The Elizabeth line was opening on Tuesday morning in the most significant addition to London’s public transport network for decades.
Mayor Sadiq Khan, who was expected to join hundreds of passengers on one of the first trains, described it as an “historic day”.
He said: “This is a huge moment, not just for London but the entire country – particularly in this special jubilee year.
“This brand new line is the most significant addition to our transport network in decades. It will add billions to our economy and is set to serve up to 200 million passengers each year.
“I’m sure passengers will enjoy the modern trains, beautiful step-free stations and the reduced journey times across the capital and the South East.
“The Elizabeth line is much more than just a new railway – it will provide a crucial economic boost to the whole country and help to turbo-charge our recovery from the pandemic.”
The £20bn Crossrail scheme, renamed the Elizabeth line in honour of the Queen, who performed the opening ceremony a week ago, is of a significance to the transport network arguably not seen since the Jubilee line opened in 1979.
It will stretch 73 miles from Reading and Heathrow to Shenfield. However, passengers will initially have to change at Paddington or Liverpool Street for journeys beyond the new twin tunnel section that links Paddington and Abbey Wood.
Trains will initially run every five minutes under central London, taking just 29 minutes to shuttle between Paddington and Abbey Wood. To begin with, the line will be open from 6.30am to 11pm, six days a week, before becoming a seven-day service.
On Monday night, 30 London landmarks, including Tower bridge and the London Eye, were floodlit in the line’s regal purple insignia to mark the big day. This will be repeated on Tuesday night.
Mr Khan has described the Elizabeth line as the “world’s best railway”. It brings 1.5m people within 45 minutes of London, cuts journey times and caps many fares at Tube prices. It will deliver an estimated £42bn boost to the UK economy.
In an article to be published on Tuesday in the Evening Standard, Mr Khan paid tribute to Ken Livingstone “for lobbying so hard for it as mayor, to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown for giving the scheme the green light” and to “successive governments, mayors and business leaders for continuing to provide the required funding, support and leadership to get the job done”.
He admitted it had “not been easy” but described it as “levelling up in action” and proof of what could be done when cities, governments and the private sector worked together.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said it was a “marvel of engineering”. He said: “As iconic as its namesake, the Elizabeth line is a beacon of British success.”
TfL commissioner Andy Byford refused to allow the line to open until he was sure it would perform “flawlessly” from day one.
He said: “I’m looking forward to welcoming our first customers early this morning with immense pride and excitement. This is a truly historic moment for the capital and the UK.”
This was primarily due to the complexity of integrating the 26 miles of new tunnels, which in places are 40m below the ground, with the computerised signalling system and software used to operate the £1bn fleet of 70 new nine-carriage trains.
Sir Terry Morgan, who quit as Crossrail chairman in 2018 after the scale of the delays first emerged, told the Evening Standard: “It’s absolutely bloody fantastic. It’s magnificent. It’s everything I wanted it to be.”
According to London TravelWatch, journeys from Abbey Wood to Liverpool Street will take 18 minutes rather than 45 at present, while Paddington will be reached in 29 minutes rather than 55.
Canary Wharf to Liverpool Street will take seven minutes rather than 19, and Paddington to Liverpool Street will take 11 minutes rather than 20.
Canary Wharf to Heathrow will take 39 minutes once the need to change at Paddington ends in the Autumn.
Heathrow passengers will pay a £7.20 premium on the Tube fare but will benefit from Oyster and Contactless fare-capping, meaning they pay no more than £14.10 a day to travel in London.
Up to 170m passengers a year are expected to use Crossrail by 2026, about 80m a year fewer than anticipated pre-pandemic.
Train frequencies will increase from 12 to 22 trains per hour, including 16 an hour off-peak, when the western and eastern branches are incorporated in the Autumn. End-to-end running will be possible by May next year. Eventually there will be 24 trains an hour at peak times in the central section.
The opening comes almost 13 years to the day since construction work began - the first piles were sunk at Canary Wharf station in 2009, watched by then mayor Boris Johnson and Prime Minister Gordon Brown - and a decade since the tunnelling started.
The central part of the line will initially be closed on Sundays - except for Sunday June 5, during the platinum jubilee bank holiday weekend.
The eastern and western branches, between Liverpool Street and Shenfield, and Paddington, Reading and Heathrow, will remain open.
The majority of the £20bn cost has been funded by London, including through business rates, a community infrastructure levy paid by developers along the route, donations from the City of London Corporation and Canary Wharf Group and loans taken out by City Hall. The Department for Transport said the UK Government had funded about £9bn of the cost.
Norman Baker, from the Campaign for Better Transport, said: “Great news that the Elizabeth Line is finally going to be up and running, but it’s taken far too long and cost far too much money.”
