please empty your brain below
Useful clarification. Thank you for continuing to use the Crossrail descriptor, as I expect most fair minded people will.

Frank F | 05.05.22 - 7:16 a.m. | #

First public train? Whoever can get from the gates to the platforms first as they will be running empty before 06.30

Driver | 05.05.22 - 7:27 a.m. | #

Aren’t the platforms at Abbey Wood and Custom House new? If so why were they built without level access to the train?

Alan | 05.05.22 - 7:51 a.m. | #

When the Shenfield branch is connected in the autumn, where do you think TfL will encourage Heathrow and Reading bound passengers to make an on-platform change? Will some stations be seen as better to have people piling off with luggage and hanging around the platform safety doors than others?

snicket | 05.05.22 - 8:04 a.m. | #

'It's somewhat embarrassing to have to launch the service with restricted hours and no trains on Sundays.'

Thinks back to the DLR, the staggered opening of the Jubilee Line extension and Croydon Tramlink - remember the launch of the enhanced Thameslink timetable?

This is a 'normal' opening.

Still Anon | 05.05.22 - 8:09 a.m. | #

You wouldn't know from looking at TfL's website. There is no mention on the front page, and the location under 'more' and 'projects and improvements' is as good as buried out of sight. The section on 'improving TfL Rail' was more prominent.

NickW | 05.05.22 - 8:21 a.m. | #

So which carriage do you have to be in so you don't end up with a stupidly long walk at Whitechapel?

commonliner | 05.05.22 - 8:21 a.m. | #

So, judging by what @Driver says, there likely won’t be one eastbound and one westbound “first public train” but rather multiple “first trains” depending on where one boards and in which direction. The first public train westbound from Canary Wharf will likely not be the same service as the first train from Abbey Wood.

Robert | 05.05.22 - 8:48 a.m. | #

If at Paddington you can change from the district to bakerloo and from bakerloo to crossrail without exiting the station, why can't you change from district to crossrail?

Ian | 05.05.22 - 9:06 a.m. | #

i'm glad you gave us The World Cup of Royal Parks before this onslaught of crossrail bumf.
i've been able to reread it for the past two mornings and get something new every time.

the other eric | 05.05.22 - 9:34 a.m. | #

I can confirm that touching out and back in will charge just for one journey (and has been ready since 2018!); that bit about capping is unnecessarily vague and clumsy, bordering on irrelevant.

There was talk of the TfL Rail brand being kept for the outlying services until through running started, and that might have made the message about changing trains easier.

Odd that Bond Street is shown on the map when it's not open, whereas there has been a stubborn refusal to show the line as a whole any time beforehand.

Andrew S | 05.05.22 - 9:37 a.m. | #

I suspect the within-the-gates journey between Paddington Praed Street and Paddington Crossrail involves a visit to the Bakerloo platforms, which is understandably undesirable.

Patrickov | 05.05.22 - 10:13 a.m. | #

This means Maidenhead, Southall and Romford will all be getting purple overhauls even though trains from those stations will continue to follow exactly the same routes as they do now.

In the case of Maidenhead, no. A trip on the main line out of Paddington last Saturday showed most stations already rebranded on the platform BUT this does not apply to Slough, Maidenhead or Twyford are they are managed by GWR (similar for Reading managed by Network Rail) and, I suspect, will have no changes whatsoever. They were never branded TfL Rail and won't be branded Elizabeth line.

dg writes: updated, thanks.

Pedantic of Purley | 05.05.22 - 10:20 a.m. | #

Strange that the PDF shows Heathrow Terminal 4 as if it were open despite making the point that Bond Street isn't yet open.

Pedantic of Purley | 05.05.22 - 10:29 a.m. | #

And don't Special Fares apply to the Heathrow stations, rather than normal zone 6 ones?

Betterbee | 05.05.22 - 10:52 a.m. | #

I wonder why Abbey Wood and Custom House aren’t step free throughout given the dedicated Crossrail only platforms? Seems a bit odd for a brand new railway.

Accessibility curious | 05.05.22 - 10:55 a.m. | #

Remembering that the Victoria Line terminated at Victoria when it first opened, and Pimlico came some time after the rest of the southern end.
I expect even older readers will have tales of the earlier line extensions. It’s just the way it goes.

Philip | 05.05.22 - 10:57 a.m. | #

Having worked within London Underground on the Central London Rail Study and, later, on lobbying for Crossrail, it's taken a lot longer, and cost a (very)great deal more than any of us would have dreamed possible at that time, but look forward very much to riding it.

David | 05.05.22 - 11:07 a.m. | #

I can get my head round the various sections but not on ticket costs. I believe it's not going to have Oyster fares is it?
How will the pricing compare to non-Crossrail journeys eg Paddington to Liverpool St?

Cornish Cockney | 05.05.22 - 11:30 a.m. | #

Freedom & 60+ passes what stations will they be valid between?

mclm | 05.05.22 - 11:33 a.m. | #

Your umpteen questions today suggest this has not been Everything you need to know.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 05.05.22 - 11:42 a.m. | #

I don’t know why Custom House and Abbey Wood aren’t properly step free, but I do know that friends of mine had to campaign surprisingly hard to get TfL to even bother committing to a fully step free Crossrail, so it’s not as much a given as you’d think, even today.

Kirk | 05.05.22 - 11:52 a.m. | #

mclm,

A good question and a complicated answer.

Freedom passes are valid over the whole line (subject to time restrictions) because a clause in the GLA act says they must be valid on TfL services. This was done to prevent a future mayor withdrawing the privilege/right.

However, 60+ is only valid up to West Drayton (GLA border) and IS VALID to Heathrow on Elizabeth line trains despite there being special fares to Heathrow for most travellers on TfL Rail/Elizabeth line.
See here (PDF download)

This is the only anomaly I know of concerning Freedom Pass and 60+.

Pedantic of Purley | 05.05.22 - 11:57 a.m. | #

Kirk,

At one stage Crossrail were even planning replacing the escalators at Custom House with steps as a cost saving measure and it took threatened court action for them to back down.

It seems incredible nowadays that they would even consider such an idea - for the crowd control implications at a station near an exhibition centre if nothing else.

Pedantic of Purley | 05.05.22 - 12:03 p.m. | #

I think it's fair to describe Canary Wharf as a new station: it's about 200m from Canary Wharf DLR and 300m from Canary Wharf tube.

Nick | 05.05.22 - 12:33 p.m. | #

12 trains per hour is less trains than other tube lines, but potentially more people per hour because the trains are significantly bigger.

Given current/likely future ridership patterns, 12 tph could well be enough for a significant time, with increased frequency driven by increasing frequencies at the extremities rather than core. Fewer trains would work well in "clock face" customer proposition (trains leave same minutes every hour)

MilesT | 05.05.22 - 1:15 p.m. | #

So will Moorgate/Liverpool Street still be a combined interchange when Crossrail is closed?

Still Anon | 05.05.22 - 1:32 p.m. | #

Can't see what's so great about a railway line that's supposed to run continuously from Reading to Shenfield actually starting as three (three) separate railway lines They've had enough time to make it into one continuous railway line.

Tones | 05.05.22 - 3:19 p.m. | #

Pedantic of Purley - yes, I’d forgotten about that one. It felt slightly unbelievable at the time to be honest - it felt like people were just thinking of the here and now and not the 50/100/150 years of the life of the infrastructure

Kirk | 05.05.22 - 3:40 p.m. | #

Pity the Victorians didn't think that far ahead and take into account today's accessibility requirements.

JohnC | 05.05.22 - 6:57 p.m. | #

Liverpool Street Crossrail comes under command of Moorgate LU with some linked systems (likewise with Farringdon LU and Barbican). There are no current plans to merge any operations.

I understand that Paddington Crossrail (below ground) are operated by MTR/TfL and there is just a link passage to the Bakerloo.

Sinners | 05.05.22 - 8:02 p.m. | #

The first westbound service from Abbey Wood will depart at 06:30 calling at Woolwich 06:33, Custom House 06:37, Canary Wharf 06:41, Whitechapel 06:45, Liverpool St 06:48, Farringdon 06:51, TCR 06:54 and arriving Paddington 06:59.

The first eastbound from Paddington will leave 06:33, TCR 06:38, Farringdon 06:41, Liv St 06:46, Whitechapel 06:46, Canary Wharf 06:50, Custom House 06:54. Woolwich 06:58 and Abbey Wood 07:02.

The above times have all been announced as the 'first trains' in those directions from each station.

Last trains depart Abbey Wood at 23:03 and Paddington at 22:58

TfL Bod | 06.05.22 - 12:11 p.m. | #

Newham took away my Disabled Person Freedompass in March 2021 because after 13 years they decided I wasnt disabled enough anymore. I am currently waiting on the SSLGO to allocate a case worker having taken 11 months to finally get to the stage where I can go to the LGO. I have already travelled on the TfLrail services except for the bit to Reading. I now have a 60+ Oystercard so Abbeywood is my Oyster, but not Reading! I will have to wait until I get my Elder Freedompass or win my LGO appeal before I get to ride to Reading!

Andrew Jarman | 06.05.22 - 10:32 p.m. | #











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