Elizabeth line
The Elizabeth line is a railway line that runs across Greater London and nearby towns, operating similarly to the RER in Paris and the S-Bahn systems of German-speaking countries. It runs services on dedicated infrastructure in central London from the Great Western Main Line west of Paddington station to and via Whitechapel to the Great Eastern Main Line near ; and out parallel to the Great Eastern Main Line to in the east, along the Great Western Main Line to and Heathrow Airport in the west.
Under the project name of Crossrail, the system was approved in 2007, and construction began in 2009. Originally planned to open in 2018, the project was repeatedly delayed, including for several months as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The service is named after Queen Elizabeth II, who officially opened the line on 17 May 2022 during her Platinum Jubilee year; passenger services started on 24 May 2022.
Elizabeth line services are operated by GTS Rail Operations under a concession from Transport for London. TfL considers the line to be a distinct service, rather than part of the London Underground. It is considered to be in a class of its own and TfL's Oyster card is not valid for journeys to stations outside the TfL fare zones, whilst a premium fare is charged to passengers travelling to or from Heathrow Airport, in line with that charged on the Heathrow Connect service which it replaced.
The line reached over 200 million trips annually in its second year of operation and carries one seventh of all trips by rail in the United Kingdom.
History
In 2001, Cross London Rail Links, a 50/50 joint-venture between Transport for London and the Department for Transport, was formed to develop and promote the Crossrail scheme, and also a Wimbledon–Hackney scheme, Crossrail 2. In 2003 and 2004, over 50days of exhibitions were held to explain the proposals at over 30 different locations.2005 route development
In 2005, ahead of Crossrail's hybrid bill submission, a number of feeder routes were considered by CLRL west of Paddington and east of Liverpool Street. It was viewed, given the 24trains-per-hour core frequency, that two feeder routes, each of 12tph, could be taken forward.In the west, a route to Maidenhead and Heathrow Airport was selected. In the east, routes to Abbey Wood and Shenfield were selected.
Approval
The Crossrail Act 2008 authorising the construction project received royal assent on 22 July 2008. In December 2008, TfL and the DfT announced that they had signed the "Crossrail Sponsors' Agreement". This committed them to financing the project, then projected to cost £15.9billion, with further contributions from Network Rail, BAA, and the City of London.Construction
Work began on 15 May 2009, when piling works started at the future Canary Wharf station.Boring of the railway tunnels was officially completed in June 2015. Installation of the track was completed in September 2017. The European Train Control System signalling was scheduled to be tested in the Heathrow tunnels over the winter of 2017–2018.
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. After multiple delays, 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.
On 17 May 2022, the line was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in honour of her Platinum Jubilee. She was not scheduled to attend the event, but decided to attend with her son, Prince Edward, to unveil the plaque commemorating the official opening.
Timeline
Though the main tunnels under central London had not yet been opened, passenger operations on the outer branches of the future Elizabeth line were transferred to TfL for inclusion in the concession – this took place over several stages beginning May 2015. During this initial phase of operation, services were operated by MTR under the TfL Rail brand. Following the practice adopted during the transfer of former Silverlink services to London Overground in 2007, TfL carried out a deep clean of stations and trains on the future Elizabeth line route, installed new ticket machines and barriers, introduced Oyster card and contactless payment, and ensured all stations were staffed. Existing rolling stock was rebranded with the TfL Rail identity.Route
The Elizabeth line runs on an east–west axis across the London region, with branches terminating at Abbey Wood and Shenfield in the east, and at Heathrow Terminal 4, Heathrow Terminal 5 and Reading in the west. There are 41 stations. In the central section, there are interchanges with London Underground, National Rail, and Docklands Light Railway lines.Design and infrastructure
Name and identity
Crossrail is the name of the construction project and of the limited company, wholly owned by TfL, that was formed to carry out construction works.The "Elizabeth line" is the name of the new service that is on signage throughout the stations. It is named in honour of Queen Elizabeth II, and colloquially called the "Lizzie line". The Elizabeth line roundel is coloured purple, with a superimposed blue bearing white text in the same style as for Underground lines. However, unlike Underground lines, the Elizabeth line roundel includes the word "line".
TfL Rail was an intermediate brand name which was introduced in May 2015 and discontinued in May 2022. It was used by TfL on services between Paddington and Heathrow Terminal 5 and Reading, as well as trains between Liverpool Street and Shenfield.
Stations
| Station | Image | Line section | TfL service began | Interchanges |
| Reading | Reading branch | |||
| Twyford | Reading branch | Great Western | ||
| Maidenhead | Reading branch | Great Western | ||
| Taplow | Reading branch | |||
| Burnham | Reading branch | |||
| Slough | Reading branch | Great Western | ||
| Langley | Reading branch | |||
| Iver | Reading branch | |||
| West Drayton | Reading branch | |||
| Heathrow Terminal 5 | Heathrow branch | |||
| Heathrow Terminal 4 | Heathrow branch | |||
| Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 | Heathrow branch | Heathrow Express | ||
| Hayes & Harlington | Reading and Heathrow branches | |||
| Southall | Reading and Heathrow branches | |||
| Hanwell | Heathrow branch | |||
| West Ealing | Heathrow branch | Great Western | ||
| Ealing Broadway | Reading and Heathrow branches | |||
| Acton Main Line | Heathrow branch | |||
| Paddington | Core | |||
| Core | ||||
| Tottenham Court Road | Core | |||
| Farringdon | Core | |||
| Liverpool Street | Core | |||
| Whitechapel | Core | |||
| Canary Wharf | branch | |||
| Custom House | branch | Docklands Light Railway | ||
| Woolwich | branch | |||
| Abbey Wood | branch | |||
| Stratford | Shenfield branch | |||
| Maryland | Shenfield branch | |||
| Forest Gate | Shenfield branch | Suffragette line | ||
| Manor Park | Shenfield branch | |||
| Ilford | Shenfield branch | |||
| Seven Kings | Shenfield branch | |||
| Goodmayes | Shenfield branch | |||
| Chadwell Heath | Shenfield branch | |||
| Romford | Shenfield branch | |||
| Gidea Park | Shenfield branch | |||
| Harold Wood | Shenfield branch | |||
| Brentwood | Shenfield branch | |||
| Shenfield | Shenfield branch | Greater Anglia |
Ten new stations have been built in the central and south east sections of the line, and 31 existing stations were upgraded and refurbished. Nine of the ten new-build stations opened for revenue service on 24 May 2022; the remaining stationBond Streetrequired additional finishing works before commissioning could proceed. Trains passed through its platforms non-stop until it opened five months later on 24 October. All stations are equipped with CCTV and because of the length of trains, central stations have train indicators above the platform-edge doors.
All 41 stations are step-free from street to platform. Thirteen stations have level access between trains and platforms while other outer suburban platforms remain at their pre-existing height, about lower. This platform height difference was criticised by the Campaign for Level Boarding who said Crossrail's "poor decision making" meant "this brand-new railway has cornered itself into perpetually offering an inaccessible service."
Although the trains are long, platforms at the new stations in the central core are built to enable trains in case of possible future need. In the eastern section, and have not had platform extensions, so trains use selective door opening instead. At Maryland this is because of the prohibitive cost of extensions and the poor business case, and at Manor Park it is due to the presence of a freight loop that would otherwise be cut off.
The new subterranean stations were designed by Grimshaw Architects, adopting a uniform approach across all stations, in partnership with engineering firm AtkinsRéalis; way-finding was designed by Maynard and lighting designed by Equation.