Portal:London transport/Selected articles/57

Crossrail is a 118-kilometre (73-mile) railway line in England, running through London to the home counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Essex. The central core and a large section of the line, between Paddington in central London and Abbey Wood in the south-east, were due to open in December 2018 but repeated delays led to the opening being rescheduled several times before it opened on 24 May 2022. The route is officially named the Elizabeth line, in honour of Queen Elizabeth II.

Part of the eastern section, between Liverpool Street and Shenfield in Essex, was transferred to a precursor service called TfL Rail in 2015; this section was due to be connected to the core section to Paddington from May 2019 but was delayed until 6 November 2022. The western section, from Paddington to Heathrow Airport and Reading in Berkshire, began operating from December 2019 as planned though without through running to the east of Paddington until after the central section opened.

The project was approved in 2007 and construction began in 2009 on the central section and connections to existing lines that will become part of the route. With a budget of £14.8 billion, it is Europe's largest infrastructure construction project. Its main feature is 21 km (13 mi) of new twin tunnels below central London running from Paddington to Stratford and Canary Wharf in the east. An almost entirely new line will branch from the main line at Whitechapel to Canary Wharf, crossing under the River Thames, with a new station at Woolwich and connecting with the North Kent Line at the Abbey Wood terminus.

Trains run at frequencies in the central section of up to 24 trains per hour in each direction. The Elizabeth line services is intended to relieve pressure on existing east-west London Underground lines such as the Central and District lines, as well as the Jubilee line extension and the Heathrow branch of the Piccadilly line. The need for extra capacity along this corridor is such that the former head of TfL, Sir Peter Hendy, predicted that the Crossrail lines will be "immediately full" as soon as they open. Crossrail will be operated by MTR Corporation (Crossrail) Ltd as a London Rail concession of Transport for London, in a similar manner to London Overground. (Full article...)