Crossrail coming: The new Tube map featuring the Elizabeth Line has been revealed with a year to go | City A.M.
With a year to go until the big start of Elizabeth Line services and opening of 10 new London stations, Transport for London (TfL) has unveiled a new December 2018 Tube map featuring the Elizabeth Line.
The Crossrail project is nearing the final stages of construction and the Elizabeth Line, as it will be known when it opens through central London, will be open to the public in phases from December next year.
London mayor Sadiq Khan said:
The new map being unveiled shows how the first phase of the Elizabeth line will connect to key parts of the transport network in the heart of central London, substantially reducing congestion on other key Tube lines as London’s population grows.
Read more: Cashing in on Crossrail: Elizabeth Line to bring in £3bn over five years
(Click or tap to view full-sized version.)
(Source: TfL)
The Elizabeth Line will serve 41 stations and stretch across more than 60 miles from Reading and Heathrow in the west through tunnels in central London to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east.
Crossrail hit a major milestone in June with the introduction of the first new Elizabeth Line train in passenger service between Shenfield and Liverpool Street, though the subsequent rollout of trains has been more gradual than originally planned.
From December 2018, the line will initially operate as three services:
Paddington (Elizabeth line station) to Abbey Wood via central London
Paddington (mainline station) to Heathrow (Terminals 2 & 3 and 4)
Liverpool Street (mainline station) to Shenfield
Fifteen trains per hour are set to run through the new tunnels, rising to 24 trains per hour through the central section by May 2019.
Then by December 2019, passengers from Reading and Heathrow will be able to travel through central London to the West End and the City, and beyond, without needing to change trains.
London’s transport commissioner Mike Brown said the £14.8bn project will mean “customers will soon benefit from the most significant increase in central London’s public transport capacity for decades”.
TfL said the new stations and travel links provided by the Elizabeth Line will boost the economy by £42bn overall, while supporting thousands of new jobs and homes in the capital and the south east.
It is also forecasting the railway to bring in £3bn in passenger income over the next five years.
Read more: Here’s a look at the new Paddington Elizabeth Line station taking shape