TfL Rail
AClass 345 atShenfield
Overview
Owner	Transport for London
Locale	Greater London Berkshire Buckinghamshire Essex
Transit type	Commuter rail /rapid transit[1]
Number of lines	2
Line number	Shenfield – Liverpool Street Paddington – Heathrow Terminal 4 / Reading
Number of stations	32 (22 managed)
Website	tfl.gov.uk/modes/tfl-rail/
Operation
Began operation	31 May 2015; 10 years ago (2015-05-31)
Ended operation	23 May 2022; 3 years ago (2022-05-23) (rebranded asElizabeth line)
Operator(s)	MTR Corporation
Reporting marks	XR
Technical
System length	36 miles 54 chains (59.0 km)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)standard gauge
Electrification	Overhead line, 25 kV 50 Hz AC
System map TfL Rail Legend Miles from Liverpool Street 20¼ Shenfield 18¼ Brentwood   Greater London 150 Harold Wood 13½ Gidea Park 12½ Romford 100 Chadwell Heath 9¼ Goodmayes 8½ Seven Kings 7¼ Ilford 6¼ Manor Park 5¼ Forest Gate 4½ Maryland 40 Stratford Pudding Mill Lane portal 00 Liverpool Street Crossrail 00 Paddington Royal Oak portal 4¼ Acton Main Line 5¾ Ealing Broadway 6½ West Ealing 7¼ Hanwell 90 Southall 110 Hayes & Harlington Heathrow junction 14¾ Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 16½ Heathrow Terminal 4 140 West Drayton Greater London   14¾ Iver 16¼ Langley 18½ Slough 210 Burnham 22½ Taplow 24¼ Maidenhead 310 Twyford 360 Reading Miles from Paddington

TfL Rail was theconcession which operated commuter services on two separate railway lines inLondon, England and its environs whilst theCrossrail construction project linking these lines was underway. It ran from 2015 until May 2022, upon the opening of the Crossrail central section, when TfL Rail was rebranded asElizabeth line and the name was discontinued.^[2][3][4]

TfL Rail was introduced on 31 May 2015 when it took control fromAbellio Greater Anglia of the commuter "metro" service betweenLondon Liverpool Street in central London andShenfield inEssex. The branch comprised the first 14 stations on theGreat Eastern Main Line, with interchange at Shenfield for medium- and long-distance services beyond toEast Anglia. TfL Rail had also taken over operation of some services fromPaddington toHeathrow Airport andReading. Services were operated byMTR Corporation under contract toTransport for London (TfL). Between May 2016 and May 2017, TfL Rail carried over 47 million passengers on the Shenfield branch.

In June 2013, TfL announced thatArriva,MTR Corporation,Keolis /Go-Ahead Group andNational Express had been shortlisted to bid for the concession to operateCrossrail, which was under construction.^[5][6]

In July 2014, TfL awarded the contract toHong Kong's MTR, for a duration of eight years with an option to extend by an additional two years.^[7][8]

MTR Corporation (Crossrail) was created as a newtrain operating company and took control of the "metro" service betweenLondon Liverpool Street andShenfield from the previous operator,Abellio Greater Anglia, on 31 May 2015.^[9] The existingClass 315 trains were re-painted in TfL Rail livery, and appropriate branding, advertising and message boards were added at the 14 stations along the line. Every station is staffed, from the first train to the last of the day. In June 2017,Class 345 trains began running between London Liverpool Street and Shenfield.^[10]

In May 2018, TfL Rail took over operation of theHeathrow Connect service betweenLondon Paddington and Heathrow, as well as someGWR services between London Paddington andHayes & Harlington.^[11] In December 2019, TfL Rail took over operation of theGreat Western Railway stopping services between London Paddington andReading. In November 2019, Class 345 trains began running between London Paddington and Reading, as a soft launch of the service.^[12][13] In July 2020, Class 345 trains began running between London Paddington and Heathrow.^[14]

The two branches became part of the Elizabeth line when the central section opened on 24 May 2022, with the current branches connecting up with the core later.^[15]

The eastern branch of TfL Rail ran over the existing 20 miles 16 chains (32.5 km) of track on theGreat Eastern Main Line between London Liverpool Street and Shenfield. The western branches operated over part of theGreat Western Main Line and the Heathrow tunnel betweenLondon Paddington and Heathrow for 16 miles 38 chains (26.5 km), and entirely over the Great Western Main Line between London Paddington and Reading for 36 miles (58 km).

Stations served by TfL Rail^[16]

Station	Image	Dates			Location
		Opened	Managed from	Served from	Zone	Local authority
Reading		30 March 1840	Managed byNetwork Rail	15 December 2019	N/A[a]	Reading
Twyford		1 July 1839	Managed byGreat Western Railway			Wokingham
Maidenhead		1 November 1871				Windsor and Maidenhead
Taplow		1 September 1872	May 2018			Buckinghamshire
Burnham		1 July 1899				Slough
Slough		8 September 1884	Managed byGreat Western Railway
Langley		1845	May 2018
Iver		1 December 1924				Buckinghamshire
West Drayton		4 June 1838			6	Hillingdon
Heathrow Terminal 5[b]		27 March 2008	Managed byHeathrow Express	Diversions only[b]
Heathrow Terminal 4		23 June 1998		May 2018
Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3
Hayes & Harlington		1864 or 1868	May 2018		5
Southall		1 May 1839			4	Ealing
Hanwell		1 December 1838
West Ealing		4 June 1838			3
Ealing Broadway		1 December 1838
Acton Main Line		1 February 1868
London Paddington		4 June 1838	Managed by Network Rail		1	City of Westminster
Sections disconnected
London Liverpool Street		2 October 1874	Managed by Network Rail	31 May 2015	1	City of London
Stratford		20 June 1839	Managed byTfL		2/3	Newham
Maryland		6 January 1873	31 May 2015		3
Forest Gate		1840
Manor Park		6 January 1873			3/4
Ilford		20 June 1839			4	Redbridge
Seven Kings		1 March 1899
Goodmayes		8 February 1901
Chadwell Heath		11 January 1864			5
Romford		20 June 1839			6	Havering
Gidea Park		1 December 1910
Harold Wood		1 December 1868
Brentwood		1 July 1840			9	Brentwood
Shenfield		29 March 1843	Managed byGreater Anglia		C

TfL Rail took over operations fromAbellio Greater Anglia on 31 May 2015.^[17] TfL Rail subsequently introduced a fleet of newClass 345 trains.^[18][19] On 22 June 2017, Class 345 trains entered passenger service on the Shenfield branch.^[20]

TheClass 315 trains continued to be maintained at the existingIlford depot, but the Class 345 trains are maintained atOld Oak Common and Ilford depots.

TfL Rail inherited fiveClass 360 units fromHeathrow Connect when it took over operations on 20 May 2018. These trains were used to operate the existing half-hourly (2tph) service to Heathrow.^[21] On 30 July 2020, Class 345 trains entered passenger service on the Heathrow branch.^[14] The last Class 360 trains were withdrawn in September 2020.^[22]

On 26 September 2019, TfL Rail announced that it would take over thePaddington toReading stopping services on 15 December 2019,^[23] using Class 345 trains in place of theClass 387 andClass 165 trains used byGreat Western Railway. Before that, on 25 November 2019 six GWR services a day started to operate using Class 345 trains, operated by TfL, to get drivers ready and stock in place for the main 15 December switch over.^[24]

Prior to the opening of theElizabeth line on 24 May 2022, the timetabled weekday off-peak service pattern consisted of:^[25]

Class	Image	Type	Top speed		Carriages	Number	Routes operated	Built	Years in operation
			mph	km/h
Class 315		EMU	75	120	4	20	Liverpool Street –Shenfield[26]	1980–1981	1980–2022
Class 345Aventra		EMU	90	145	7 or 9	70	Liverpool Street –Shenfield Paddington –Reading Paddington –Heathrow Airport	2015–2019	June 2017–present

Former units operated by TfL Rail include:

Class	Image	Type	Top speed		Carriages	Number	Routes operated	Built	Withdrawn
			mph	km/h
Class 360Desiro		EMU	100	160	5	5	London Paddington –Heathrow Terminal 4 (Heathrow Connect)	2004–2005	2020

Wikimedia Commons has media related toTfL Rail.

• Official website

• 2015 establishments in England
• Crossrail
• Railway companies established in 2015
• Defunct train operating companies in the United Kingdom
• Transport for London
• MTR Corporation

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• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
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