Finishing touches are being made to London’s £14.8Bn Crossrail project, with attention now turning to its future operation, reports Steve Dale.

 

Crossrail’s biggest milestone to date – when Elizabeth Line services will run for the first time through central London – is on track to be achieved at the end of this year.

 

The delivery programme for Europe’s largest infrastructure project is currently over 90% complete and London Underground (LU) is gearing up to operate and maintain the new line.

 

Brand new trains are starting to be tested through 42km tunnels beneath London and fit out is well under way at 10 new stations in the capital, with the installation of railway systems also on going. Meanwhile upgrade works continue on 30 further stations and rail infrastructure across outer London, Berkshire and Essex.

 

Everything will have to be ready for December when the Elizabeth Line officially opens to passengers, initially as three separate services including a predominately underground route from Paddington to Abbey Wood.

 

LU’s managing director Mark Wild is looking forward to welcoming passengers onto the new line. “I have been in railways pretty much all my career and for me, this will be the biggest moment. You don’t get to open a new railway very often, and it’s the first new tube line for decades,”

 

Crossrail’s new 345 Aventra trains have already been operating between Liverpool Street main line terminus and Shenfield as ‘TfL Rail’ since last June and similar services will begin between Paddington (main line station) and Heathrow this May. These routes will be rebadged as the Elizabeth Line in December.

 

Then, at the end of 2019, services will finally run all the way from Reading and Heathrow in the west, through the central tunnels, to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east.

 

Mark Wild explains that this phased opening will allow service reliability to be built into the operation of the line’s underground section before through running is introduced. “The central core of the Elizabeth Line is a high intensity metro service, which is a very different type of operation to getting the through running right,” he says.

 

He explains that, while the tunnelled section features a communications based signalling system known as CBTC – allowing metro style service – the outer areas will operate under the European Train Control System.

 

“This is the first time that such an integration of signalling systems has happened anywhere in the world,” says Mark. “A phased opening greatly de-risks the integration of those two

operations.”

 

He adds that, although the new 345 Aventra trains represent “the latest in rolling stock technology”, it takes time and mileage to flush out the inevitable “bugs and teething issues”.

 

By May next year, 24 trains an hour are planned to run through the new tunnels at peak time – equivalent to a train every two and a half minutes.

 

The Elizabeth Line is expected to increase the capacity of the tube network by 10% and it is thought will be LU’s second busiest route after the Central Line, carrying over 200M passengers annually.

“One of the big advantages of the Elizabeth Line is that it will relieve capacity constraints we have at the moment on the Jubilee and Central lines,” Mark says. “People will see an immediate benefit.” He adds that the new tunnels and stations are “future proofed” to eventually handle more trains per hour and longer trains than the 200m services that will begin operating initially.

 

“Compared to the tube, the Elizabeth Line is the next level,” he continues. “The platforms are bigger and longer, the new stations are spectacular, with step free access, and we are putting a huge amount of effort into the wayfinding and signage to make it as easy as possible for people to find their way.”

 

In the central section he adds that the new line should integrate seamlessly into the existing London Underground network. “But beyond central London the exciting thing about the Elizabeth Line is the creation of new journey possibilities out as far as Reading and Shenfield.

 

“In 15 to 20 years time I think people will look back at what was done on Crossrail and say, how could we ever function without it?”