The Crossrail project has officially launched, with passengers taking the first trains from Abbey Wood and Paddington just after 6.30am on Tuesday 24 May.
The £20 billion project connects the outer western edges of the capital to the outer east.
Currently the high-speed transport link is operating in three sections — the western section between Reading, Heathrow and Paddington, the central section between Paddington and Abbey Wood, and the eastern section between Liverpool Street and Shenfield.
On 6 November, the next phase of the Elizabeth line will launch: integrating services from the east and west into the central tunnels. The three sections will be brought together, enabling passengers to travel from Reading and Heathrow through central London to Shenfield or Abbey Wood without changing trains.
In preparation for this next stage, and the launch of a seven-day service across the whole line, services between Paddington and Abbey Wood will operate for longer, from 5.30am until around 11pm, each day from 5 September.
The final version of the timetable across the entire line is expected to be in place by May 2023.
Now that trains are running along the route, the service is officially called the Elizabeth line.
Bond Street station will open for the Elizabeth line in autumn this year according to TfL commissioner Andy Byford.
What is the Elizabeth line?
It has been billed as the capital's biggest and most important transport upgrade since the expansion of the Tube network over 100 years ago and promises to change the lives of millions of Londoners and commuters.
The route will pass through 41 stations, stretching over 60 miles, from Reading and Heathrow airport in the west through central London to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east.
More than 1.4 billion Tube journeys were made in 2018/2019, according to TfL. It is hoped that the new service will ease the burden on the network while also catering for a London population that’s growing by 100,000 a year.
It's thought more than 200 million passengers will use the Elizabeth line each year.
Nine new stations are being built as part of the project, at Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street, Whitechapel, Canary Wharf, Custom House and Woolwich.
An existing station at Abbey Wood has been redeveloped for Crossrail.
Elizabeth line delays and costs
The original funding allocated for Crossrail was £14.6 billion in 2010. In 2018 this was revised to £17.6 billion.
Just three months before the anticipated 2018 opening ceremony the first of the delays was announced, with the most recent of these declaring that the central section of the line would open by the end of June 2022. TfL then brought this forward to May 24, in time for the early June bank holiday to mark The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
The agreed funding has now reached £18.8 billion. TfL has permission to spend an extra £1.1 billion to get the line in full service but, as things stand, has only been able to secure £825 million of loans.
The impact of the pandemic will cost Crossrail about £1 billion in lost fares, according to TfL.
Earlier this year the London Assembley sought assurances from TfL about its ability to fund the remainder of the project should the costs of opening the long-delayed line continue to rise.
Opening dates and key journey times
Three separate sections of the line launched on May 24.
Central Section: launched in May
Trains now run from the new Elizabeth line station at Paddington to Abbey Wood, a route that passes through main employment hubs such as Liverpool Street and Canary Wharf.
Example journey times:
- Paddington to Canary Wharf takes 17 minutes
- Bond Street to Liverpool Street will take seven minutes
- Woolwich to Farringdon takes 14 minutes
Bond Street station will open for the Elizabeth line in autumn.
The east and west sections will be joined to this central section on 6 November.
East section: to launch in full on 6 November
This section currently runs from Liverpool Street mainline station to Shenfield in Essex, passing through eastern areas such as Stratford and Romford.
Example journey times:
- Romford to Liverpool Street will take 27 minutes
- Stratford to Bond Street will take 15 minutes
The east section will be joined to the central section on 6 November, enabling passengers to travel from outer east London to outer west without changing platforms at Liverpool Street.
West section: to launch in full on 6 November
This route currently begins at Paddington mainline station, splitting just after Hayes & Harlington, with one branch going to Maidenhead and Reading and the other to Heathrow airport terminals.
Example journey times:
- Tottenham Court Road to Ealing Broadway takes 13 minutes
- Paddington to Slough takes 26 minutes
The west section will be joined to the central section on 6 November, enabling passengers to travel from outer west London to outer east without changing platforms at Paddington.
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