Opening date announced at last for Crossrail
MAY 24 WILL SEE THE START OF A NEW TRANSPORT ERA – ALTHOUGH NOT AT FULL STEAM AT FIRST
LONDON’S Crossrail finally has its opening date.
The much-anticipated Elizabeth Line will be arriving later this month, sooner than many eager commuters had anticipated.
We will see it in action from 6.30am on Tuesday May 24, meaning the grand unveiling is just a few weeks away.
From that point, all TfL Rail services will be rebranded as ‘Elizabeth Line’ and three separate sectionswillinitiallyoperate–Reading/ Heathrow to Paddington, Paddington to Abbey Wood via Liverpool Street (the new, central section) and the Liverpool Street to Shenfield.
There are a few catches though. To start with, trains will not run on Sundays (except June 5 for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee) or stop at central London’s Bond Street station.
The opening date is also subject to final approval from the railway regulator, ORR, although it is very likely this will be received as many of the line’s new assets have already been approved.
Trains will run every five minutes on the new central London section between 6.30am and 11pm, Mondays to Saturdays.
All stations will be staffed during train service hours and all stations between Paddington and Woolwich are fully step-free train-tostreet.
TfL is yet to reveal details of any official opening ceremony, with speculation that The Queen may be the first official passenger, as the line (initially planned to be named Crossrail) was named after her following an announcement from former London mayor Boris Johnson in 2016.
The Elizabeth Line is not a Tube line though, with Crossrail CEO Mark Wild saying: “The thing to think about the Elizabeth Line is that it’s not a Tube line.
“It might be called ‘a line,’ but it’s actually a new mode of transport – a bit like you’d have the RER in Paris or the S-Bahn in Munich.
“Big trains from Heathrow, from Reading, will come straight into the tunnel, through the central area and out the other side to Shenfield.
“There’s been nothing like this in the UK, in the world. It is one of the most complex and biggest digital railways.”
Andy Byford, TfL’s Commissioner, said: “I am delighted that we can now announce a date for the opening of the Elizabeth Line in May.
“We are using these final few weeks to continue to build up reliability on the railway and get the Elizabeth Line ready to welcome customers.
“The opening day is set to be a truly historic moment for the capital and the UK, and we look forward to showcasing a simply stunning addition to our network.”
The project was due to open in December 2018, but was delayed by numerous setbacks.
The final bill is expected to be around £19 billion, but the line is expected to help boost London’s post-Covid economic recovery as well as provide extra revenue for TfL which is facing the prospect of a £1.9billion funding gap, meaning it may have to cut up to 9% of Tube services and 19% of buses to make up the books.
Changes will be made to 14 bus routes to improve links to Elizabeth line stations in east and south-east London, where many passengers will use buses to get to and from stations.
The changes will take effect from Saturday May 14 and Saturday May 21.
This includes the new route 304, which will operate between Manor Park and Custom House stations from 21 May.