Crossrail

First Elizabeth Line train enters service in east London and Essex

23 June 2017Passengers in east-London and Essex were yesterday able to travel on the new state-of-the-art Elizabeth Line rolling stock for the first time. After extensive testing and preparation, and the launch of the trains being pushed back by TfL, the tra...

Launch of Crossrail trains pushed back by TfL

01 June 2017The introduction of the new Crossrail trains to run on Elizabeth Line services has been pushed back to this month, TfL has today confirmed. Trains were supposed to be rolled out on services between Liverpool Street and Shenfield by the end of May...

Metro mayors call on government to prioritise HS3 over Crossrail 2 plans

16 May 2017The two newly elected metro mayors of Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Region have called on the government to prioritise rail investment in the north by committing to building the HS3 rail link, alternatively known as Northern Powerhouse Rai...

Upgrades completed on GEML for Elizabeth Line trains

08 May 2017Work has been completed to upgrade the Great Eastern Main Line between Shenfield and Liverpool Street in preparation for the Elizabeth Line. The completion of the works means that a reduced rail service will now be run from Brentwood to Shenfield...

Crossrail 2: a transformational project

05 May 2017Michèle Dix CBE, managing director of Crossrail 2, explains why the rail link is a scheme the whole country should support. Crossrail 2 is a critical rail project for London and the south east, and is needed by the 2030s. We have submitted...

Work moves forward to prepare Abbey Wood station for Crossrail

04 May 2017Work to prepare Abbey Wood station for Elizabeth Line services moved forward yesterday as Crossrail announced that the construction of platform structures and tracks had been completed by engineers. The station will be ready for service in autumn...

First Elizabeth Line train on track to enter service in May

28 April 2017Howard Smith, TfL’s operations director for the Elizabeth Line, on what the future looks like for London’s new east-west rail route as the first train readies to enter service in May this year.  The Elizabeth Line is going to tra...

Crossrail unveils striking ceiling images at Farringdon and Liverpool Street stations

24 April 2017Crossrail has this week completed work on the architectural ceilings at the Farringdon and Liverpool Street Elizabeth Line stations and released a number of striking images of the work that has been done to the two stations. At Farringdon, over 1...

Councils call for DfT to move forward on ‘crucial’ Crossrail 2 plans

20 April 2017Councils across London and the south east have come together to put their support behind plans for Crossrail 2 and have urged the government to fully support the project. Authorities from Cambridge to Portsmouth and the representative for London&...

Crossrail moves forward with completion of electrification on major route

29 March 2017Crossrail took a step forward this week as Network Rail (NR) announced that electrification work had been completed on the 12-mile stretch of railway from Maidenhead to Stockley Junction. The project of electrification will allow new Great Wester...

Breathing life back into the Connaught Tunnel

23 March 2017Linda Miller, former Crossrail project manager, Connaught Tunnel, reflects on the challenges of widening and deepening the vital Victorian tunnel for the new Elizabeth Line.

HS3 ambitions may side-track Crossrail 2 plans in Spring Budget

07 March 2017Plans for London’s Crossrail 2 network may be at risk of being eclipsed by ambitions from northern cities for the east-west HS3 link, senior MPs from the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) of London have today warned. It is anticipated th...

London network will ‘grind to a halt’ without Crossrail 2, warns Khan

08 February 2017With still a few months left to go until the first Crossrail trains hit the network, London mayor Sadiq Khan has today made the case for the project’s follow-up, Crossrail 2 – without which he claims at least 17 of the capital’s...

Vital Crossrail works delivered over Christmas

04 January 2017The second ramp of the vast Stockley Flyover has now opened after Network Rail carried out its biggest programme of Crossrail engineering ever over Christmas. The works led to two new major structures entering service: the second ramp of the flyo...

Crossrail trains undergo intense weather testing in Austria

03 January 2017Crossrail trains are having their readiness to cope with extreme heat and cold tested at a special facility in Vienna. Bombardier Transportation, which is building the new trains in Derby, delivered the front carriage of a test train to the Rail...