Crossrail

Crossrail is a completed railway project centred on London. It provides a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system, akin to the RER in Paris and the S-Bahn systems of German-speaking countries, known as the Elizabeth line, that crosses the capital from suburbs on the west to east and connects two major railway lines terminating in London: the Great Western Main Line and the Great Eastern Main Line. The project was approved in 2007, and construction began in 2009 on the central section and connections to existing lines that became part of the route, which has been named the Elizabeth line in honour of Queen Elizabeth II who opened the line on 17 May 2022 during her Platinum Jubilee. The central section of the line between Paddington and Abbey Wood opened on 24 May 2022, with 12 trains per hour running in each direction through the core section in Central London.
The main feature of the project was the construction of a new railway line that runs underground from Paddington Station to a junction near Whitechapel. There it splits into a branch to, where it joins the Great Eastern Main Line; and a branch to Abbey Wood in southeast London.
When the Elizabeth line became fully operational in May 2023, the new nine-carriage Class 345 trains started to run at frequencies in the central section of up to 24 trains per hour in each direction through the central core, after which services divide into two branches: in the west to and to ; in the east to and to. Local services on the section of the Great Eastern Main Line between and Shenfield had been transferred to TfL Rail in May 2015; TfL Rail also took over Heathrow Connect services in May 2018 and replaced some local services between Paddington and Reading in December 2019. The TfL Rail brand was discontinued when the core section of the Elizabeth line opened in May 2022.
The Elizabeth line is operated by MTR Corporation Ltd as a London Rail concession of Transport for London, in a similar manner to London Overground. TfL's annual revenues from the line were forecast in 2018 to be nearly £500million in 2022–23 and over £1billion from 2024 to 2025.
The total estimated cost rose from an initial budget of £14.8billion to £18.8billion by December 2020. Originally planned to open in 2018, the project was repeatedly delayed, including several months caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the project was completed, Crossrail International continues to provide consulting services to other railway projects globally.

History

Date	Event
1941–48	Proposals for cross-London railway tunnel, of the national network, by George Dow
1974	London Rail Study Report recommends a – "Crossrail" tunnel
1989	Central London Rail Study proposes three Crossrail schemes, including an east–west Paddington or –Liverpool Street route
1991	Private bill promoted by London Underground and British Rail submitted to Parliament proposing a Paddington–Liverpool Street tunnel; it was rejected in 1994
2001	Crossrail scheme promoted through Cross London Rail Links
2004	Senior railway managers promote an expanded regional Superlink scheme
2005	Crossrail Bill put before Parliament
2008	Crossrail Act 2008 receives royal assent
2009	Construction work begins at
2015	Liverpool Street– service transferred to TfL Rail
2017	New Crossrail trains introduced on Liverpool Street–Shenfield route
2018	Paddington–Heathrow services transferred to TfL Rail
2019	TfL Rail begin operating Paddington–Reading services
24 May 2022	Paddington–Abbey Wood services begin following opening ceremony by Queen Elizabeth II
6 November 2022	Reading and Heathrow–Abbey Wood, and Paddington–Shenfield services begin
21 May 2023	Full route opening for passenger trains

Early proposals

The concept of large-diameter tunnels crossing central London to connect Paddington in the west and Liverpool Street in the east was first proposed by railwayman George Dow in The Star newspaper in June 1941. The project that became Crossrail has origins in the 1943 County of London Plan and 1944 Greater London Plan by Patrick Abercrombie. These led to a specialist investigation by the Railway Committee, appointed in 1944 and reporting in 1946 and 1948.
The term "Crossrail" emerged in the 1974 London Rail Study Report. Although the idea was seen as imaginative, only a brief estimate of cost was given: £300million. A feasibility study was recommended as a high priority so that the practicability and costs of the scheme could be determined. It was also suggested that the alignment of the tunnels should be safeguarded while a final decision was taken.

Later proposals

The Central London Rail Study of 1989 proposed tunnels linking the existing rail network as the "East–West Crossrail", "City Crossrail", and "North–South Crossrail" schemes. The east–west scheme was for a line from Liverpool Street to Paddington/Marylebone with two connections at its western end linking the tunnel to the Great Western Main Line and the Metropolitan line on the Underground. The City route was shown as a new connection across the City of London linking the Great Northern Route with London Bridge.
The north–south line proposed routing West Coast Main Line, Thameslink, and Great Northern trains through Euston and King's Cross/, then under the West End via, and Victoria towards and. The report also recommended a number of other schemes including a "Thameslink Metro" route enhancement, and the Chelsea–Hackney line. The cost of the east–west scheme including rolling stock was estimated at £885million.
In 1991, a private bill was submitted to Parliament for a scheme including a new underground line from Paddington to Liverpool Street. The bill was promoted by London Underground and British Rail, and supported by the government; it was rejected by the Private Bill Committee in 1994 on the grounds that a case had not been made, though the government issued "Safeguarding Directions", protecting the route from any development that would jeopardise future schemes.
In 2001, Cross London Rail Links, a joint-venture between TfL and the Department for Transport, was formed to develop and promote the Crossrail scheme, and also a Wimbledon–Hackney scheme.
While CLRL was promoting the Crossrail project, alternative schemes were being proposed. In 2002, GB Railways put forward a scheme called SuperCrossRail which would link regional stations such as,,,, and via a west–east rail tunnel through central London. The tunnel would follow an alignment along the River Thames, with stations at, and. In 2004 another proposal named Superlink was promoted by a group of senior railway managers. Like SuperCrossRail, Superlink envisaged linking a number of regional stations via a tunnel through London, but advocated the route already safeguarded for Crossrail. CLRL evaluated both proposals and rejected them due to concerns about network capacity and cost issues.

Approval

The Crossrail Act 2008 was given royal assent in July 2008, giving CLRL the powers necessary to build the line. In September 2009, TfL was loaned £1billion towards the project by the European Investment Bank. Both Conservatives and Labour made commitments in their 2010 election manifestos to deliver Crossrail, and the coalition government following the election was committed to the project.

Construction

Chronology

In April 2009, Crossrail announced that 17 firms had secured 'Enabling Works Framework Agreements' and would now be able to compete for packages of works. At the peak of construction up to 14,000 people were expected to be needed in the project's supply chain.
Work began on 15 May 2009 when piling works started at the future Canary Wharf station.
The threat of diseases being released by work on the project was raised by Lord James of Blackheath at the passing of the Crossrail Bill. He told the House of Lords select committee that 682 victims of anthrax had been brought into Smithfield in Farringdon with some contaminated meat in 1520 and then buried in the area. On 24 June 2009 it was reported that no traces of anthrax or bubonic plague had been found on human bone fragments discovered during tunnelling.
Invitations to tender for the two principal tunnelling contracts were published in the Official Journal of the European Union in August 2009. 'Tunnels West' was for twin tunnels from Royal Oak through to the new Crossrail Farringdon Station, with a portal west of Paddington. The 'Tunnels East' request was for three tunnel sections and 'launch chambers' in east London. Contracts were awarded in late 2010: the 'Tunnels West' contract was awarded to BAM Nuttall, Ferrovial Agroman and Kier Construction ; the 'Tunnels East' contract was awarded to Dragados and John Sisk & Son. The remaining tunnelling contract, which included a tunnel under the Thames, was awarded to Hochtief and J. Murphy & Sons in 2011.
By September 2009, preparatory work for the £1billion developments at station had begun, with buildings being compulsorily purchased and demolished.
In March 2010, contracts were awarded to civil engineering companies for the second round of 'enabling work' including 'Royal Oak Portal Taxi Facility Demolition', 'Demolition works for Crossrail Bond Street Station', 'Demolition works for Crossrail Tottenham Court Road Station' and 'Pudding Mill Lane Portal'. In December 2010, contracts were awarded for most of the tunnelling work. To assist with the skills required for the Crossrail project, Crossrail opened in 2011 the Tunnelling and Underground Construction Academy in Ilford. The academy was handed over to TfL in 2017, who have sub-contracted its management to PROCAT.
In February 2010, Crossrail was accused of bullying residents whose property lay on the route into selling for less than the market value. A subsequent London Assembly report was highly critical of the insensitive way in which Crossrail had dealt with compulsory purchases and the lack of assistance given to the people and businesses affected. There were also complaints from music fans, as the London Astoria was forced to close.
In December 2011, a contract to ship the excavated material from the tunnel to Wallasea Island was awarded to a joint venture comprising BAM Nuttall Limited and Van Oord UK Limited. Between of soil would be used to construct a new wetland nature reserve. The project eventually moved of earth.
Restoration of Connaught Tunnel by filling with concrete foam and reboring, as originally intended, was deemed too great a risk to the structural integrity of the tunnel, and so the docks above were drained to give access to the tunnel roof in order to enlarge its profile. This work took place during 2013.
Boring of the railway tunnels was officially completed at Farringdon on 4 June 2015 in the presence of the Prime Minister and the Mayor of London.
Installation of the track was completed in September 2017. The ETCS signalling was scheduled to be tested in the Heathrow tunnels over the winter of 2017–2018. The south east section of the infrastructure was energised in February 2018, with the first test train run between Plumstead and Abbey Wood that month. In May 2018 the overhead lines were powered up between Westbourne Park and Stepney, the installation of platform doors was completed, and video was released of the first trains travelling through the tunnels.
TfL Rail took over Heathrow Connect services from Paddington to Heathrow in May 2018.
At the end of August 2018, four months before the scheduled opening of the core section of the line, it was announced that completion was delayed and that the line would not open before autumn 2019.
In April 2019, it was announced that Crossrail would be completed between October 2020 and March 2021, two years behind schedule, and that it would not include the opening of the Bond Street station, one of ten new stations on the line. The London Assembly's transport committee concluded that TfL played down the prospect of delays to the project in updates to Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, and called for TfL commissioner Mike Brown to consider his position. Crossrail said major challenges before completion included writing and testing the software that would integrate the train with three different track signalling systems, and installing equipment inside the tunnels.
In July 2019, it was announced that the line would not open in 2021, with TfL not expecting the full line from Heathrow to Shenfield to open until the early part of the 2023/24 financial year.
In August 2020, Crossrail announced that the central section would be ready to open "in the first half of 2022".
In May 2021, trial running commenced, with the core section opened by Queen Elizabeth II for passenger service on 24 May 2022.