TfL admits status of Elizabeth line is ‘confusing’ passengers over fares

It has become one of London’s great transport talking points: is the Elizabeth line a Tube line or a train line?

The answer, says Transport for London, is neither: rather, the “Lizzie line” is in a class of its own.

But that has left some passengers puzzled about fares — whether they are the same as the Tube, and whether pay-as-you-go fare capping also applies.

TfL’s customer director Emma Strain admits the situation is confusing. She said: “Some people think it’s a Tube line. Some think it isn’t a Tube line. Both of them are confused. It is a tricky one for us.”

Elizabeth line fares are the same as the Tube on journeys within TfL’s nine fare zones, which extend to Brentwood.

But passengers travelling to and from Shenfield in the east, and to or from all stations beyond West Drayton in the west, are charged “special” rates equivalent to national rail fares. Premium fares are also levied on journeys to and from Heathrow.

£2.80

Paddington to Liverpool St (peak)

£12.20

Heathrow to Paddington (anytime)

£9.60

Bond Street to Brentwood (peak)

TfL board members have become concerned at the cost of using the Elizabeth line to outlying stations, particularly those west of London, where punctuality has plummeted due to track problems.

Oyster cards cannot be used west of West Drayton — meaning passengers have to use contactless or buy a paper ticket.

Another issue is that National Rail tickets to/from “London terminals” are not valid on the Elizabeth line between Paddington and Liverpool Street.

Ms Strain said TfL had done a lot of marketing to promote the Elizabeth line, which carried a record 738,000 passengers on Thursday last week.

“People do get confused as to how our fares work,” she said. “I find, from a customer perspective, this differentiation between ‘What is a Tube and what is a train?’ is really complicated for people who are not embedded in our organisation, or not what I would call a ‘transport enthusiast’.”

Asked by the Standard whether the Elizabeth line was classed as a Tube line or a train line, a TfL spokesman said it was “an addition to the transport network and a TfL mode of transport, as opposed to a Tube line”.

Punctuality on the £20bn line plummeted to “historically low” levels during the summer, when one in six trains were delayed or cancelled.

“Significant challenges” are expected until new rail infrastructure is installed. Work on new overhead power lines is not expected to start until next year at the earliest.

Elizabeth line director Howard Smith said renewing the track infrastructure “won’t be a quick fix”. He warned that work would continue “next year and the year beyond”.

Sophie Bancroft, operations director of Network Rail’s western routes, said: “It’s not a quick fix [but] it’s not going to be terrible for years.”

Latest figures show the Elizabeth line, which opened in May 2022, was used for a total of 150.7m passenger journeys in its first year.

Some 56 per cent of journeys were at peak times – 7am to 10am and 4pm to 7pm on weekdays. But the line, like other commuter railways, also suffered from the “Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday” syndrome, with far fewer journeys on Mondays and Fridays.

A Network Rail spokesperson said: “Recently the train line out of Paddington hasn’t been as reliable as we expect and passengers deserve, and we’re sorry to anyone who has been disrupted.

“We’ve brought in industry experts from the UK and the continent, as well as the manufacturers of some of our components, to understand precisely why some of our infrastructure isn’t performing how it should, and this forms the basis of our improvement plans.

“Our current focus is on our signalling equipment and operations. We also have plans to modernise the overhead power cables between Paddington and Heathrow airport between 2024 and 2029, subject to final funding approval from the Office of Rail and Road.”