078, topped up with a £176,130 bonus, which was 43% higher than last year.

The remuneration package ranks him among Britain’s highest paid public sector bosses.

Further down the ranks the number of employees on the Crossrail client team earning £50,000 or more jumped from 161 last year to 227 this year.

Andy Mitchell, Programme Director, was the next biggest earner taking home £418,000, including an £85,000 bonus.

During the year, £1,647m was spent on the Crossrail project. This takes the total spend at around the halfway mark to £5.9bn, including the acquisition of land and property.