Today should have been the day that the Crossrail project triumphantly handed over to the Elizabeth line.

Today should have been the day that thousands of excited people woke up to their very own Christmas Day as shiny new trains and stations begged to be explored. Today should have been the day that saw more dignitaries than you knew existed tuning up for a ceremonial purple ribbon cutting exercise. Today should have been the day when a new line appeared on the tube map. Today should have been the day people arriving at Paddington on an Elizabeth line train would need to walk to another platform to catch the Elizabeth line into central London. Today should have been the day that the public got to see inside the Victorian Connaught tunnel for the first time since it closed in 2006. Today should have been the day it became possible to walk into Moorgate tube station and come out of Liverpool Street station. Today should have been the day that so many people arrived on Oxford Street that they would wonder why Westminster Council cancelled plans to pedestrianise it. Today should have been the day when people went into new stations in Central London and gasped at how huge they are. Today should have been the day a person living in Woolwich Arsenal could get to Canary Wharf faster than many people living on the Isle of Dogs. Today should have been the day people using the Central line found it much easier to get a seat as people switched to using the Elizabeth line. Today should have been the day that getting from Paddington to the West End wouldn’t need a change of trains. Today should have been the day when people started wondering what Abbey Wood is like and why trains terminate there. Today should have been the day when people who have no idea about London transport would have caught a new train in new tunnels not having the faintest idea that it opened today for the first time. Today should have been the day when you could catch an Elizabeth line train to Crossrail Place. Today should have been the day when 81 escalators were switched on for the first time to carry paying passengers. Today should have been the day that central London’s rail capacity increased by 10 percent. Today should have been the day that an additional 1.5 million people found themselves living less than 45 minutes from London’s main employment centres.

Today should have been the day that the Crossrail project triumphantly handed over to the Elizabeth line.

But it isn’t. Please come back later.