The new Elizabeth Line
New Elizabeth Line will begin to circulate from May 24, 2022 through the tunnels excavated under the center of London, confirmed the state operator Transport for London (TfL).
The opening constitutes a fundamental milestone in the evolution of the line since it will allow progress with the integration of all the routes that today are separate railway lines -although updated- and operated under the TfL Rail brand.
However, continuous services between the different terminals through central London will have to wait a few more months until the tests and different adjustment works that still remain are completed. The completion of the Bond Street station is pending.
From May 24, passengers entering London from Reading (north-west), Heathrow (south-west) and Abbey Wood (south-east) will need to combine at Paddington to access the stations in the central section of the tunnel. On the other hand, those who come from Shenfield (northeast) must transfer at Liverpool Street station. The work to integrate the different existing signal systems on the route has not yet been completed.
formations will operate with automatic driving
In the new London tunnels, the formations will operate with automatic driving while, in the existing branches integrated into the service, they will have to switch to manual driving modes.
Both TfL and Crossrail - the company in charge of the work - expect to finish these works by the autumn and launch direct services then. This will increase the frequency of the 12 trains per hour (one train every five minutes) that the line will have from May 24 to 22 trains per hour (one train approximately every three minutes) in rush hour between Paddington and Whitechapel.
The commissioning of the central section comes after years of delays in works. It was planned to inaugurate the entire line in December 2018, delays in signal works and in some stations, in addition to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, forced the inauguration to be successively postponed. This also forced the budget to be increased by 4,000 million pounds (4,947 million dollars), which were contributed by different levels of government.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by Queen Elizabeth II, who already visited the works in February 2016. The new Elizabeth Line will thus be the third line to be named after figures of British royalty after the inauguration. of the Victoria Line in 1968 -named after Queen Victoria- and of the Jubilee Line in 1977 -in coincidence with the Silver Jubilee of Isabel II in that year-.
