London’s Elizabeth Line gets the green light to open
Final approvals have been made ahead of its opening on the 24th May
Last updated 13th May 2022
The Elizabeth line has been given final approval from The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) ahead of its opening on the 24th May.
The rail regulator has issued approvals for all the Elizabeth line stations – with the exception of Bond Street.
They’ve given the green light, confirming stations and infrastructure meet the requirements for passenger use.
Elizabeth line stations given approval to go-ahead
Abbey Wood, Canary Wharf, Custom House, Farringdon, Liverpool Street, Paddington, Tottenham Court Road, Whitechapel, and Woolwich stations have all been approved and issued with authorisations.
Bond Street has only been given the go-ahead for safe evacuation procedures, as it will open for passengers later than the rest of the line.
The line will stretch more than 100km from Reading and Heathrow in the west through central tunnels across to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east.
The new railway built by Crossrail Ltd will stop at 41 accessible stations - 10 of them new - and is expected to serve around 200 million people each year.
How long with the Elizabeth line take?
The new railway will transform how Londoners and visitors cross the capital with Paddington to Canary Wharf, for example, taking just 18 minutes.
ORR has also authorised the overall routeway for the Elizabeth line’s track and tunnel infrastructure, to allow trains to run through the central section.
Transport for London recently confirmed the Elizabeth line will open to the public on Tuesday 24 May, subject to safety approvals.
What times will the Elizabeth line run?
The service is set to start with trains every five minutes, (12 trains an hour), which will run Monday to Saturday between Paddington and Abbey Wood from 06:30-23:00.
Once the Crossrail project was approved in 2007, construction work first started at Canary Wharf in 2009.
In 2007, Government agreed a funding envelope of £15.9 billion, this was changed to £14.8 billion in 2010. After increasing year on year the total funding envelope is now £18.8 billion.
'Ahead of Elizabeth line opening 24th May'
Steve Fletcher, Deputy Director of Engineering and Asset Management at the Office of Rail and Road, said: “Delivery of the Elizabeth line is in its very final complex stages, but we’ve been working closely with the Crossrail project and Transport for London for some time to ensure smooth progress of authorisations.
“This co-operation means we’ve been able to provide these approvals in a timely manner and ensure this state-of-the-art railway can enter into service safely and reliably for passengers, and meet the schedule opening date of 24 May.”
Howard Smith, Elizabeth line Director, said: “With final preparations underway ahead of opening the Elizabeth line on Tuesday 24 May, we have been working closely with ORR on getting the final authorisations for our stations, trains and other infrastructure that will mean we can operate the new railway safely and reliably for all our future customers.”
Who is the Office of Rail and Road?
The Office of Rail and Road is the economic and safety regulator of Britain’s railway, they regulate Network Rail and monitor health and safety standards across the whole rail industry.
They been working closely with, and assessing several aspects of, the Crossrail project over the last two years to ensure it meets the necessary technical, safety and accessibility requirements before it can open to passengers.
The railway regulator approved the Elizabeth line Class 345 fleet in 2020.
Recently they authorised use of the Global System for Mobile Communications-Railway (GSM-R), which delivers digital communications between drivers and signallers and hopes to help increase safety and reduce delays.