The Chief Executive of Crossrail says they are on target to open the central section in the first half of next year, with full completion by May 2023.
Mark Wild, who gave the update via a video on his Linkedin page, said the trial running phase is going well and they are on the final lap of the opening of the Elizabeth line.
He said: “Three months ago we commenced the phase of trial running. We always said this phase would take several months as we shake the system down – this immense digital, electrical and mechanical system. We get all the bugs out of it, the operators and maintainers familiar with their policies, get used to operating the system.
“Three months in and it is going well and we are running up to 12 trains an hour and we will drop software build ELR100 in the autumn and that is the customer quality software for the train control system that will support trial operations – the dress rehearsal before we enter revenue service.”
Mark said the aim is to be in trial operations by the end of the year with them being “very much on target to open this railway in the first half of 2022”.
He added: “When we open the Elizabeth line between Paddington and Abbey Wood it is very much just the start of the operational journey. We have a new plan to combine trains from the west and east into the central section – from Heathrow and Reading in the west and from Shenfield in the east – to combine them in a single section which will follow the opening of the Elizabeth line.
“The earliest we can do that is in autumn 2022 and we will complete the railway by May 2023 with the final tweaking of the timetable service. At that point the Elizabeth line is delivered and complete.”
Earlier on this week Whitechapel Elizabeth line station was officially transferred to London Underground (LU) from Crossrail with LU staff now operating the new station facilities. It is the seventh Elizabeth line central section station to transfer to Transport for London.
Photo and video credit: Transport for London
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