Crossrail is a completed railway project centred on London. It provides a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system, akin to the RER in Paris and the

S-Bahn The S-Bahn ( , ), , is a hybrid urban rail, urban–suburban rail system serving a metropolitan region predominantly in German language, German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit syst ...

systems of German-speaking countries, known as the

Elizabeth line The Elizabeth line is a railway line that runs across Greater London and nearby towns, operating similarly to the Réseau Express Régional, RER in Paris and the S-Bahn systems of German-speaking countries. It runs services on dedicated infras ...

, that crosses the capital from suburbs on the west to east and connects two major railway lines terminating in London: the

Great Western Main Line The Great Western Main Line (GWML) is a main line railway in England that runs between London Paddington and . It connects to other main lines such as those from Reading to Penzance and Swindon to Swansea. The GWML is presently a part of t ...

and the

Great Eastern Main Line The Great Eastern Main Line (GEML, sometimes referred to as the East Anglia Main Line) is a major railway line on the British railway system which connects Liverpool Street station in central London with destinations in east London and t ...

. 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 Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

who opened the line on 17 May 2022 during her Platinum Jubilee. The central section of the line between

Paddington Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...

and

Abbey Wood Abbey Wood is an List of areas of London, area in southeast London, England, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and bordering the London Borough of Bexley. It is located east of Charing Cross. According to the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 ...

opened on 24 May 2022, with 12 trains per hour running in each direction through the core section in

Central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning the City of London and several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local gove ...

. The main feature of the project was the construction of a new railway line that runs underground from

Paddington Station Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a London station group, London railway station and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by ...

to a junction near Whitechapel. There it splits into a branch to , where it joins the

; and a branch to

in southeast London. When the Elizabeth line became fully operational in May 2023, the new nine-carriage Class 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 to and to ; in the east to and to . Local services on the section of the Great Eastern Main Line between and Shenfield had been transferred to

TfL Rail TfL Rail was the concession which operated commuter services on two separate railway lines in London, England and its environs whilst the Crossrail construction project linking these lines was underway. It ran from 2015 until May 2022, upon t ...

in May 2015; TfL Rail also took over

Heathrow Connect Heathrow Connect was a train service in London provided jointly by Heathrow Express and Great Western Railway (GWR), between Paddington station and Heathrow Airport. The service followed the same route as the non-stop Heathrow Express servi ...

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 by MTR Corporation (Crossrail) Ltd as a

London Rail London Rail was a directorate of Transport for London (TfL), involved in the relationship with the National Rail network within Greater London, UK which managed TfL's non-London Underground train services. Rail for London, established in 2006, ...

concession Concession may refer to: General * Concession (contract) (sometimes called a concession agreement), a contractual right to carry on a certain kind of business or activity in an area, such as to explore or develop its natural resources or to opera ...

Transport for London Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and His ...

(TfL), in a similar manner to

London Overground London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a Urban rail in the United Kingdom, suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, it now serves a large part of Greate ...

. TfL's annual revenues from the line were forecast in 2018 to be nearly £500million in 2022–23 and over £1billion from 2024 to 2025. The total estimated cost rose from an initial budget of £14.8billion to £18.8billion by December 2020. Originally planned to open in 2018, the project was repeatedly delayed, including several months caused by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

History

Early proposals

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 railwayman

George Dow George Dow (30 June 1907 – 28 January 1987) was a British employee of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) and British Railways known for his public relations work and railway maps produced for his employers, and also a writer of railwa ...

in '' The Star'' newspaper in June 1941. The project that became Crossrail has origins in the 1943

County of London Plan The County of London Plan was an urban planning proposal prepared for the London County Council in 1943 by John Henry Forshaw (1895–1973) and Sir Leslie Patrick Abercrombie (1879–1957), with foreword from Charles Latham, leader of ...

and 1944

Greater London Plan The Greater London Plan of 1944 was developed by Patrick Abercrombie (1879–1957). The plan was directly related to the County of London Plan written by John Henry Forshaw (1895–1973) and Abercrombie in 1943. Following World War II, London ...

Patrick Abercrombie Sir Leslie Patrick Abercrombie ( ; 6 June 1879 – 23 March 1957) was an English architect, urban designer and town planner. Abercrombie was an academic during most of his career, and prepared one city plan and several regional studies prior ...

. These led to a specialist investigation by the Railway (London Plan) Committee, appointed in 1944 and reporting in 1946 and 1948. The term "Crossrail" emerged in the 1974 London Rail Study Report. Although the idea was seen as imaginative, only a brief estimate of cost was given: £300million. 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 while a final decision was taken.

Later proposals

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 the

and the

Metropolitan line The Metropolitan line, colloquially known as the Met, is a London Underground line between in the City of London and and in Buckinghamshire, with branches to in Hertfordshire and in London Borough of Hillingdon, Hillingdon. Printed in mage ...

on the Underground. The City route was shown as a new connection across the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

linking the

Great Northern Route The Great Northern route, formerly known as Great Northern Electrics, is the route consisting of services on the southern end of the East Coast Main Line, which is the main railway link between the cities of London and Edinburgh, and its ass ...

with London Bridge. The north–south line proposed routing

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

, Thameslink, and Great Northern trains through Euston and King's Cross/, then under the West End via , and

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

towards and . 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 £885million. In 1991, a

private bill Proposed bills are often categorized into public bills and private bills. A public bill is a proposed law which would apply to everyone within its jurisdiction. A private bill is a proposal for a law affecting only a single person, group, or are ...

was submitted to Parliament for a scheme including a new underground line from Paddington to Liverpool Street. 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 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. In 2001, Cross London Rail Links (CLRL), a joint-venture between

TfL Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and se ...

and the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport ...

(DfT), was formed to develop and promote the Crossrail scheme, 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 as , , , , and via a west–east rail tunnel through central London. The tunnel would follow an alignment along the River Thames, with stations at , and . In 2004 another proposal named Superlink 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.

Approval

The

Crossrail Act 2008 The Crossrail Act 2008 (c. 18) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that authorises the construction of the Crossrail railway from Maidenhead and Heathrow Airport to Shenfield and Abbey Wood. The legislation was introduced by the t ...

was given royal assent in July 2008, giving CLRL the powers necessary to build the line. In September 2009, TfL was loaned £1billion towards the project by the

European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the 27 member states. It is the largest multilateral financial institution in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt sol ...

. Both

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

s and Labour made commitments in their 2010 election manifestos to deliver Crossrail, and the coalition government following the election was committed to the project.

Construction

Chronology

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. At the peak of construction up to 14,000 people were expected to be needed in the project's supply chain. Work began on 15 May 2009 when

piling A pile or piling is a vertical structural element of a deep foundation, driven or drilled deep into the ground at the building site. A deep foundation is a type of foundation that transfers building loads to the earth farther down from th ...

works started at the future Canary Wharf station. The threat of diseases being released by work on the project was raised by Lord James of Blackheath at the passing of the Crossrail Bill. He told the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

select committee that 682 victims of

anthrax Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Bacillus anthracis'' or ''Bacillus cereus'' biovar ''anthracis''. Infection typically occurs by contact with the skin, inhalation, or intestinal absorption. Symptom onset occurs between one ...

had been brought into Smithfield in Farringdon with some contaminated meat in 1520 and then buried in the area. On 24 June 2009 it was reported that no traces of anthrax or

bubonic plague Bubonic plague is one of three types of Plague (disease), plague caused by the Bacteria, bacterium ''Yersinia pestis''. One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and ...

had been found on human bone fragments discovered during tunnelling. Invitations to tender for the two principal tunnelling contracts were published in the

Official Journal of the European Union The ''Official Journal of the European Union'' (the ''OJEU'') is the official gazette of record for the European Union (EU). It is published every working day in all of the official languages of the member states of the EU. Only legal acts p ...

in August 2009. 'Tunnels West' (C300) was for twin tunnels from Royal Oak through to the new Crossrail Farringdon Station, with a portal west of

. The 'Tunnels East' (C305) request was for three tunnel sections and 'launch chambers' in

east London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

. Contracts were awarded in late 2010: the 'Tunnels West' contract was awarded to

BAM Nuttall BAM Nuttall Limited (formerly known as Edmund Nuttall Limited) is a construction and civil engineering company headquartered in Camberley, United Kingdom. It has undertaken road, rail, nuclear, and other major projects worldwide. It is a subsidia ...

Ferrovial Ferrovial S.E. (), previously Grupo Ferrovial, is a Spanish multinational company that operates in the infrastructure sector for transportation and mobility with four divisions: Highways, Airports, Construction, and Mobility and Energy Infrastru ...

Agroman and Kier Construction (BFK); the 'Tunnels East' contract was awarded to

Dragados ACS, Actividades de Construcción y Servicios, S.A. () is a Spanish company dedicated to civil engineering, construction, all types of services and telecommunications. It is one of the leading construction companies in the world, with projects ...

and John Sisk & Son. The remaining tunnelling contract (C310,

Plumstead Plumstead is an area in southeast London, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich, England. It is located east of Woolwich. History Plumstead has been settled since ancient times, and London's earliest timber structure has been found here. ...

North Woolwich North Woolwich is an area in the London Borough of Newham in East London, England, on the northern bank of the River Thames, across the river from Woolwich. It is connected to Woolwich by the Woolwich Ferry and Woolwich foot tunnel. Despite ...

), which included a tunnel under the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...

, was awarded to

Hochtief Hochtief AG is a global provider of infrastructure technology and construction services, with locations in North America, Australia, and Europe. The Essen based company is primarily active in the fields of high tech, energy transition, and sustai ...

and J. Murphy & Sons in 2011. By September 2009, preparatory work for the £1billion developments at station had begun, with buildings (including the

Astoria Theatre The London Astoria was a music venue at 157 Charing Cross Road, in London, England, that operated from 1976 to 2009. Originally a warehouse during the 1920s, the building became a cinema and ballroom. It was converted for use as a theatre in t ...

) being compulsorily purchased and demolished. Crossrail construction TCR

In March 2010, contracts were awarded to civil engineering companies for the second round of 'enabling work' including 'Royal Oak Portal Taxi Facility Demolition', 'Demolition works for Crossrail Bond Street Station', 'Demolition works for Crossrail Tottenham Court Road Station' and 'Pudding Mill Lane Portal'. In December 2010, contracts were awarded for most of the tunnelling work. To assist with the skills required for the Crossrail project, Crossrail opened in 2011 the Tunnelling and Underground Construction Academy in

Ilford Ilford is a large List of areas of London, town in East London, England, northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Redbridge, Ilford is within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. It had a po ...

. The academy was handed over to TfL in 2017, who have sub-contracted its management to

PROCAT PROCAT was a further education college based in Basildon, Essex, England, with an additional campus in Canvey Island. ''PROCAT'' is an acronym of "Prospect College of Advanced Technology", and the college specialises in engineering and construction ...

. In February 2010, Crossrail was accused of bullying residents whose property lay on the route into selling for less than the market value. A subsequent

London Assembly The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds supermajority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject t ...

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. There were also complaints from music fans, as the London Astoria was forced to close. In December 2011, a contract to ship the excavated material from the tunnel to

Wallasea Island Wallasea Island lies in Essex, England. It is bounded to the north by the River Crouch, to the south east by the River Roach, and to the west by Paglesham Pool and the narrow Paglesham Creek. The population of the Island is included in the ci ...

was awarded to a joint venture comprising BAM Nuttall Limited and

Van Oord Royal Van Oord is a Dutch maritime contracting company that specializes in dredging, land reclamation and constructing man made islands. Royal Van Oord has undertaken many projects throughout the world, including land reclamation, dredging and bea ...

UK Limited. Between of soil would be used to construct a new wetland nature reserve ( Wallasea Wetlands). The project eventually moved of earth. Restoration of

Connaught Tunnel The Connaught Tunnel is in southeastern British Columbia, on the Revelstoke, British Columbia, Revelstoke–Donald, British Columbia, Donald segment. The tunnel carries the Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) main line under Mount Macdonald in ...

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. Boring of the railway tunnels was officially completed at Farringdon on 4 June 2015 in the presence of the

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

and the

Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current ...

. Installation of the track was completed in September 2017. The

ETCS The European Train Control System (ETCS) is a train protection system designed to replace the many incompatible systems used by European railways, and railways outside of Europe. ETCS is the signalling and control component of the European ...

signalling was scheduled to be tested in the Heathrow tunnels over the winter of 2017–2018. The south east section of the infrastructure was energised in February 2018, with the first test train run between

and

that month. In May 2018 the overhead lines were powered up between Westbourne Park and

Stepney Stepney is an area in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London. Stepney is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name was applied to ...

, the installation of

platform doors Platform screen doors (PSDs), also known as platform edge doors (PEDs), are used at some train, rapid transit and people mover stations to separate the platform from train tracks, as well as on some bus rapid transit, tram and light rail sy ...

was completed, and video was released of the first trains travelling through the tunnels. TfL Rail took over Heathrow Connect services from Paddington to

Heathrow Heathrow Airport , also colloquially known as London Heathrow Airport and named ''London Airport'' until 1966, is the primary and largest international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdo ...

in May 2018. Elizabeth Line construction at Moorgate

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. 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. 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 commissioner Mike Brown to consider his position. 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. 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. In August 2020, Crossrail announced that the central section would be ready to open "in the first half of 2022". In May 2021, trial running commenced, with the core section opened by Queen

for passenger service on 24 May 2022.

Tunnel boring machines

The project used eight diameter tunnel-boring machines (TBM) from

Herrenknecht AG Herrenknecht AG is a German company that manufactures tunnel boring machines (TBMs). Headquartered in Allmannsweier, Schwanau, Baden-Württemberg, it is the worldwide market leader for heavy TBMs. Established by Martin Herrenknecht in 1975, the ...

(Germany). Two types are used; 'slurry' type for the Thames tunnel, which involves tunnelling through

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...

; and 'Earth Pressure Balance Machines' (EPBM) for tunnelling through clay, sand and gravel (at lower levels through

Lambeth Group The Lambeth Group is a stratigraphic group, a set of geological rock strata in the London and Hampshire basins of southern England. It comprises a complex of vertically and laterally varying gravels, sands, silts and clays deposited between 56 ...

and

Thanet Sands The Thanet Formation is a geological formation found in the London Basin of southeastern England.Sources: * * * The main tunnelling contracts were valued at around £1.5billion. 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: * ''Ada'' and ''Phyllis'', Royal Oak to Farringdon section, named after

Ada Lovelace Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (''née'' Byron; 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852), also known as Ada Lovelace, was an English mathematician and writer chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-pur ...

and

Phyllis Pearsall Phyllis Isobella Pearsall Order of the British Empire, MBE (25 September 1906 – 28 August 1996) was a British painter and writer who founded the Geographers' A-Z Map Company, for which she is regarded as one of the most successful business ...

* ''Victoria'' and ''Elizabeth'', Limmo Peninsula to Farringdon section, named after

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

and Queen Elizabeth II * ''Mary'' and ''Sophia'', Plumstead to North Woolwich section, named after Mary and Sophia, the wives respectively of

Isambard Kingdom Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel ( ; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history", "one of the 19th-century engi ...

and his father

Marc Isambard Brunel Sir Marc Isambard Brunel (, ; 25 April 1769 – 12 December 1849) was a French-American engineer active in the United States and Britain, most famous for the civil engineering work he did in the latter. He is known for having overseen the pr ...

, builders of the first tunnel under the Thames * ''Jessica'' and ''Ellie'', Pudding Mill Lane to Stepney Green and Limmo Peninsula to Victoria Dock sections, named after

Jessica Ennis Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill (née Ennis; born 28 January 1986) is a British retired athlete who specialised in the heptathlon and 100 metres hurdles. As a competitor in heptathlon, she is the 2012 Olympic champion, a three-time world champion (2 ...

and

Ellie Simmonds Eleanor May Simmonds (born 11 November 1994) is a British retired Paralympian swimmer who competed in S6 events. She came to national attention when she competed in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, winning two gold medals for Great B ...

Health, safety, and industrial relations

In September 2012, a gantry supporting a spoil hopper, used to load rail wagons with excavated waste at a construction site near Westbourne Park Underground station, collapsed. It tipped sideways, causing the adjacent Network Rail line to be closed. On 7 March 2014, Rene Tkacik, a Slovakian construction worker, was killed by a piece of falling concrete while working in a tunnel. In April 2014, ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'' 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". 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.

Blacklisting

In 2012, Crossrail faced accusations of

blacklisting Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list; if people are on a blacklist, then they are considere ...

. It was revealed that an industrial relations manager, Ron Barron, employed by

Bechtel Bechtel Corporation () is an American engineering, procurement, construction, and project management company founded in San Francisco, California in 1898, and headquartered in Reston, Virginia in the Washington metropolitan area. , the '' E ...

, had routinely cross-checked job applicants against the

Consulting Association The Consulting Association (TCA) was an UK business (described by its key figure as "a non-profit making, unincorporated trade association"), based in Droitwich, which, from 1993 to 2009, maintained a database of British construction workers an ...

database. An employment tribunal in 2010 heard that Barron introduced the use of the blacklist at his former employer, the construction firm

Chicago Bridge & Iron Company CB&I, originally known as Chicago Bridge & Iron Co, is a global engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firm that specializes in storage solutions for infrastructure and industrial projects. CB&I was founded in 1889 and is headquartere ...

(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. 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 the

, 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. The

Scottish Affairs Select Committee The Scottish Affairs Select Committee is a Select committee (United Kingdom), select committee of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the ...

called on the UK

Business Secretary The secretary of state for business and trade (business secretary), is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Department for Business and Trade. The incumb ...

Vince Cable Sir John Vincent Cable (born 9 May 1943) is a British politician who was Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2017 to 2019. He was Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Twickenham (UK Parliament constituency), Twic ...

, to set up a government investigation into blacklisting at Crossrail. Further allegations of blacklisting against Crossrail were made in Parliament in September 2017. 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.

Archaeology

Much like the

Thames Tideway Scheme The Thames Tideway Tunnel is a deep-level sewer along the tidal section of the River Thames in London, running from Acton in the west to Abbey Mills in the east, where it joins the Lee Tunnel which connects to Beckton Sewage Treatment Wor ...

and the

High Speed 2 High Speed 2 (HS2) is a high-speed railway which has been under construction in England since 2019. The line's planned route is between Handsacre – in southern Staffordshire – and London, with a Spur line, branch to Birmingham. HS2 is to ...

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 55million years of London's history and prehistory. Many of the items were placed on show at the Museum of London Docklands from February to September 2017. Some of the most notable finds include: * Victims of the

Great Plague The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. The disease is c ...

, a mass grave of 42 skeletons found at

Liverpool Street station Liverpool Street station, also known as London Liverpool Street, is a major central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, in the ward of Bishopsgate Without. It i ...

* Thirteen skeletons, thought to be of victims of the

Black Death The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the list of epidemics, most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. ...

in the 14th century, uncovered under the road that surrounds the gardens in

Charterhouse Square Charterhouse Square is a garden square, a pentagonal space, in Farringdon, in the London Borough of Islington, and close to the former Smithfield Meat Market. The square is the largest courtyard or yard associated with the London Charterhouse ...

, Farringdon in March 2013 * Prehistoric knapped flints discovered in North Woolwich * A

Tudor period In England and Wales, the Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603, including the Elizabethan era during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603). The Tudor period coincides with the dynasty of the House of Tudor in England, which began with ...

bowling ball A bowling ball is a hard spherical ball used to knock down bowling pins in the sport of bowling. Balls used in ten-pin bowling and American nine-pin bowling traditionally have holes for two fingers and the thumb. Balls used in five-pin bowlin ...

found in Stepney Green *

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

ice skates found near

Bison A bison (: bison) is a large bovine in the genus ''Bison'' (from Greek, meaning 'wild ox') within the tribe Bovini. Two extant taxon, extant and numerous extinction, extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American ...

and

reindeer The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, taiga, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only re ...

bones * Leather shoes dating from the

Roman coins Roman currency for most of Roman history consisted of gold, silver, bronze, orichalcum#Numismatics, orichalcum and copper coinage. From its introduction during the Roman Republic, Republic, in the third century BC, through Roman Empire, Imperial ...

and a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

medallion A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be in ...

found at Liverpool Street which was issued to mark the New Year celebrations in AD 245. This medallion was only the second ever of its kind to be found in Europe. * Two parts of a

woolly mammoth The woolly mammoth (''Mammuthus primigenius'') is an extinct species of mammoth that lived from the Middle Pleistocene until its extinction in the Holocene epoch. It was one of the last in a line of mammoth species, beginning with the African ...

jawbone * The largest piece of

amber Amber is fossilized tree resin. Examples of it have been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since the Neolithic times, and worked as a gemstone since antiquity."Amber" (2004). In Maxine N. Lurie and Marc Mappen (eds.) ''Encyclopedia ...

ever found in the UK, discovered at Canary Wharf * A

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

chamber pot found near Stepney Green * 13,000

Crosse & Blackwell Crosse & Blackwell is an English food brand. The original company was established in London in 1706, then was acquired by Edmund Crosse and Thomas Blackwell in 1830. It became independent until it was acquired by Swiss Conglomerate (company), con ...

jars found near Tottenham Court Road from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. * Part of a small barge or fishing vessel from 1223 to 1290 found at

Canning Town Canning Town is a town in the London Borough of Newham, East London, England, north of the Royal Victoria Dock. Its urbanisation was largely due to the creation of the dock. The area was part of the ancient parish and County Borough of West Ham, ...

Operational testing

In the first half of 2021, Crossrail entered trial running stage of construction. 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.

Expected completion

With an initial budget of £14.8billion, the total cost rose to £18.25billion by November 2019, and increased further to £18.8billion by December 2020. Delays to the project of several months were caused by the

COVID-19 pandemic in England The COVID-19 pandemic was first confirmed to have spread to England with two cases among Chinese nationals staying in a hotel in York on 31 January 2020. The two main public bodies responsible for health in England were NHS England and Public ...

, and in late 2020 this reduced the number of workers that could be safely on-site. By August 2021, seven of the nine new stations had been handed over to TfL. 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. TfL expects that the full line, with final timetable, will be operational by May 2023.

Route

In the west, the new tunnel connects with the

Royal Oak The Royal Oak was the English oak tree within which the future King Charles II of England hid to escape the Roundheads following the Battle of Worcester in 1651. The tree was in Boscobel Wood, which was part of the park of Boscobel House ...

, west of . East of the line splits at an underground junction. The north-eastern branch emerges to join the existing

at . The south-eastern branch runs underground to

via

Canary Wharf Canary Wharf is a financial area of London, England, located in the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The Greater London Authority defines it as part of London's central business district, alongside Central London. Alongside ...

Custom House A custom house or customs house was traditionally a building housing the offices for a jurisdictional government whose officials oversaw the functions associated with importing and exporting goods into and out of a country, such as collecting ...

and

Woolwich Woolwich () is a town in South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was mainta ...

. This branch takes over a stretch of the former North London line built by the

Eastern Counties and Thames Junction Railway The Eastern Counties and Thames Junction Railway in east London connected the Royal Docks with the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR). Authorised in 1844, it opened in 1846, and was absorbed by the ECR in 1847. The ECR amalgamated with other railwa ...

, and connects it with the

North Kent Line The North Kent Line is a railway line which branches off the South East Main Line at St Johns junction west of Lewisham station in Greater London and runs to Rochester Bridge Junction near Strood, Medway where it links to the Chatham Main ...

via a tunnel under the Thames at

. The tunnelled sections are altogether approximately in length. There are new stations at

, , , , and

Whitechapel Whitechapel () is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. It is the location of Tower Hamlets Town Hall and therefore the borough tow ...

, with interchanges with London Underground and National Rail services. Due to the length and positioning of the new platforms, Farringdon station is also connected to station, and Liverpool Street to station.

Western end

From the western end of the tunnel Elizabeth line services continue to where they either remain on the Great Western Main Line and run to or via or split off to the Heathrow branch terminating at Heathrow Terminals 4 or 5. 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 trains. Earlier plans suggested terminating at Maidenhead, with an extension to Reading safeguarded. Various commentators advocated an extension further west as far as Reading because it was seen as complementary to the Great Western Electrification project which was announced in July 2009. A Reading terminus was also recommended by Network Rail's 2011 Route Utilisation Strategy. Rail Utilisation Strategy, 2011, page 9 On 27 March 2014 it was announced that the line would indeed extend to Reading. A flyover at Airport Junction near Hayes & Harlington station allows

Heathrow Express Heathrow Express is a high-frequency airport rail link operating between London Heathrow Airport and . Opened in 1998, trains run non-stop, with a journey time of 15 minutes. The service is operated jointly by Great Western Railway (train operat ...

trains to pass over the track used by Crossrail, avoiding delays caused by crossings. The line between the junction and

Heathrow Central Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 railway station (also known as Heathrow Central) serves Heathrow Terminal 2, Terminal 2 and Heathrow Terminal 3, Terminal 3 (and formerly Heathrow Terminal 1, Terminal 1 before its closure in 2015) at London Heathrow ...

(mostly in a tunnel) is not owned by

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and railway infrastructure manager, infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. ...

but by

Heathrow Airport Holdings Heathrow Airport Holdings is a company that operates and manages Heathrow Airport based in London, England. It was formed by the privatisation of the British Airports Authority as BAA plc as part of Margaret Thatcher's privatisation of governmen ...

. 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.

Eastern end

The north-eastern Crossrail tunnel connects with the

at . The Elizabeth line runs to via , and .

Design and infrastructure

Name and identity

Seven Kings stn Crossrail roundel 2019 06

''Crossrail'' is the name of the construction project and of the

limited company In a limited company, the Legal liability, liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a c ...

, wholly owned by TfL, that was formed to carry out construction works. The ''Elizabeth line'' is the name of the new service that will be seen on signage throughout the stations. It is named in honour of Queen

. The Elizabeth line logo features a Transport for London roundel with a purple ring and TfL-blue bar with white text. ''

'' 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.

Tunnels

of twin-bore tunnels were constructed by

tunnel boring machine A tunnel boring machine (TBM), also known as a "mole" or a "worm", is a machine used to excavate tunnels. TBMs are an alternative to drilling and blasting methods and "hand mining", allowing more rapid excavation through hard rock, wet or dry so ...

s (TBM), each with an internal diameter of (compared with for the deep-level

Victoria line The Victoria line is a London Underground line that runs between in South London, and in the east, via the West End of London, West End. It is printed in light blue on the Tube map and is one of the only two lines on the network to run comp ...

). The wide-diameter tunnels allow for new 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 tunnel from Royal Oak portal near

station to Victoria Dock portal near

station, a tunnel from portal connecting to the longer tunnel at an underground junction at Stepney Green cavern, and a separate tunnel from

underneath the

. The Custom House to North Woolwich section, included a £50million investment to renovate and reuse the

Connaught tunnel The Connaught Tunnel is in southeastern British Columbia, on the Revelstoke, British Columbia, Revelstoke–Donald, British Columbia, Donald segment. The tunnel carries the Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) main line under Mount Macdonald in ...

. Crossrail has often been compared to Paris's RER system due to the length of the central tunnel.

Stations

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 height

platform screen doors Platform screen doors (PSDs), also known as platform edge doors (PEDs), are used at some train, rapid transit and people mover stations to separate the platform from train tracks, as well as on some bus rapid transit, tram and light rail ...

with integrated passenger information displays. This is a different approach from the

Jubilee Line Extension The Jubilee Line Extension (JLE) is the extension of the London Underground's Jubilee line from to through south and east London. An eastward extension of the line was first proposed in the 1970s. As part of the development of London Dockland ...

in the 1990s, where each station was designed by a different architect. Artwork was also installed at seven of the stations in the central section. A mock-up of the new stations was built in Bedfordshire in 2011 to ensure that their architectural integrity would last for a century. 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. 81 escalators were installed at the nine new stations. At in length, the escalators at Bond Street are just one metre shorter than the escalators at

Angel An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

, the longest escalator on the Underground. 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. Existing stations on the Great Western Main Line and Great Eastern Main Line were upgraded and refurbished, with some stations receiving new entrance buildings. All surface level stations have lifts, allowing step free access from street to platform.

Electrification and signalling

Crossrail uses 25kV, 50Hz AC

overhead lines An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, Electric multiple unit, electric multiple units, trolleybuses or trams. The generic term used by the International Union ...

, which are also used on the Great Eastern and Great Western Main Lines. The Heathrow branch started using the

European Train Control System The European Train Control System (ETCS) is a train protection system designed to replace the many incompatible systems used by European railways, and railways outside of Europe. ETCS is the signalling and control component of the European ...

(ETCS) in 2020. The Automatic Warning (AWS) and Train 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 Communications-based train control (CBTC) is a railway signaling system that uses telecommunications between the train and track equipment for traffic management and infrastructure control. CBTC allows a train's position to be known more accura ...

(CBTC) is installed in the central section and the Abbey Wood branch.

Depots

Crossrail will have depots in west London at

Old Oak Common TMD Old Oak Common TMD was a traction maintenance depot located west of Paddington railway station, London Paddington, in Old Oak Common. The depot codes were OC for the diesel depot and OO for the carriage shed. In steam days the List of British R ...

, in south-east London at Plumstead Depot, and in east London at

Ilford EMU Depot Ilford Depot is a traction maintenance depot located in Ilford, Greater London, England. The site is used for train stabling and maintenance by Greater Anglia, Elizabeth line, London Overground and Alstom. Location The depot is situated on th ...

and at a new signalling centre at in

Havering The London Borough of Havering () in East London, England, forms part of Outer London. It has a population of 259,552 inhabitants; the principal town is Romford, while other communities include Hornchurch, Upminster, Collier Row and Rainham, Lo ...

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

Further proposals

Additional stations

Silvertown (London City Airport)

Although the Crossrail route passes very close to

London City Airport London City Airport is an international airport in London, England. It is located in the Royal Docks in the London Borough of Newham, Borough of Newham, about east of the City of London and east of Canary Wharf. These are the two centres ...

, there is no station serving the airport directly. London City Airport had proposed the re-opening of Silvertown railway station, in order to create an interchange between the rail line and the airport. The self-funded £50million station plan was supported 'in principle' by the

London Borough of Newham The London Borough of Newham () is a London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, authorities that were both abolished by ...

. Provisions for re-opening of the station were made in 2012 by Crossrail. 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. In 2018, the airport's

chief development officer A chief business development officer (CBDO) is a position within a company established beside the other executive positions reporting to CEO and COO. The title is used to define a high-ranking position alongside the CEO. The CBDO is expected to ha ...

described the lack of a Crossrail station as a "missed opportunity", but did not rule out a future station for the airport. The CEO stated in an interview that a station is not essential to the airport's success. 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.

Old Oak Common

As part of the

(HS2) rail link from London to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, a new station is being built at between

and Acton Main Line station. The new station will connect HS2 services with Crossrail and National Rail services on the

, as well as

services running through the area. The original plan was that the station would open with High Speed 2 in 2026, with preliminary construction beginning in 2019. Go-ahead for construction was given in June 2021.

Extensions

To Ebbsfleet and Gravesend

In the 2003 and 2004 consultations into Crossrail, the South East branch was proposed to go beyond

, running along the

to Ebbsfleet, linking up with the (then under construction)

Channel Tunnel Rail Link High Speed 1 (HS1), officially the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), is a high-speed railway linking London with the Channel Tunnel. It is part of the line carrying international passenger traffic between the United Kingdom and mainland Euro ...

. However, prior to the submission of the Crossrail Hybrid Bill to Parliament in 2005, the branch was truncated at

to cut overall project costs. Although dropped from the main scheme, the route was safeguarded by the DfT as far as

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Roche ...

and Hoo Junction, protecting the route from development. With the Crossrail project nearing completion in 2018, local MPs, council leaders and local businesses began lobbying the government to fund the development of a business case for the extension to Ebbsfleet, with the Mayor of London,

Sadiq Khan Sir Sadiq Aman Khan (, ; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting (UK Parliament constituency), Tooting ...

including the project in his Mayor's Transport Strategy. 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 in

Bexley Bexley is an area of south-eastern Greater London, England and part of the London Borough of Bexley. It is sometimes known as Bexley Village or Old Bexley to differentiate the area from the wider borough. It is located east-southeast of Ch ...

and north Kent. In March 2019, the Government committed £4.8million on exploratory work into the extension as part of the

Thames Estuary The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain. Limits An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salinit ...

2050 Growth Commission. The following stations are on the protected route extension to Gravesend: , , , , , for

Bluewater Bluewater(s) or Blue Water(s) may refer to: Maritime * Blue water, the global deep oceans *Blue Water 24, an American sailboat design * Blue-water navy, a navy that can operate in deep waters of open oceans * , a Panamanian tanker in service 1952- ...

, , Ebbsfleet, , and .

To the West Coast Main Line

's July 2011 London & South East Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) recommended that a short railway line could be built to connect the

(WCML) with the Crossrail route. This would enable train services that currently run between and

London Euston Euston railway station ( ; or London Euston) is a major central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station managed by Network Rail in the London Borough of Camden. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line ...

to be re-routed via Old Oak Common to serve central London, and . The report argued that this would free up capacity at Euston for the planned

, 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. Rail Utilisation Strategy, 2011, page 150. 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). In August 2014, a statement by transport secretary

Patrick McLoughlin Patrick Allen McLoughlin, Baron McLoughlin, (born 30 November 1957) is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he first became the Member of Parliament (MP) for West Derbyshire following the 1986 by-election. The constit ...

indicated that the government was actively evaluating the extension of Crossrail as far as and , with potential Crossrail stops at , , , , , , , , , , and . 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. This proposal was shelved in August 2016 due to "poor overall value for money to the taxpayer".

To Staines

As part of the Heathrow Southern Railway scheme proposed in 2017, the western extent of the Crossrail route could be extended beyond Heathrow Airport to terminate at . 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.

To Southend Airport

Stobart Aviation, the company that previously operated

Southend Airport Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the nor ...

in Essex, proposed that Crossrail should be extended beyond Shenfield along the

Shenfield–Southend line The Shenfield–Southend line is a branch line off the Great Eastern Main Line in Essex, in the east of England. It links in the west to , in Southend-on-Sea, in the east. The vast majority of services connect to or from the Great Eastern Main ...

to serve Southend Airport and . The company has suggested that a direct Heathrow-Southend link could alleviate capacity problems at Heathrow. The extension proposal has been supported by

Southend-on-Sea City Council Southend-on-Sea City Council is the local authority of the city of Southend-on-Sea, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. Southend has had an elected local authority since 1866, which has been reformed several times. Since 1998 the council ...

Management and franchise

Funding for the project came from: * TfL * Mayoral

Community Infrastructure Levy Planning gains (or planning obligations) are ways that local authorities in the United Kingdom can secure additional public benefits from developers, during the granting of planning permission. Planning gains seek to capture some of the uplift in ...

(a local tax charged on property developments across Greater London, with different charging rates for each London borough) * Crossrail Business Rate Supplement (additional business rates) *

Section 106 Agreement The Town and Country Planning Act 1990c 8 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom regulating the development of land in England and Wales. It is a central part of English land law in that it concerns town and country planning in the Un ...

payments * Over-site development opportunities * UK Government *

City of London Corporation The City of London Corporation, officially and legally the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the local authority of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United Kingdom's f ...

* Major landowners:

Canary Wharf Group Canary Wharf Group plc is a British property company headquartered in London, England. It is the owner and developer of nearly of property at Canary Wharf and elsewhere in London. Over the last 10 years it has constructed more office space in ...

, and

Berkeley Homes The Berkeley Group Holdings plc is a British property developer and house-builder based in Cobham, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The firm was founded in 1976 by Tony Pidgl ...

. 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 £15.9billion funding package in place for the construction of the line. Although the branch lines to the west and to Shenfield will still be owned by

, the tunnel will be owned and operated by TfL. On 18 July 2014, TfL

said that MTR Corp had won the concession to operate the services for eight years, with an option for two more years. The concession will be similar to London Overground. It is planned for the franchise to run for eight years from May 2015, taking over control of Shenfield metro services from

Abellio Greater Anglia Greater Anglia (legal name Transport UK East Anglia Limited) is a British train operating company owned as a joint venture by Transport UK Group and Mitsui & Co. It operates the East Anglia franchise, providing the commuter and inter-city se ...

in May 2015, and Reading / Heathrow services from

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

in 2018. In anticipation of a May 2015 transfer of Shenfield to Liverpool Street services from the

East Anglia franchise The East Anglia franchise is a railway franchise for passenger trains on the Great Eastern Main Line and West Anglia Main Lines in England. It commenced operation in April 2004 when the Anglia and Great Eastern franchises, together with the W ...

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. The infrastructure of the core section is managed by Rail for London Infrastructure (RfLI), a subsidiary of TfL. Signalling is controlled by Network Rail's Romford

Rail Operating Centre A rail operating centre (ROC) is a building that houses all signallers, signalling equipment, ancillaries and operators for a specific region or route on the United Kingdom's main rail network. The ROC supplants the work of several other Signal ...

References

Citations

General and cited sources

* * ** * * * * * * * *

External links

* , - , - {{authority control London Rail Rail infrastructure in London Railway operators in London Underground commuter rail

History

Early proposals

Later proposals

Approval

Construction

Chronology

Tunnel boring machines

Health, safety, and industrial relations

Blacklisting

Archaeology

Operational testing

Expected completion

Route

Western end

Eastern end

Design and infrastructure

Name and identity

Tunnels

Stations

Electrification and signalling

Depots

Further proposals

Additional stations

Silvertown (London City Airport)

Old Oak Common

Extensions

To Ebbsfleet and Gravesend

To the West Coast Main Line

To Staines

To Southend Airport

Management and franchise

See also

References

Citations

General and cited sources

External links