Bond Street has opened on the Elizabeth Line.
(Picture: Getty Images)The Elizabeth line station at Bond Street has opened, five months after the line officially went into service.
From today, the station will deliver passengers direct to the heart of Oxford Street and allow interchanges with the Jubilee and Central lines.
Rail chiefs have described Bond Street, which has entrances and ticket halls at Davies Street and Hanover Square – as a “jewel in the crown” of the Elizabeth line.
The station’s opening date was delayed by five months because the station’s construction had fallen behind schedule some years ago.
TfL commissioner Andy Byford, who vowed to open the station before he leaves TfL at the end of October, said: “When we opened the brilliant central section of the Elizabeth line earlier this year, I promised that Bond Street station would open this autumn and I am extremely pleased that Londoners and visitors will be able to use this magnificent station from October 24.”
Why was Bond Street delayed?
The possibility of a delayed opening date for Bond Street was floated in 2019, with problems having been identified with the station as early as 2014, including tunnelling issues.
At one point, work on Bond Street station was 18 months behind the rest of the stations along the central section of the Elizabeth Line.
Delays to work on the station led to Crossrail parting ways with its contractor in 2020.
Work was then brought in-house, and had to be replanned and restarted due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Despite the setbacks, Bond Street was able to be included in trial operations that started at the end of last year and included testing scenarios, such as evacuating passengers and simulating emergencies.
When will Bond Street open?
Bond Street opened on Monday, October 24.
The station is located between Paddington and Tottenham Court Road on the line.
Bond Street is also on the Central line, between Marble Arch and Oxford Circus, and the Jubilee line, between Baker Street and Green Park.
Trains from Heathrow, Paddington, and Shenfield will be running directly into the central section from October 24.
A total of 10 new stations have been built in central London for the Elizabeth Line – in Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street, Whitechapel, Canary Wharf, Custom House, Woolwich, and Abbey Wood.
In January, Canary Wharf became the ninth station to be handed over to TfL after its completion, leaving just Bond Street to be handed over.
The new station will also relieve congestion at Oxford Circus station, which frequently has to be closed temporarily at peak times to ease overcrowding, and will improve access to the West End in time for the Christmas shopping season.
Almost 140,000 Elizabeth line passengers are expected to use it each day.
How often will trains run through Bond Street?
Train services will run every five minutes to begin with, although there will be no service on Sunday, October 30.
From Sunday November 6, trains will run every three to four minutes, seven days a week.
