CROSSRAIL PROJECT UPDATE

Date Published 30 March 2022

The Elizabeth line remains on schedule to open between Abbey Wood and Paddington in the first half of 2022. There is great momentum across the programme to complete the railway so passenger services in the central section, from Paddington to Abbey Wood can commence.

The final stage of the programme, Trial Operations, is now underway and involves operational exercises to ensure the safety and reliability of the railway for public use and to fully test the timetables. More than 150 scenarios are being carried out through the Trial Operations period to ensure the readiness of the railway for passenger service.

The Elizabeth line is an immensely complex railway and Trial Operations will continue until it is clear that the railway can operate at the highest levels of safety and reliability before the start of passenger services. Only then will a specific opening date for the railway be announced.

SAFETY

Delivery of the Elizabeth line is in its final complex stages and the focus remains on ensuring that it is completed safely. The overall Health and Safety indicators remain within the targets set by the programme.

The programme continues to manage the coronavirus pandemic risk with continuing compliance with Government announcements and implementation of TfL guidance.

TRIAL OPERATIONS

A phased approach to Trial Operations has been adopted to build greater resilience into the railway and to allow for the earliest commencement of passenger services. The first phase of Trial Operations commenced on 20 November, in line with the earliest forecast dates, and has progressed well, with the majority of exercises passing but with comments. These comments have provided key learnings for the programme ahead of passenger service.

The second phase of Trial Operations commenced on 28 January 2022. This phase involves a range of organisations, including TfL and London Underground, MTR Elizabeth line (as the operator), and Network Rail collaborating on the response to trial scenarios along with thousands of staff volunteers. Emergency services including the British Transport Police, London Fire Brigade and London Ambulance Service are also involved, demonstrating how they would respond to incidents on the network and in stations.

More than 4,000 staff volunteers have now taken part in mass volunteer events since 28 January. Our five mass-volunteer exercises are now complete – the final mass event took place at Paddington on 13 March and involved the largest number of participants, with more than 2,000 staff volunteers taking part. The mass evacuation exercises have included the evacuation of Farringdon station, evacuation from a train at Custom House and evacuation from a train into a tunnel via the emergency access shaft at Limmo Peninsula in Canning Town.

Following the completion of Trial Operations, there will be a period of time dedicated to timetabled running, closely mirroring the Elizabeth line service timetable. This will be the final stage before the railway opens and will continue for as long as needed to demonstrate the highest levels of reliability before the Elizabeth line welcomes passengers.


During Trial Operations, necessary works have been undertaken including the commissioning of the tunnel ventilation system software upgrades before Christmas, the latest signalling software update and the commissioning of the latest control and communications software. There are further upgrades planned for the trains and signalling software over the Easter period. These upgrades are expected to provide increased operational reliability of the trains, routeway and signalling systems.

OPENING THE ELIZABETH LINE

The Elizabeth line is the most significant addition to London's transport network in a generation. The new railway will transform life and travel in London and the South East, reduce journey times, create additional capacity, transform accessibility and provide a huge economic boost.

In the first half of 2022, the Elizabeth line will launch with passenger services between Paddington and Abbey Wood. With 12 trains per hour running all day, this will bring immediate benefits to passengers. Services from Reading and Heathrow to Paddington mainline, and from Shenfield to Liverpool Street mainline will be rebranded from TfL Rail to the Elizabeth line.

Bond Street will open following the opening of the central section. Bond Street remains at a less advanced stage than the other Elizabeth line central London stations, but good progress continues to be made. Nine of the ten central section stations are now under the responsibility of TfL and the team at Bond Street are working hard to open the station as early as possible.

When the Elizabeth line opens, it will operate as three separate railways. Customers from the west will initially need to change at Paddington for services into the central section of the route, and customers from the east will initially need to change at Liverpool Street.

Direct services from Reading, Heathrow and Shenfield are expected to connect with the central section in autumn 2022, with full end to end services commencing no later than May 2023. The opening of the Elizabeth line has always been planned to take place in stages to ensure the new section stations, signalling and infrastructure can run safely and reliably before it fully links in with services out to the east and west.

SURFACE STATIONS

Customers in the west have been benefitting from new station buildings and step-free access following the completion of Network Rail station enhancement works. The remaining construction activities are forecast to be complete at the end of this month.

Enhanced station upgrade works in the east continue at Ilford and Romford. Romford station remains on track to enter service in the coming months. Ilford's entry into service is currently forecast for the summer but this remains under review pending the resolution of the structural issue in relation to the ticket hall slab. Network Rail continues to assess the programme for both stations and their entry into service.

OPERATIONAL READINESS

TfL Rail delivered an improved Public Performance Measure (PPM) of 94.3 per cent during period 11 (9 January – 5 February 2022). The eastern section of the line achieved 94.9 per cent with the western section achieving 93.5 per cent. The overall Moving Annual Average trend continues to be better than target at 94.6 per cent.

The Class 345 fleet has been loaded with the latest train and signalling control software and reliability has improved but is below the forecast level. Alstom are in the process of testing an upgraded train software, for loading to the fleet over Easter.

Reliability continues to be built to improve the railway's performance to a level that is acceptable for the opening of the Elizabeth line. Work is underway to fix the remaining bugs discovered with the signalling system and work has been already completed to remove the last restriction on the railway's infrastructure.

Over the last period, good progress has been made working through Trial Operations, but we are not being complacent, particularly with the need to improve the reliability of the railway. This railway will only open when improved reliability can be demonstrated. There is a real determination to deliver this railway and we remain on schedule to open the Elizabeth line to passengers in the first half of 2022.