Crossrail: All You Need to Know About the New Elizabeth Line
With construction crews hard at work reshaping the London Underground, Crossrail’s brand new Elizabeth Line is in its final stages of completion, with trial running tests taking place as of Spring 2021. As part of that work, the central operating section has been connected to both the Great Eastern and Great Western networks, which means that the entire railway is now fully connected.
With safety the highest priority, Crossrail Ltd, the company tasked with bringing the Elizabeth Line to completion, are aiming to start trains for passenger service in the first half of 2022. This will include the opening of most, if not all new stations.
The Elizabeth Line, which was renamed in honour of the Queen last year, will connect much of London with Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Essex when fully completed, encompassing several of Berkeley Group's London developments. There will be ten entirely new Crossrail stations, in addition to the redevelopment of another 30 stations, which means a total of 40 stops across London and the Home Counties, running mainly East to West. Whether you're excited for the additional shopping or commuting prospects this will bring, it's sure to have a fantastic effect on travel in the capital.
Opening was originally scheduled to have happened in five different phases, with the first coming in December 2018, though since then the project has had some delays. Many of these delays were caused by the covid-19 pandemic of 2020 which had a significant impact on many of the industries involved with the project. In a statement, the Crossrail Ltd company stated that the biggest part of the opening will take place in the first half of 2022, with the passenger service between Paddington and Abbey Wood initiating on the Elizabeth Line.
We're delighted that the Elizabeth line will bring further benefits to many of our developments, which stretch across London. Kennet Island and Green Park Village in Reading will be just a short distance from the Western end of the line, as will the Royal Arsenal Riverside in Woolwich on the Eastern side. Of course, our numerous developments in the centre of the capital will also be ideally located to take advantage of Crossrail's speedy connections to the likes of Heathrow. Goodman's Fields in particular is located close to Liverpool Street station, which will give good access to Eastern and Western routes.
In addition to the ten new stops which should make things easier for those living in and around London, many journey times will be dramatically cut by December 2019. Getting between Liverpool Street and Canary Wharf for instance will take just 6 minutes instead of the usual 20, and getting from the Abbey Wood area to Heathrow will take less than an hour instead of more than 90 minutes.
Keep an eye out for the purple line appearing on tube maps in 2022.