Planned Frequency of Elizabeth Line to Be Increased

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But question mark remains on whether local stations will be served

Transport for London (TfL) have announced that they intend to provide a more regular services on the Elizabeth Line than originally envisaged but they were unable to confirm whether the extra trains would serve all local stations including Acton Mainline, Hanwell and West Ealing.

When the service becomes fully operational in December 2019 there will be a boost to peak services to destinations west of Paddington, with services from Reading doubled from 2 trains per hour to 4 trains per hour, and services to Maidenhead increased from 4 trains per hour to 6 trains per hour.

When we asked TfL for more details of the new service they told us that 10 trains per hour will run west of Paddington at peak times although not at regular intervals of six minutes due to the need to accommodate Great Western Railway and freight trains. These trains will stop at Ealing Broadway and Southall but they were unable to confirm that other stations on this section of the line such as Acton Mainline, West Ealing and Hanwell would be served by all trains. They said that the exact frequency of services has yet to be finalised. We reported last month that delays had taken place in the construction of these stations leading to concerns about overcrowding once the Elizabeth line service (formerly known as Crossrail) starts to be introduced.

The improved frequency of trains has been announced following collaboration with the DfT, Network Rail and the train operating companies on a final timetable for services. To enable the additional services, TfL will be increasing the number of trains that will operate on the Elizabeth line from 66 to 70 trains. Trains will now also call at Heathrow Terminal 5 – meaning all Heathrow Terminals will be served by the Elizabeth line. A total of six Elizabeth line trains per hour will serve Heathrow Terminals from December 2019. Four will go to Terminals 2, 3 and 4 and two will go to Terminals 2, 3 and 5.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “The Elizabeth line will transform travel across London, with new state-of-the-art trains moving passengers quickly across key parts of London and the South East. I am delighted that we can today announce that Elizabeth line services will be more frequent than originally planned, making journeys even more convenient for people travelling in and out of London, and helping ease pressure on other parts of our busy transport network”

Mike Brown MVO, London’s Transport Commissioner, said, “We want to deliver the very best service for customers from day one of the Elizabeth line. The timetable improvements that we have been developing ahead of full opening of the line in December 2019 will see additional services to destinations west of Paddington, including Reading, Maidenhead and Heathrow Terminal 5, as well as increased off-peak frequencies in central London. This will make journeys on the new accessible line even easier and more convenient for the hundreds of thousands of people expected to use it each day.”

Five Great Western Railway services will be replaced with Elizabeth line services. This will provide the same or greater, frequency and the same journey times for the majority of passengers, with the added benefit of being able to continue directly into central London on the Elizabeth line. A fleet of brand new 200 metre long trains will run on the Elizabeth line, featuring nine walk-through carriages, air conditioning, CCTV and real-time travel information.

From May 2018, new ticket readers will be installed at Heathrow, meaning passengers using Heathrow Express and TfL Rail between Paddington and Heathrow will be able to use pay as you go Oyster or a contactless device.

August 2, 2017