Crossrail has been under construction since 2009, and soon it’ll be up and running and ready for Londoners to use.

The new Elizabeth Line was approved in 2009, and is supposed to ease congestion on the city’s transport and give people better options for tube connections.

It’s thought that the line will create around 55,000 jobs and generate £42 billion to the UK economy.

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Crossrail trains are already in operation – in a part of it owned by TfL rail that runs from Liverpool Street to Essex.


The later openings will be staggered as construction finishes.

The original schedule was that the first trains would run in 2017, but in 2010 the government delayed this to 2018 in order to save £1 billion.

Crossrail service start timeline June 2017 – The first new train enters passenger service between Liverpool Street Main Line and Shenfield. May 2018 – TfL Rail service opens between Paddington and Heathrow, replacing the existing Heathrow Connect service and part of the Great Western inner suburban service. (The separate Heathrow Express service will continue.) December 2018 – The Elizabeth line opens between Paddington and Abbey Wood, Liverpool Street to Shenfield, Paddington Main Line to Heathrow Terminal 4. May 2019 – Direct services operate Paddington to Shenfield and Paddington to Abbey Wood. Services from Paddington to Heathrow will continue to start and terminate in the National Rail station. December 2019 – The Elizabeth line is fully open, with services running from Reading and Heathrow in the west through the central tunnels to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east.

The Elizabeth line route map (Picture: Crossrail/TFL)

(Picture: Transport for London/PA Wire)

The line will connect 41 stations, starting from Reading and Heathrow Airport and going right up to Shenfield in Essex.



There will also be a separate branch going from Whitechapel to Abbey Wood in South East London.

It will take around 82 minutes to get from Shenfield to Heathrow T5 including the changover at Whitechapel.

The trains will be the length of two football pitches, and be able to hold up to 1,500 passengers.

It’s hoped that it will increase the capacity of London public transport by 10%

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