Crossrail is coming soon to London and it will completely change the travel times for many areas in London. At the Globe we are already very central and have great transport links but with the new Crossrail starting it will open up new parts of London. Here is the latest info on Crossrail and what it will mean for Londoners. Crossrail 2 which is coming later will make much easier access into Enfiled and central London. Here’s some more information:

A world-class new railway for London and the south east

Crossrail Limited is building a new railway for London and the South East, running from Reading and Heathrow in the west, through 42km of new tunnels under London to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east. The project is building 10 new stations and upgrading 30 more, while integrating new and existing infrastructure.

The £14.8 billion Crossrail project is currently Europe’s largest infrastructure project. Construction began in 2009 at Canary Wharf, and is over 80% complete. It is being delivered on time and within funding.

The new railway, which will be known as the Elizabeth line when services begin in 2018, will be fully integrated with London’s existing transport network and will be operated by Transport for London. New state-of-the-art trains will carry an estimated 200 million passengers per year. The new service will speed up journey times, increase central London’s rail capacity by 10% and bring an extra 1.5 million people to within 45 minutes of central London.

The new stations, public space and associated developments will add to the fabric of the landscape, act as a catalyst for regeneration and influence the way people experience the city and its suburbs.

The Elizabeth line will make travelling in the capital easier and quicker and will reduce crowding on London’s transport network, operating with main line size trains carrying more than 1,500 passengers in each train during peak periods. The new trains will be 200 metres – that’s almost twice as long as a London Underground train – creating a more comfortable passenger experience.

Use our interactive N ear You map to explore the route and find information about each of the new stations under construction.

40 stations better connected, 10 new stations

10 n ew Crossrail stations being built at Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street, Whitechapel, Canary Wharf, Custom House, Woolwich and Abbey Wood
30 existing Network Rail stations in outer London, Berkshire and Essex being upgraded and connected to 26 miles of new tunnels under London
Lifts at every Elizabeth line station to ensure step-free access.

New trains, better journeys

A train every two and a half minutes at peak time through central London
State-of-the-art trains will be 200 metres long, accommodating up to 1,500 passengers
Around 200 million passengers will travel on Crossrail each year

Economic benefits

£42bn benefit to the UK economy
Better links between the capital’s major commercial and business districts – Heathrow, the West End, the City and Canary Wharf
55,000 full time jobs and 75,000 business opportunities during the construction of the new railway.

Upgrading the surface rail network

Network Rail is responsible for the design, development and delivery of the parts of the route that are on the existing network. Three quarters of the route runs above ground on the existing rail network through outer London, Berkshire and Essex. Major improvements are being delivered to stations across the existing rail network, including:

New, bright, spacious ticket halls at a number of stations
New lifts and footbridges where required to ensure step free access at every station
Platform extensions to accommodate the 200m long Crossrail trains
New signage, help points, customer information screens and CCTV.

And here is a link to information on Crossrail 2:

https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/crossrail2/october2015/user_uploads/ne2.pdf

Crossrail will mean more people will have access to Ark John Keats great facilities so we fully support Crossrail!