Elizabeth Line now running right through from Reading
It's also now running 7 days a week through to central and east London
Last updated 6th Nov 2022
You can now get the £19billion Elizabeth Line direct all the way from Reading to central London and as far east as Shenfield in Essex.
Before today (6 Nov), you had to chance at least once at Paddington.
The railway had been operating in three separate sections, requiring passengers to walk for several minutes to change trains for journeys combining the central and outer stretches of the line.
Today also marks the start of service from Reading running seven days a week.
The central section between Paddington and Abbey Wood will also stay open later, with the last daily departure from Paddington at 12.22am, instead of 10.58pm previously.
Huge boost to Reading's economy
The chief executive of Reading's economy and destination agency REDA, Nigel Hordon-Baker, says it's an important moment
"All the hard work has been done - the tough infrastructure stuff - and now the fun starts. People can use that line coming out of London whether they're leisure visitors, businesses or business visitors.
"We're part of the London transport network... we know a lot of the developers who've put up offices recently - one of the key reasons they've done that in Reading is because of this connection the Elizabeth Line. It's been a major attraction for investors".
Transport Secretary Mark Harper said: "Today marks a landmark moment as passengers from across the South East can now benefit from more frequent services, longer operating hours and direct state-of-the-art Elizabeth line services seven days a week.
"Through our £9 billion investment, it's great to have contributed to a line which in just five short months has shown itself to be a staple of London's transport network delivering over 60 million journeys and creating over 55,000 jobs."
The final timetable, bringing full end-to-end journeys and up to 24 trains per hour, is expected to be introduced by May next year.
The project to build the Elizabeth line suffered numerous issues including construction difficulties and complications installing signalling systems.
Crossrail was due to be completed in December 2018 and was set a budget of £14.8 billion in 2010.
The final cost has been estimated at £18.9 billion.