Crossrail

Crossrail
Crossrail platform at Farringdon
Overview
Other name(s)	Elizabeth line
Owner	Transport for London
Locale	Greater London
Termini	West: Paddington East: Abbey Wood and Stratford
Stations	10
Website	www.crossrail.co.uk
Service
Type	Commuter rail Rapid transit[1]
System	National Rail
Rolling stock	Class 345 (9 carriages per train)
History
Opened	24 May 2022; 2 years ago (2022-05-24) Paddington–Abbey Wood
Technical
Number of tracks	2
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	25 kV 50 Hz AC (overhead lines)
Operating speed	60 mph (95 km/h)
Transport for London rail lines London Underground Bakerloo Central Circle District Hammersmith & City Jubilee Metropolitan Northern Piccadilly Victoria Waterloo & City London Overground Liberty Lioness Mildmay Suffragette Weaver Windrush Other TfL Modes DLR Elizabeth line London Trams v t e

Crossrail is a completed railway project centred on London. It provides a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system, 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 Stratford, 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 Reading and to Heathrow Central; in the east to Abbey Wood and to Shenfield. Local services on the section of the Great Eastern Main Line between Liverpool Street 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 (Crossrail) Ltd as a London Rail concession of Transport for London (TfL), in a similar manner to London Overground. TfL's annual revenues from the line were forecast in 2018 to be nearly £500 million in 2022–23 and over £1 billion from 2024 to 2025.

The total estimated cost rose from an initial budget of £14.8 billion to £18.8 billion by December 2020. Originally planned to open in 2018, the project was repeatedly delayed, including several months caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.