| Crossrail | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Crossrail platform at Farringdon | |
| Overview | |
| Other name(s) | Elizabeth line |
| Owner | Transport for London |
| Locale | |
| Termini |
|
| Stations | 10 |
| Website | www |
| Service | |
| Type | |
| 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 kV50 Hz AC (overhead lines) |
| Operating speed | 95 km/h (60 mph) |
Crossrail is a completed railway project centred on London. It provides a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system, known as theElizabeth line, that crosses the capital from suburbs on the west to east and connects two major railway lines terminating in London: theGreat Western Main Line and theGreat 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 QueenElizabeth II who opened the line on 17 May 2022 duringher Platinum Jubilee. The central section of the line betweenPaddington andAbbey Wood opened on 24 May 2022, with 12 trains per hour running in each direction through the core section inCentral London.
The main feature of the project was the construction of a new railway line that runs underground fromPaddington Station to a junction near Whitechapel. There it splits into a branch toStratford, where it joins theGreat Eastern Main Line; and a branch toAbbey Wood in southeast London.
When the Elizabeth line became fully operational in May 2023, the new nine-carriageClass 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 toReading and toHeathrow Central; in the east toAbbey Wood and toShenfield. Local services on the section of the Great Eastern Main Line betweenLiverpool Street and Shenfield had been transferred toTfL Rail in May 2015; TfL Rail also took overHeathrow 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 byMTR Corporation (Crossrail) Ltd as aLondon Railconcession ofTransport for London (TfL), in a similar manner toLondon 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 theCOVID-19 pandemic.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1941–48 | Proposals for cross-London railway tunnel(s), of the national network, byGeorge Dow |
| 1974 | London Rail Study Report recommends aPaddington–Liverpool Street "Crossrail" tunnel |
| 1989 | Central London Rail Study proposes three Crossrail schemes, including an east–west Paddington orMarylebone–Liverpool Street route |
| 1991 | Private bill promoted byLondon Underground andBritish Rail submitted to Parliament proposing a Paddington–Liverpool Street tunnel; it was rejected in 1994 |
| 2001 | Crossrail scheme promoted through Cross London Rail Links (CLRL) |
| 2004 | Senior railway managers promote an expanded regionalSuperlink scheme |
| 2005 | Crossrail Bill put before Parliament |
| 2008 | Crossrail Act 2008 receivesroyal assent |
| 2009 | Construction work begins atCanary Wharf |
| 2015 | Liverpool Street–Shenfield service transferred toTfL Rail |
| 2017 | New Crossrail trains introduced on Liverpool Street–Shenfield route |
| 2018 | Paddington–Heathrow services transferred to TfL Rail |
| 2019 | TfL Rail begin operating Paddington–Reading services |
| 24 May 2022 | Paddington–Abbey Wood services begin |
| 6 November 2022 | Reading and Heathrow–Abbey Wood, and Paddington–Shenfield services begin |
| 21 May 2023[2] | full route opening for passenger trains |
The concept of large-diameter tunnels crossing central London to connect Paddington in the west and Liverpool Street in the east was first proposed by railwaymanGeorge Dow inThe Star newspaper in June 1941.[3] The project that became Crossrail has origins in the 1943County of London Plan and 1944Greater London Plan byPatrick Abercrombie. These led to a specialist investigation by the Railway (London Plan) Committee, appointed in 1944 and reporting in 1946 and 1948.[4]
The term "Crossrail" emerged in the 1974 London Rail Study Report.[5] Although the idea was seen as imaginative, only a brief estimate of cost was given: £300 million. A feasibility study was recommended as a high priority so that the practicability and costs of the scheme could be determined. It was also suggested that the alignment of the tunnels should be safeguarded[6][7] while a final decision was taken.
The Central London Rail Study of 1989 proposed tunnels linking the existing rail network as the "East–West Crossrail", "City Crossrail", and "North–South Crossrail" schemes. The east–west scheme was for a line from Liverpool Street to Paddington/Marylebone with two connections at its western end linking the tunnel to theGreat Western Main Line and theMetropolitan line on the Underground. The City route was shown as a new connection across theCity of London linking theGreat Northern Route with London Bridge.
The north–south line proposed routingWest Coast Main Line, Thameslink, and Great Northern trains through Euston andKing's Cross/St Pancras, then under theWest End viaTottenham Court Road,Piccadilly Circus andVictoria towardsCrystal Palace andHounslow. The report also recommended a number of other schemes including a "Thameslink Metro" route enhancement, and the Chelsea–Hackney line. The cost of the east–west scheme including rolling stock was estimated at £885 million.[8]
In 1991, aprivate bill was submitted to Parliament for a scheme including a new underground line from Paddington to Liverpool Street.[9] The bill was promoted by London Underground and British Rail, and supported by the government; it was rejected by the Private Bill Committee in 1994[10] on the grounds that a case had not been made, though the government issued "Safeguarding Directions", protecting the route from any development that would jeopardise future schemes.[11]
In 2001, Cross London Rail Links (CLRL), a joint-venture betweenTfL and theDepartment for Transport (DfT), was formed to develop and promote the Crossrail scheme,[12] and also a Wimbledon–Hackney scheme.
While CLRL was promoting the Crossrail project, alternative schemes were being proposed. In 2002, GB Railways put forward a scheme called SuperCrossRail which would link regional stations such asCambridge,Guildford,Oxford,Milton Keynes Central,Southend Victoria andIpswich via a west–east rail tunnel through central London. The tunnel would follow an alignment along the River Thames, with stations atCharing Cross,Blackfriars andLondon Bridge. In 2004 another proposal namedSuperlink was promoted by a group of senior railway managers. Like SuperCrossRail, Superlink envisaged linking a number of regional stations via a tunnel through London, but advocated the route already safeguarded for Crossrail. CLRL evaluated both proposals and rejected them due to concerns about network capacity and cost issues.[13][14]
TheCrossrail Act 2008 was given royal assent in July 2008,[15][16] giving CLRL the powers necessary to build the line.[17] In September 2009, TfL was loaned £1 billion towards the project by theEuropean Investment Bank.[18] BothConservatives andLabour made commitments in their2010 election manifestos to deliver Crossrail, and the coalition government following the election was committed to the project.[19]
In April 2009, Crossrail announced that 17 firms had secured 'Enabling Works Framework Agreements' and would now be able to compete for packages of works.[20] At the peak of construction up to 14,000 people were expected to be needed in the project's supply chain.[21][22]
Work began on 15 May 2009 whenpiling works started at the futureCanary Wharf station.[23]
The threat of diseases being released by work on the project was raised byLord James of Blackheath at the passing of the Crossrail Bill. He told theHouse of Lords select committee that 682 victims ofanthrax had been brought intoSmithfield inFarringdon with some contaminated meat in 1520 and then buried in the area.[24] On 24 June 2009 it was reported that no traces of anthrax orbubonic plague had been found on human bone fragments discovered during tunnelling.[25]
Invitations to tender for the two principal tunnelling contracts were published in theOfficial Journal of the European Union in August 2009. 'Tunnels West' (C300) was for twin 6.2-kilometre-long (3.9-mile) tunnels from Royal Oak through to the newCrossrail Farringdon Station, with a portal west ofPaddington. The 'Tunnels East' (C305) request was for three tunnel sections and 'launch chambers' ineast London.[26] Contracts were awarded in late 2010: the 'Tunnels West' contract was awarded toBAM Nuttall,Ferrovial Agroman andKier Construction (BFK); the 'Tunnels East' contract was awarded toDragados andJohn Sisk & Son.[27][28] The remaining tunnelling contract (C310,Plumstead toNorth Woolwich), which included a tunnel under theThames, was awarded toHochtief andJ. Murphy & Sons in 2011.[29]
By September 2009, preparatory work for the £1 billion developments atTottenham Court Road station had begun, with buildings (including theAstoria Theatre) beingcompulsorily purchased and demolished.[30]
In March 2010, contracts were awarded tocivil engineering companies for the second round of 'enabling work' including 'Royal Oak Portal Taxi Facility Demolition', 'Demolition works forCrossrail Bond Street Station', 'Demolition works for Crossrail Tottenham Court Road Station' and 'Pudding Mill Lane Portal'.[31] In December 2010, contracts were awarded for most of the tunnelling work.[32] To assist with the skills required for the Crossrail project, Crossrail opened in 2011 the Tunnelling and Underground Construction Academy inIlford.[33] The academy was handed over to TfL in 2017, who havesub-contracted its management toPROCAT.[34]
In February 2010, Crossrail was accused of bullying residents whose property lay on the route into selling for less than the market value.[35] A subsequentLondon Assembly report was highly critical of the insensitive way in which Crossrail had dealt with compulsory purchases and the lack of assistance given to the people and businesses affected.[36] There were also complaints frommusic fans, as the London Astoria was forced to close.[37]
In December 2011, a contract to ship the excavated material from the tunnel toWallasea Island[38] was awarded to a joint venture comprising BAM Nuttall Limited andVan Oord UK Limited.[39][40] Between 4.5 and 5 million tonnes of soil would be used to construct a newwetland nature reserve (Wallasea Wetlands).[38][41] The project eventually moved seven million tons of earth.[42]
Restoration ofConnaught Tunnel by filling with concrete foam and reboring, as originally intended, was deemed too great a risk to the structural integrity of the tunnel, and so the docks above were drained to give access to the tunnel roof in order to enlarge its profile. This work took place during 2013.[43][44][45]
Boring of the railway tunnels was officially completed at Farringdon on 4 June 2015 in the presence of thePrime Minister and theMayor of London.[46]
Installation of the track was completed in September 2017.[47] TheETCS signalling was scheduled to be tested in the Heathrow tunnels over the winter of 2017–2018.[48] The south east section of the infrastructure was energised in February 2018, with the first test train run betweenPlumstead andAbbey Wood that month.[49] In May 2018 the overhead lines were powered up betweenWestbourne Park andStepney, the installation ofplatform doors was completed,[50] and video was released of the first trains travelling through the tunnels.[51]
TfL Rail took overHeathrow Connect services from Paddington toHeathrow in May 2018.[52][48]
At the end of August 2018, four months before the scheduled opening of the core section of the line, it was announced that completion was delayed and that the line would not open before autumn 2019.[53]
In April 2019, it was announced that Crossrail would be completed between October 2020 and March 2021, two years behind schedule, and that it would not include the opening of the Bond Street station, one of ten new stations on the line.[54][55] The London Assembly's transport committee concluded that TfL played down the prospect of delays to the project in updates to Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, and called for TfL commissionerMike Brown to consider his position.[56] Crossrail said major challenges before completion included writing and testing the software that would integrate the train with three different track signalling systems, and installing equipment inside the tunnels.[54]
In July 2019, it was announced that the line would not open in 2021, with TfL not expecting the full line from Heathrow to Shenfield to open until the early part of the 2023/24 financial year.[57]
In August 2020, Crossrail announced that the central section would be ready to open "in the first half of 2022".[58]
In May 2021, trial running commenced,[59] with the core section opened by QueenElizabeth II for passenger service on 24 May 2022.[60]
The project used eight 7.1-metre (23-foot) diametertunnel-boring machines (TBM) fromHerrenknecht AG (Germany). Two types are used; 'slurry' type for the Thames tunnel, which involves tunnelling throughchalk; and 'Earth Pressure Balance Machines' (EPBM) for tunnelling through clay, sand and gravel (at lower levels throughLambeth Group andThanet Sands ground formation). The TBMs weigh nearly 1,000 tonnes and are over 100 metres (330 feet) long.[61][62] The main tunnelling contracts were valued at around £1.5 billion.[63]
Crossrail ran a competition in January 2012 to name the TBMs, in which over 2,500 entries were received and 10 pairs of names short-listed. After a public vote in February 2012, the first three pairs of names were announced on 13 March and the last pair on 16 August 2013:[64][65]
In September 2012, a gantry supporting a spoil hopper, used to load rail wagons with excavated waste at a construction site nearWestbourne Park Underground station, collapsed. It tipped sideways, causing the adjacent Network Rail line to be closed.[66][67]
On 7 March 2014, Rene Tkacik, a Slovakian construction worker, was killed by a piece of falling concrete while working in a tunnel.[68] In April 2014,The Observer reported details of a leaked internal report, compiled for the Crossrail contractors by an independent safety consultancy. The report was alleged to have pointed to poor industrial relations arising from safety concerns, and that workers were "too scared to report injuries for fear of being sacked".[69]
Three construction workers died from suspected heart attacks over six months in 2019, but Crossrail announced that, following extensive testing, the air quality at Bond Street station was within acceptable limits.[70]
In 2012, Crossrail faced accusations ofblacklisting. It was revealed that an industrial relations manager, Ron Barron, employed byBechtel, had routinely cross-checked job applicants against theConsulting Association database.[71] An employment tribunal in 2010 heard that Barron introduced the use of the blacklist at his former employer, the construction firmChicago Bridge & Iron Company (CB&I), and referred to it more than 900 times in 2007 alone. He was found to have unlawfully refused employment to a Philip Willis. Aggravated damages were awarded because Barron had added information about Willis to the blacklist.[71]
In May 2012, a BFK manager challenged their subcontractor, Electrical Installations Services Ltd. (EIS), saying that one of their electricians was a trade union activist. Some days later, Pat Swift, the HR manager for BFK and a regular user of theConsulting Association, again challenged EIS. EIS refused to dismiss their worker and lost the contract. Flash pickets were held at the Crossrail site and also at the sites of the BFK partners.[citation needed] TheScottish Affairs Select Committee called on the UKBusiness Secretary,Vince Cable, to set up a government investigation into blacklisting at Crossrail.[72][73]
Further allegations of blacklisting against Crossrail were made in Parliament in September 2017.[74] In March 2023, a former Crossrail worker made a High Court statement regarding a damages claim against Crossrail, Skanska, Costain, T Clarke and NG Bailey for blacklisting. The case had been settled out of court in December 2021. Electrician Daniel Collins had raised health and safety concerns at the Bond Street station site in February 2015, was fired three days later, and faced repeated difficulties in gaining new employment on the project. He alleged there was a "secretive system of misuse of private information" about union activists. Crossrail and the contractors denied all Collins' allegations, saying they settled the court case "for purely commercial reasons" and "without admission of liability or wrongdoing". Collins received an undisclosed sum for damages and to cover court costs.[75]
Much like theThames Tideway Scheme and theHigh Speed 2 projects, which were under development in London at the same time as Crossrail, the excavation works that took place during the project gave archaeologists a valuable opportunity to explore the earth underneath London's streets that was previously seen as inaccessible. Crossrail undertook what was described as one of the most extensive archaeological programmes ever seen in the UK. Over 100 archaeologists have found tens of thousands of items from 40 sites, spanning 55 million years of London's history and prehistory.[76] Many of the items were placed on show at theMuseum of London Docklands from February to September 2017.Some of the most notable finds include:[77][78]
In the first half of 2021, Crossrail entered trial running stage of construction.[82] Crossrail, in partnership with TfL, ran trains to a timetable through the core section, to check the reliability of the railway. In November 2021, Crossrail entered trial operation which is the final stage before opening.[83]
With an initial budget of £14.8 billion, the total cost rose to £18.25 billion by November 2019,[84][85] and increased further to £18.8 billion by December 2020.[86]Delays to the project of several months were caused by theCOVID-19 pandemic in England,[87][88] and in late 2020 this reduced the number of workers that could be safely on-site.[89]
By August 2021, seven of the nine new stations had been handed over to TfL.[90]
The Abbey Wood to Paddington section opened to passengers on 24 May 2022, although initially trains did not run on Sundays to allow for further testing, nor did they call at Bond Street, which opened on 24 October 2022. From Sunday 6 November trains began running directly from Reading and Heathrow in the west to Abbey Wood, and from Shenfield in the east through to Paddington as the surface railways connect with the central tunnels.[91] TfL expects that the full line, with final timetable, will be operational by May 2023.[92]
In the west, the new tunnel connects with theGreat Western Main Line atRoyal Oak, west ofPaddington. East ofWhitechapel the line splits at an underground junction. The north-eastern branch emerges to join the existingGreat Eastern Main Line atStratford. The south-eastern branch runs underground toAbbey Wood viaCanary Wharf,Custom House andWoolwich. This branch takes over a stretch of the formerNorth London line built by theEastern Counties and Thames Junction Railway, and connects it with theNorth Kent Line via a tunnel under the Thames atNorth Woolwich.[93]
The tunnelled sections are altogether approximately 42 km (26 miles) in length.[94]
There are new stations atPaddington,Bond Street,Tottenham Court Road,Farringdon,Liverpool Street andWhitechapel, with interchanges with London Underground and National Rail services. Due to the length and positioning of the new platforms, Farringdon station is also connected toBarbican station,[95] and Liverpool Street toMoorgate station.[96]
From the western end of the tunnel Elizabeth line services continue toHayes and Harlington where they either remain on the Great Western Main Line and run toReading orMaidenhead viaSlough or split off to the Heathrow branch terminating at Heathrow Terminals4 or5. Existing stations were refurbished and upgraded, including the provision of step-free access at all stations, and platform lengthening at most to accommodate the new 200-metre-long (660 ft) trains.[97]
Earlier plans suggested terminating at Maidenhead, with an extension to Reading safeguarded.[98] Various commentators advocated an extension further west as far as Reading because it was seen as complementary to theGreat Western Electrification project which was announced in July 2009.[99] A Reading terminus was also recommended by Network Rail's 2011Route Utilisation Strategy.[100] On 27 March 2014 it was announced that the line would indeed extend to Reading.[101][102][103]
A flyover at Airport Junction near Hayes & Harlington station allowsHeathrow Express trains to pass over the track used by Crossrail, avoiding delays caused by crossings.[104] The line between the junction andHeathrow Central (mostly in a tunnel) is not owned byNetwork Rail but byHeathrow Airport Holdings.
A "dive-under" was constructed at Acton to allow passenger trains to pass slower freight trains leaving and entering a goods yard. It was completed in July 2016 and was brought into use in 2017.[105][106]
The north-eastern Crossrail tunnel connects with theGreat Eastern Main Line atStratford. The Elizabeth line runs toShenfield viaIlford,Romford andGidea Park.[107]
Crossrail is the name of the construction project and of thelimited company, wholly owned by TfL, that was formed to carry out construction works.[108][109] TheElizabeth line is the name of the new service that will be seen on signage throughout the stations. It is named in honour of QueenElizabeth II.[110][111] The Elizabeth line logo features aTransport for London roundel with a purple ring and TfL-blue bar with white text.TfL Rail was an intermediate brand name which was introduced in May 2015 and discontinued in May 2022. It was used by TfL on services between Paddington and Heathrow Terminal 5 and Reading, as well as trains between Liverpool Street and Shenfield.[112]
21 km (13 miles) of twin-bore tunnels were constructed bytunnel boring machines (TBM), each with an internal diameter of 6.2 m (20 ft 4 in)[61] (compared with 3.81 m (12 ft 6 in) for the deep-levelVictoria line). The wide-diameter tunnels allow for newClass 345 rolling stock, which is larger than the traditional deep-level tube trains. The tunnels allow for the emergency evacuation of passengers through the side doors rather than along the length of the train.
The tunnels are made up of three main sections: a 15.39 km (9.6 miles) tunnel from Royal Oak portal nearRoyal Oak station to Victoria Dock portal nearCustom House station, a 2.72 km (1.7 miles) tunnel fromPudding Mill Lane portal connecting to the longer tunnel at an underground junction atStepney Green cavern, and a separate 2.64 km (1.6 miles) tunnel fromPlumstead toNorth Woolwich underneath theThames. The Custom House to North Woolwich section, included a £50 million investment to renovate and reuse theConnaught tunnel.[113][114]
Crossrail has often been compared to Paris'sRER system due to the length of the central tunnel.[115][116]
The majority of stations in the central section all have distinctive architecture at street level; whereas stations at platform level have identical "kit-of-parts" architecture, including full heightplatform screen doors with integratedpassenger information displays.[93] This is a different approach from theJubilee Line Extension in the 1990s, where each station was designed by a different architect.[117] Artwork was also installed at seven of the stations in the central section.[118]
A mock-up of the new stations was built in Bedfordshire in 2011 to ensure that their architectural integrity would last for a century.[119] It was planned to bring at least one mock-up to London for the public to view the design and give feedback before final construction commenced.[120]
81 escalators were installed at the nine new stations.[121] At 60 metres (200 ft) in length, the escalators at Bond Street are just one metre shorter than the escalators atAngel, the longest escalator on the Underground.[121] All stations in the central section were built to be step free from street to train, with 54 lifts installed in the nine new stations.[122][121]
Existing stations on the Great Western Main Line and Great Eastern Main Line were upgraded and refurbished, with some stations receiving new entrance buildings.[123] All surface level stations have lifts, allowing step free access from street to platform.[124][123]
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Crossrail uses25 kV, 50 Hz ACoverhead lines, which are also used on theGreat Eastern andGreat Western Main Lines.
The Heathrow branch started using theEuropean Train Control System (ETCS) in 2020. TheAutomatic Warning (AWS) andTrain Protection & Warning (TPWS) systems are used on the Great Western and Great Eastern Main Lines, with possible later upgrades to ETCS.Communications-based train control (CBTC) is installed in the central section and the Abbey Wood branch.[126][127][128]
Crossrail will have depots in west London atOld Oak Common TMD, in south-east London at Plumstead Depot, and in east London atIlford EMU Depot and at a new signalling centre atRomford inHavering,East London.[129][130]
Although the Crossrail route passes very close toLondon City Airport, there is no station serving the airport directly. London City Airport had proposed the re-opening ofSilvertown railway station, in order to create an interchange between the rail line and the airport.[131] The self-funded £50 million station plan was supported 'in principle' by theLondon Borough of Newham.[132] Provisions for re-opening of the station were made in 2012 by Crossrail.[133] However, it was alleged by the airport that TfL was hostile to the idea of a station on the site, a claim disputed by TfL.[134]
In 2018, the airport'schief development officer described the lack of a Crossrail station as a "missed opportunity", but did not rule out a future station for the airport.[135] The CEO stated in an interview that a station is not essential to the airport's success.[136] In May 2019, the chief development officer confirmed discussions are ongoing about a station for the airport as part of the proposed extension to Ebbsfleet.[137]
As part of theHigh Speed 2 (HS2) rail link from London toBirmingham, a new station is being built atOld Oak Common betweenPaddington andActon Main Line station.[138] The new station will connect HS2 services with Crossrail and National Rail services on theGreat Western Main Line, as well asLondon Overground services running through the area.[139] The original plan was that the station would open with High Speed 2 in 2026, with preliminary construction beginning in 2019.[140]Go-ahead for construction was given in June 2021.[141][142]
In the 2003 and 2004 consultations into Crossrail, the South East branch was proposed to go beyondAbbey Wood, running along theNorth Kent Line toEbbsfleet, linking up with the (then under construction)Channel Tunnel Rail Link.[144][145] However, prior to the submission of the Crossrail Hybrid Bill to Parliament in 2005, the branch was truncated atAbbey Wood to cut overall project costs.[146] Although dropped from the main scheme, the route was safeguarded by the DfT as far asGravesend andHoo Junction, protecting the route from development.[147]
With the Crossrail project nearing completion in 2018, local MPs, council leaders and local businesses began lobbying[148] the government to fund the development of a business case for the extension to Ebbsfleet,[149][150] with the Mayor of London,Sadiq Khan including the project in his Mayor's Transport Strategy.[151] The Mayor's Transport Strategy estimated that an extension could assist in delivering 55,000 new homes and 50,000 new jobs planned along the route inBexley and north Kent.[152] In March 2019, the Government committed £4.8 million on exploratory work into the extension as part of theThames Estuary 2050 Growth Commission.[153][146]
The following stations are on the protected route extension to Gravesend:Belvedere,Erith,Slade Green,Dartford,Stone Crossing,Greenhithe forBluewater,Swanscombe,Ebbsfleet,Northfleet, andGravesend.[154]
Network Rail's July 2011 London & South EastRoute Utilisation Strategy (RUS) recommended that a short railway line could be built to connect theWest Coast Main Line (WCML) with the Crossrail route. This would enable train services that currently run betweenMilton Keynes Central andLondon Euston to be re-routed via Old Oak Common to serve central London,Shenfield andAbbey Wood. The report argued that this would free up capacity at Euston for the plannedHigh Speed 2, reduce London Underground congestion at Euston, make better use of Crossrail's capacity west of Paddington, and improve access to Heathrow Airport from the north.[155] Under this scheme, all Crossrail trains would continue west of Paddington, instead of some of them terminating there. They would serve Heathrow Airport (10 tph), stations to Maidenhead and Reading (6 tph), and stations to Milton Keynes Central (8 tph).[156]
In August 2014, a statement by transport secretaryPatrick McLoughlin indicated that the government was actively evaluating the extension of Crossrail as far asTring andMilton Keynes Central, with potential Crossrail stops atWembley Central,Harrow & Wealdstone,Bushey,Watford Junction,Kings Langley,Apsley,Hemel Hempstead,Berkhamsted,Tring,Cheddington,Leighton Buzzard andBletchley. The extension would relieve some pressure from London Underground and London Euston station while also increasing connectivity. Conditions to the extension were that any extra services should not affect the planned service pattern for confirmed routes, as well as affordability.[157][158] This proposal was shelved in August 2016 due to "poor overall value for money to the taxpayer".[159]
As part of theHeathrow Southern Railway scheme proposed in 2017, the western extent of the Crossrail route could be extended beyond Heathrow Airport to terminate atStaines. This extension would form part of a wider scheme to create new rail links in west London and Surrey serving Heathrow, and would require the construction of an extra platform at Staines station. This proposal has not been approved or funded.[160]
Stobart Aviation, the company that previously operatedSouthend Airport in Essex, proposed that Crossrail should be extended beyond Shenfield along theShenfield–Southend line to serve Southend Airport andSouthend Victoria. The company has suggested that a direct Heathrow-Southend link could alleviate capacity problems at Heathrow.[161] The extension proposal has been supported bySouthend-on-Sea City Council.[162]
Funding for the project came from:
Crossrail was built by Crossrail Ltd, jointly owned by TfL and the DfT until December 2008, when full ownership was transferred to TfL. In 2007, Crossrail had a £15.9 billion funding package in place[164] for the construction of the line. Although the branch lines to the west and to Shenfield will still be owned byNetwork Rail, the tunnel will be owned and operated by TfL.[165]
On 18 July 2014, TfLLondon Rail said thatMTR Corp had won the concession to operate the services for eight years, with an option for two more years.[166] The concession will be similar to London Overground.[167][non-primary source needed] It is planned forthe franchise to run for eight years from May 2015,[166] taking over control of Shenfield metro services fromAbellio Greater Anglia in May 2015,[166] and Reading / Heathrow services fromGreat Western Railway in 2018.[168]
In anticipation of a May 2015 transfer of Shenfield to Liverpool Street services from theEast Anglia franchise to Crossrail, the invitation to tender for the 2012–2013 franchise required the new rail operator to set up a separate "Crossrail business unit" for those services before the end of 2012, to allow transfer of services to the new Crossrail Train Operating Concession (CTOC) operator during the next franchise.[165][169]
The infrastructure of the core section is managed byRail for London Infrastructure (RfLI), a subsidiary of TfL. Signalling is controlled by Network Rail's RomfordRail Operating Centre.[170]
A further recommendation which concerns the Minister, this time wearing his planning hat, is that contained in paragraph 7.11. It concerns safeguarding the alignment for the Chelsea-Hackney line, Crossrail, and other schemes, from encroachment by other developments. Maps 6, 7 and 8 show the routes of the proposed lines. Will the Minister take the proposed routes into account when he considers planning applications for offices and other developments in London?
We were disappointed by the Private Bill Committee's decision not to find the preamble to the Crossrail Bill proved.
Crossrail Limited is the company charged with delivering Crossrail. Formerly known as Cross London Rail Links (CLRL), it was created in 2001 [..] Established as a 50/50 joint venture company between Transport for London and the Department for Transport, Crossrail Limited became a wholly owned subsidiary of TfL on 5 December 2008
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)We refurbished many of the existing stations that are now served by the Elizabeth line. Alongside Network Rail, we: Built new station buildings and improved others with features like brighter and more spacious ticket halls and waiting areas, Created step-free access at every station with new lifts and footbridges, Refurbished waiting rooms and toilets as well as platform shelters and canopies, Added platform enhancements such as new signage, help points, information screens and CCTV
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