The Elizabeth line’s delayed Bond Street station will open on 24 October, Transport for London has announced.
The station, allowing direct access to the West End and shopping district on high-capacity trains from outside the capital, will open five months after the rest of the cross-London line started operating in May.
Major construction problems meant it was decided in 2018 to open the line before Bond Street could be completed, but TfL has reduced the delay since the troubles with the £19bn Crossrail project first emerged.
The station will open two weeks before direct through-services from the east and west of the capital begin on 6 November, with passengers currently changing trains to continue on Elizabeth line trains at Paddington for Reading or Liverpool Street for Shenfield.
The frequency of services will also increase to trains every three to four minutes later this year.
The station will open the day before Andy Byford, the transport commissioner, leaves TfL.
Byford said: “Bond Street was of course the station site that Her Majesty the Queen visited during construction in 2016 to mark the renaming of the railway in her honour.
“The station will be the jewel in the crown of the West End’s transport provision. It is truly spectacular and will provide a highly significant new link to one of the busiest shopping districts in the UK, enabling even further connectivity to jobs and leisure for people across London and the south-east.”
The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, said the station was a “stunning addition to this transformational line”, adding: “It will help draw people back on to our world-class public transport network, encourage people to make the most of the capital and support businesses across the city.”
More than 45m journeys have been being made across the Elizabeth line since it opened in May. The final timetable, with full through-running end-to-end journeys and up to 24 trains an hour in peak hours in central London, is due to start by May next year.
