TfL’s troubled Elizabeth Line will FINALLY open this month from Abbey Wood to Paddington – but it’s £4BILLION over budget, nearly four years late, WON’T run on Sundays… and the full line doesn’t open until 2023
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The opening date for the first section of Crossrail was finally revealed by Transport for London today, with trains set to run every five minutes from Monday to Saturday between Paddington and Abbey Wood from May 24.
The capital’s new railway was initially planned to be opened in full – from Reading in Berkshire to Shenfield in Essex and Abbey Wood in South East London – in December 2018, and was set a budget of £14.8billion in 2010.
But the east-west project’s total cost is now estimated to have ballooned to £18.9billion, including £5.1billion from the Government – meaning it is now already three-and-a-half years late and £4billion over budget.
The line has been hit by construction delays and difficulties installing complex signalling systems, and so will now initially operate in three sections, with the central part between Paddington and Abbey Wood using new tunnels.
TfL will be desperately trying to avoid comparisons to the botched launch of London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5, which saw hundreds of flights cancelled and tens of thousands of bags delayed when it opened in March 2008.
When the ‘Elizabeth line’ opens on May 24, it will operate as three separate railways – from Reading or Heathrow to Paddington; Paddington to Abbey Wood via Liverpool Street; and Liverpool Street to Shenfield.
The second stage, for which Crossrail says the ‘earliest expected date’ is ‘autumn 2022’, will ensure the services from Reading or Heathrow towards Paddington can run all the way through to Abbey Wood via Liverpool Street. At this second stage, there will also be trains running direct from Paddington to Shenfield, also via Liverpool Street.
The final milestone will be ‘no later than May 2023’, when the full timetable will allow passengers to travel without changing across the entire line from Reading to Shenfield or Abbey Wood. By next year there will be one train every 150 seconds through central London.
The Elizabeth line will operate 12 trains per hour between Paddington and Abbey Wood from Monday to Saturday 6.30am to 11pm – but Bond Street station has not yet been completed and will not open until ‘later this year’.
Work will continue in engineering hours and on Sundays to allow a series of testing and software updates in preparation for more intensive services from the autumn.
Andy Byford, TfL’s commissioner, said: ‘I am delighted that we can now announce a date for the opening of the Elizabeth line in May. We are using these final few weeks to continue to build up reliability on the railway and get the Elizabeth line ready to welcome customers.
‘The opening day is set to be a truly historic moment for the capital and the UK, and we look forward to showcasing a simply stunning addition to our network.’
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