The longest medieval cathedral in the world, Winchester, is 170 metres (558ft) from end to end. The new stations on the Elizabeth line are 240 metres (788ft) or more long, and sometimes nine or 10 storeys underground. And these are only the most visible manifestations of the vast volumes hollowed out of the London soil to achieve an underground railway bigger and faster than any before, of what was at one point the largest transport engineering project in Europe, decades and billions of pounds in the making, a system more technologically complex, says its chief executive, than any outside China.
Sometime soon – those in charge won’t be more specific than “the first half of 2022” – 10 of these stations on the central section of the line will open. Another, Bond Street, will open a little later. To visit them now and ride the distance-shrinking trains, as I did over the past three weeks, is eerie and impressive. It is an alternate universe of London transport, hitherto unseen. Everything – trains, signs, lights, doors, advertisements – is up and running. It’s just that there aren’t yet any passengers.
