Crossrail start dates, route map and stops explained as TfL reveal opening date

Transport for London has confirmed an opening date for the new Elizabeth Line following years of delays.

The £19bn route, which was originally supposed to open on 9 December 2018, has faced a series of set backs related to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on construction and revised assumptions about the pace of the project.

However TfL has now announced that the line will be opening just in time for the Queen’s jubilee celebrations.

London’s new Elizabeth Line is set to open on 24 May 2022 after delays with the construction of the tunnelled central section of the line.

Transport for London has confirmed that the line will open up for passenger use, subject to safety checks, the week before the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations.

The aim of Crossrail is to connect commuter towns to the east and west of London to the centre of the city.

Described by TfL as “one of the most complex digital railways in the world,” the new line combines pioneering technology and design to help serve central London and peripheral commuter towns.

For a full high resolution map click here.

It will run from Reading to Shenfield, but there is also a fork connecting Heathrow Airport to central London, and another from Whitechapel down to Abbey Wood.

The line travels through popular commuter towns such as Maidenhead, Slough, Ilford and Brentwood.

In central London it goes through Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon and Liverpool Street, as well as out to Stratford.

Service will start with 12 trains an hour (a train every 5 minutes) running between Paddington and Abbey Wood from 6.30am to 11pm, Monday to Saturday.

The line will not run on Sundays, however this will change in the autumn. A special service will operate on Sunday 5 June 2022 between 8am and 10pm to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee