‘345s’ introduced a month late

Rail Minister Paul Maynard has confirmed that the Crossrail Class 345 electric multiple units entered traffic later than planned.

The first EMU carried passengers on June 22 ( RAIL 830), almost one month later than planned. Transport for London had told RAIL on the week they were supposed to enter traffic (May 23) that testing was continuing, with no date confirmed. TfL denied at that point that the trains were late.

However, in an annual update from the DfT, announced on June 29, Maynard said: “Although the trains were due to enter service in May 2017, some of the testing, assurance and approvals took a little longer than originally expected.”