Crossrail

The concept of large-diameter tunnels crossing central London to connect Paddington in the west and Liverpool Street in the east was first proposed by railwayman George Dow in The Star newspaper in June 1941.[2] The project that became Crossrail has origins in the 1943 County of London Plan and 1944 Greater London Plan by Patrick Abercrombie. These led to a specialist investigation by the Railway (London Plan) Committee, appointed in 1944 and reporting in 1946 and 1948.[3]

The term "Crossrail" emerged in the 1974 London Rail Study Report.[4] Although the idea was seen as imaginative, only a brief estimate of cost was given: £300 million. A feasibility study was recommended as a high priority so that the practicability and costs of the scheme could be determined. It was also suggested that the alignment of the tunnels should be safeguarded[5] while a final decision was taken.

The Central London Rail Study of 1989 proposed tunnels linking the existing rail network as the "East–West Crossrail", "City Crossrail", and "North–South Crossrail" schemes. The east–west scheme was for a line from Liverpool Street to Paddington/Marylebone with two connections at its western end linking the tunnel to the Great Western Main Line and the Metropolitan line on the Underground. The City route was shown as a new connection across the City of London linking the Great Northern Route with London Bridge.

The north–south line proposed routing West Coast Main Line, Thameslink, and Great Northern trains through Euston and King's Cross/St Pancras, then under the West End via Tottenham Court Road, Piccadilly Circus and Victoria towards Crystal Palace and Hounslow. The report also recommended a number of other schemes including a "Thameslink Metro" route enhancement, and the Chelsea–Hackney line. The cost of the east–west scheme including rolling stock was estimated at £885 million.[6]

In 1991, a private bill was submitted to Parliament for a scheme including a new underground line from Paddington to Liverpool Street.[7] The bill was promoted by London Underground and British Rail, and supported by the government; it was rejected by the Private Bill Committee in 1994[8] on the grounds that a case had not been made, though the government issued "Safeguarding Directions", protecting the route from any development that would jeopardise future schemes.[9]

In 2001, Cross London Rail Links (CLRL), a joint-venture between TfL and the DfT, was formed to develop and promote the Crossrail scheme,[10] and also a Wimbledon–Hackney scheme.

While CLRL was promoting the Crossrail project, alternative schemes were being proposed. In 2002, GB Railways put forward a scheme called SuperCrossRail which would link regional stations such as Cambridge, Guildford, Oxford, Milton Keynes Central, Southend Victoria and Ipswich via a west–east rail tunnel through central London. The tunnel would follow an alignment along the River Thames, with stations at Charing Cross, Blackfriars and London Bridge. In 2004 another proposal named Superlink was promoted by a group of senior railway managers. Like SuperCrossRail, Superlink envisaged linking a number of regional stations via a tunnel through London, but advocated the route already safeguarded for Crossrail. CLRL evaluated both proposals and rejected them due to concerns about network capacity and cost issues.[11][12]

The Crossrail Act 2008 was given royal assent in July 2008,[13][14] giving CLRL the powers necessary to build the line.[15] In September 2009, TfL was loaned £1 billion towards the project by the European Investment Bank.[16] Both Conservatives and Labour made commitments in their 2010 election manifestos to deliver Crossrail, and the coalition government following the election was committed to the project.[17]

Construction of Crossrail at Tottenham Court Road in September 2011

In April 2009, Crossrail announced that 17 firms had secured 'Enabling Works Framework Agreements' and would now be able to compete for packages of works.[18] At the peak of construction up to 14,000 people were expected to be needed in the project's supply chain.[19][20]

Work began on 15 May 2009 when piling works started at the future Canary Wharf station.[21]

The threat of diseases being released by work on the project was raised by Lord James of Blackheath at the passing of the Crossrail Bill. He told the House of Lords select committee that 682 victims of anthrax had been brought into Smithfield in Farringdon with some contaminated meat in 1520 and then buried in the area.[22] On 24 June 2009 it was reported that no traces of anthrax or bubonic plague had been found on human bone fragments discovered during tunnelling.[23]

Invitations to tender for the two principal tunnelling contracts were published in the Official Journal of the European Union in August 2009. 'Tunnels West' (C300) was for twin 6.2-kilometre-long (3.9-mile) tunnels from Royal Oak through to the new Crossrail Farringdon Station, with a portal west of Paddington. The 'Tunnels East' (C305) request was for three tunnel sections and 'launch chambers' in east London.[24] Contracts were awarded in late 2010: the 'Tunnels West' contract was awarded to BAM Nuttall, Ferrovial Agroman and Kier Construction (BFK); the 'Tunnels East' contract was awarded to Dragados and John Sisk & Son.[25][26] The remaining tunnelling contract (C310, Plumstead to North Woolwich), which included a tunnel under the Thames, was awarded to Hochtief and J. Murphy & Sons in 2011.[27]

By September 2009, preparatory work for the £1 billion developments at Tottenham Court Road station had begun, with buildings (including the Astoria Theatre) being compulsorily purchased and demolished.[28]

In March 2010, contracts were awarded to civil engineering companies for the second round of 'enabling work' including 'Royal Oak Portal Taxi Facility Demolition', 'Demolition works for Crossrail Bond Street Station', 'Demolition works for Crossrail Tottenham Court Road Station' and 'Pudding Mill Lane Portal'.[29] In December 2010, contracts were awarded for most of the tunnelling work.[30] To assist with the skills required for the Crossrail project, Crossrail opened in 2011 the Tunnelling and Underground Construction Academy in Ilford.[31] The academy was handed over to Transport for London in 2017, who have sub-contracted its management to PROCAT.[32]

In February 2010, Crossrail was accused of bullying residents whose property lay on the route into selling for less than the market value.[33] A subsequent London Assembly report was highly critical of the insensitive way in which Crossrail had dealt with compulsory purchases and the lack of assistance given to the people and businesses affected.[34] There were also complaints from music fans, as the London Astoria was forced to close.[35]

In December 2011, a contract to ship the excavated material from the tunnel to Wallasea Island[36] was awarded to a joint venture comprising BAM Nuttall Limited and Van Oord UK Limited.[37][38] Between 4.5 and 5 million tonnes of soil would be used to construct a new wetland nature reserve (Wallasea Wetlands).[36][39] The project eventually moved seven million tons of earth.[40]

Restoration of Connaught Tunnel by filling with concrete foam and reboring, as originally intended, was deemed too great a risk to the structural integrity of the tunnel, and so the docks above were drained to give access to the tunnel roof in order to enlarge its profile. This work took place during 2013.[41][42]

Boring of the railway tunnels was officially completed at Farringdon on 4 June 2015 in the presence of the Prime Minister and the Mayor of London.[43]

Installation of the track was completed in September 2017.[44] The ETCS signalling was scheduled to be tested in the Heathrow tunnels over the winter of 2017–2018.[45] The south east section of the infrastructure was energised in February 2018, with the first test train run between Plumstead and Abbey Wood that month.[46] In May 2018 the overhead lines were powered up between Westbourne Park and Stepney, the installation of platform doors was completed,[47] and video was released of the first trains travelling through the tunnels.[48]

TfL Rail took over Heathrow Connect services from Paddington to Heathrow in May 2018.[49][45]

Construction of the link with Liverpool Street at Moorgate, November 2018

At the end of August 2018, four months before the scheduled opening of the core section of the line, it was announced that completion was delayed and that the line would not open before autumn 2019.[50]

In April 2019, it was announced that Crossrail would be completed between October 2020 and March 2021, two years behind schedule, and that it would not include the opening of the Bond Street station, one of ten new stations on the line.[51][52] The London Assembly's transport committee concluded that Transport for London (TfL) played down the prospect of delays to the project in updates to Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, and called for TfL commissioner Mike Brown to consider his position.[53] Crossrail said major challenges before completion included writing and testing the software that would integrate the train with three different track signalling systems, and installing equipment inside the tunnels.[51]

In July 2019, it was announced that the line would not open in 2021, with TfL not expecting the full line from Heathrow to Shenfield to open until the early part of the 2023/24 financial year.[54]

In August 2020, Crossrail announced that the central section would be ready to open "in the first half of 2022".[55]

In May 2021 trial running commenced,[56] with the core section opening for passenger service on 24 May 2022.[57]

The second Tunnel Boring Machine Ada en route to the Royal Oak Portal, June 2012

The project used eight 7.1-metre (23-foot) diameter tunnel-boring machines (TBM) from Herrenknecht AG (Germany). Two types are used; 'slurry' type for the Thames tunnel, which involves tunnelling through chalk; and 'Earth Pressure Balance Machines' (EPBM) for tunnelling through clay, sand and gravel (at lower levels through Lambeth Group and Thanet Sands ground formation). The TBMs weigh nearly 1,000 tonnes and are over 100 metres (330 feet) long.[58][59] The main tunnelling contracts are valued at around £1.5 billion.[60]

The TBMs were named (per tradition). Crossrail ran a competition in January 2012 in which over 2,500 entries were received and 10 pairs of names short-listed. After a public vote in February 2012, the first three pairs of names were announced on 13 March and the last pair on 16 August 2013:[61][62]

• Ada and Phyllis, Royal Oak to Farringdon section, named after Ada Lovelace and Phyllis Pearsall
• Victoria and Elizabeth, Limmo Peninsula to Farringdon section, named after Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II
• Mary and Sophia, Plumstead to North Woolwich section, named after Mary and Sophia, the wives respectively of Isambard Kingdom Brunel and his father Marc Isambard Brunel, builders of the first tunnel under the Thames
• Jessica and Ellie, Pudding Mill Lane to Stepney Green and Limmo Peninsula to Victoria Dock sections, named after Jessica Ennis and Ellie Simmonds

The collapsed gantry (29 September 2012)

The Tottenham Court Road construction site (2009). This included the former site of the London Astoria music venue.

In 2012, Crossrail faced accusations of blacklisting. It was revealed that an industrial relations manager, Ron Barron, employed by Bechtel, had routinely cross-checked job applicants against the Consulting Association database.[63] An employment tribunal in 2010 heard that Barron introduced the use of the blacklist at his former employer, the construction firm Chicago Bridge & Iron Company (CB&I), and referred to it more than 900 times in 2007 alone. He was found to have unlawfully refused employment to a Philip Willis. Aggravated damages were awarded because Barron had added information about Willis to the blacklist.[63]

In May 2012, a BFK manager challenged their subcontractor, Electrical Installations Services Ltd. (EIS), saying that one of their electricians was a trade union activist. Some days later, Pat Swift, the HR manager for BFK and a regular user of the Consulting Association, again challenged EIS. EIS refused to dismiss their worker and lost the contract. Flash pickets were held at the Crossrail site and also at the sites of the BFK partners. The Scottish Affairs Select Committee called on the UK Business Secretary, Vince Cable, to set up a government investigation into blacklisting at Crossrail.[64][65] The electrician was reinstated.[66] Further allegations of blacklisting against Crossrail were made in Parliament in September 2017.[67]

In September 2012, a gantry supporting a spoil hopper, used to load rail wagons with excavated waste at a construction site near Westbourne Park Underground station, collapsed. It tipped sideways, causing the adjacent Network Rail line to be closed.[68][69]

On 7 March 2014, Rene Tkacik, a Slovakian construction worker, was killed by a piece of falling concrete while working in a tunnel.[70] In April 2014, The Observer reported details of a leaked internal report, compiled for the Crossrail contractors by an independent safety consultancy. The report was alleged to have pointed to poor industrial relations arising from safety concerns, and that workers were "too scared to report injuries for fear of being sacked".[71]

Three construction workers died from suspected heart attacks over six months in 2019, but Crossrail announced that, following extensive testing, the air quality at Bond Street station was within acceptable limits.[72]

Much like the Thames Tideway Scheme and the High Speed 2 projects, which were under development in London at the same time as Crossrail, the excavation works that took place during the project gave archaeologists a valuable opportunity to explore the earth underneath London's streets that was previously seen as inaccessible. Crossrail undertook what was described as one of the most extensive archaeological programmes ever seen in the UK. Over 100 archaeologists have found tens of thousands of items from 40 sites, spanning 55 million years of London's history and prehistory.[73] Many of the items were placed on show at the Museum of London Docklands from February to September 2017. Some of the most notable finds include:[74][75]

• Victims of the Great Plague, a mass grave of 42 skeletons found at Liverpool Street station
• Thirteen skeletons, thought to be of victims of the Black Death in the 14th century, uncovered 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) under the road that surrounds the gardens in Charterhouse Square, Farringdon in March 2013[76][77]
• Prehistoric knapped flints discovered in North Woolwich
• A Tudor period bowling ball found in Stepney Green
• Medieval ice skates found near Liverpool Street station
• Bison and reindeer bones
• Leather shoes dating from the Tudor period
• Roman coins and a Roman medallion found at Liverpool Street which was issued to mark the New Year celebrations in AD 245. This medallion was only the second ever of its kind to be found in Europe.
• Two parts of a woolly mammoth jawbone
• The largest piece of amber ever found in the UK, discovered at Canary Wharf
• A Victorian chamber pot found near Stepney Green
• 13,000 Crosse & Blackwell jars found near Tottenham Court Road from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
• Part of a small barge or fishing vessel from 1223 to 1290 found at Canning Town

In the first half of 2021, Crossrail entered trial running stage of construction.[78] This means that Crossrail in partnership with Transport for London are running trains to a timetable through the core section, to check the reliability of the railway. In November 2021, Crossrail entered trial operation which is the final stage before opening.[79]

With an initial budget of £14.8 billion, the total cost rose to £18.25 billion by November 2019,[80][81] and increased further to £18.8 billion by December 2020.[82] Delays to the project of several months were caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in England,[83][84] and in late 2020 this reduced the number of workers that could be safely on-site.[85]

By August 2021, seven of the nine new stations had been handed over to TfL.[86]

The Abbey Wood to Paddington section opened to passengers on 24 May 2022, although initially trains will not run on Sundays to allow for further testing, nor will they call at Bond Street, which will open on 24 October 2022. Passengers wishing to travel in either direction through Paddington and/or Liverpool Street will have to change trains. From Sunday 6 November trains will run directly from Reading and Heathrow in the west to Abbey Wood, and from Shenfield in the east through to Paddington as the surface railways connect with the central tunnels.[87] TfL expects that the full line, with straight-through operation at Paddington, will be operational by May 2023.[88]

From the western end of the tunnel Elizabeth line services continue to Hayes and Harlington where they either remain on the Great Western Main Line and run to Reading via Slough and Maidenhead or split off to the Heathrow branch terminating at Heathrow Terminals 4 or 5. Existing stations are being refurbished and upgraded, including the provision of step-free access at all stations and platform lengthening for the new, longer trains.[93]

Earlier plans suggested terminating at Maidenhead, with an extension to Reading safeguarded.[94] Various commentators advocated an extension further west as far as Reading because it was seen as complementary to the Great Western Electrification project which was announced in July 2009.[95] A Reading terminus was also recommended by Network Rail's 2011 Route Utilisation Strategy.[96] On 27 March 2014 it was announced that the line would indeed extend to Reading.[97][98][99]

A flyover at Airport Junction near Hayes & Harlington station will allow Heathrow Express trains to pass over the track used by Crossrail, avoiding delays caused by crossings.[100] The line between the junction and Heathrow Central (mostly in a tunnel) is not owned by Network Rail but by Heathrow Airport Holdings.

A "dive-under" was constructed at Acton to allow passenger trains to pass slower freight trains leaving and entering a goods yard. It was completed in July 2016 and was brought into use in 2017.[101][102]

The north-eastern Crossrail tunnel connects with the Great Eastern Main Line at Stratford. The Elizabeth line will run to Shenfield via Ilford, Romford and Gidea Park.[103]

Crossrail is the name of the construction project and of the limited company, wholly owned by TfL, that was formed to carry out construction works.[104][105] The Elizabeth line is the name of the new service that will be seen on signage throughout the stations. It is named in honour of Queen Elizabeth II.[106][107] The Elizabeth line logo will feature a Transport for London roundel with a purple ring and blue bar with white text. TfL Rail was an intermediate brand name which was introduced in May 2015 and discontinued in May 2022. It was used by TfL on services between Paddington and Heathrow Terminal 5 and Reading, as well as trains between Liverpool Street and Shenfield.[108]

21 km (13 miles) of twin-bore tunnels were constructed by tunnel boring machines (TBM), each with an internal diameter of 6.2 m (20 ft 4 in)[58] (compared with 3.81 m (12 ft 6 in) for the deep-level Victoria line). The wide-diameter tunnels allow for new Class 345 rolling stock, which is larger than the traditional deep-level tube trains. The tunnels allow for the emergency evacuation of passengers through the side doors rather than along the length of the train.

The tunnels are made up of three main sections: a 15.39 km (9.6 miles) tunnel from Royal Oak portal near Royal Oak station to Victoria Dock portal near Custom House station, a 2.72 km (1.7 miles) tunnel from Pudding Mill Lane portal connecting to the longer tunnel at an underground junction at Stepney Green cavern, and a separate 2.64 km (1.6 miles) tunnel from Plumstead to North Woolwich underneath the Thames. The Custom House to North Woolwich section, included a £50 million investment to renovate and reuse the Connaught tunnel.[109][110]

Crossrail has often been compared to Paris's RER system due to the length of the central tunnel.[111][112]

Crossrail at Farringdon on a preview open day

Elizabeth line
All stations have step-free access from street to platform or train
Reading Twyford Maidenhead Taplow Burnham Slough Langley Heathrow T5 Iver Heathrow T4 M25 motorway Greater London boundary Heathrow T2&3 West Drayton Hayes & Harlington Southall Hanwell West Ealing Ealing Broadway Acton Main Line Old Oak Common (under construction) Old Oak Common depot link opens November 2022 Royal Oak portal Paddington Bond Street Tottenham Court Road Farringdon Barbican Moorgate Liverpool Street Whitechapel   River Lea, City Mill River link opens November 2022 & Waterworks River   Canary Wharf Pudding Mill Lane portal Victoria Dock portal Stratford Custom House Maryland Connaught tunnel under Royal Docks Forest Gate River Thames Manor Park Woolwich Ilford Abbey Wood Seven Kings Safeguarded extension to Gravesend Goodmayes Chadwell Heath Romford Control Centre and depot Romford Gidea Park Harold Wood Greater London boundary M25 motorway Brentwood Shenfield

Crossrail will use 25 kV, 50 Hz AC overhead lines, already in use on the Great Eastern and Great Western Main Lines.

The Heathrow branch started using the European Train Control System (ETCS) in 2020. The Automatic Warning (AWS) and Train Protection & Warning (TPWS) systems are used on the Great Western and Great Eastern Main Lines, with possible later upgrades to ETCS. Communications-based train control (CBTC) is installed in the central section and the Abbey Wood branch.[113][114][115]

Crossrail will have depots in west London at Old Oak Common TMD, in south-east London at Plumstead Depot, and in east London at Ilford EMU Depot and at a new signalling centre at Romford in Havering, East London.[116][117]

Although the Crossrail route passes very close to London City Airport, there is no station serving the airport directly. London City Airport had proposed the re-opening of Silvertown railway station, in order to create an interchange between the rail line and the airport.[118] The self-funded £50 million station plan was supported 'in principle' by the London Borough of Newham.[119] Provisions for re-opening of the station were made in 2012 by Crossrail.[120] However, it was alleged by the airport that Transport for London was hostile to the idea of a station on the site, a claim disputed by TfL.[121]

In 2018, the airport's chief development officer described the lack of a Crossrail station as a "missed opportunity", but did not rule out a future station for the airport.[122] The CEO stated in an interview that a station is not essential to the airport's success.[123] In May 2019, the chief development officer confirmed discussions are ongoing about a station for the airport as part of the proposed extension to Ebbsfleet.[124]

As part of the High Speed 2 (HS2) rail link from London to Birmingham, a new station would be built at Old Oak Common between Paddington and Acton Main Line station.[125] The new station would connect HS2 services with Crossrail and National Rail services on the Great Western Main Line, as well as London Overground services running through the area.[126] The station would open with High Speed 2 in 2026, with preliminary construction beginning in 2019.[127]

In the 2003 and 2004 consultations into Crossrail, the South East branch was proposed to go beyond Abbey Wood, running along the North Kent Line to Ebbsfleet, linking up with the (then under construction) Channel Tunnel Rail Link.[129][130] However, prior to the submission of the Crossrail Hybrid Bill to Parliament in 2005, the branch was truncated at Abbey Wood to cut overall project costs.[131] Although dropped from the main scheme, the route was safeguarded by the Department for Transport as far as Gravesend and Hoo Junction, protecting the route from development.[132]

With the Crossrail project nearing completion in 2018, local MPs, council leaders and local businesses began lobbying[133] the government to fund the development of a business case for the extension to Ebbsfleet,[134][135] with the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan including the project in his Mayor's Transport Strategy.[136] The Mayor's Transport Strategy estimated that an extension could assist in delivering 55,000 new homes and 50,000 new jobs planned along the route in Bexley and north Kent.[137] In March 2019, the Government committed £4.8 million on exploratory work into the extension as part of the Thames Estuary 2050 Growth Commission.[138][131]

The following stations are on the protected route extension to Gravesend: Belvedere, Erith, Slade Green, Dartford, Stone Crossing, Greenhithe for Bluewater, Swanscombe, Ebbsfleet, Northfleet, and Gravesend.[139]

Network Rail's July 2011 London & South East Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) recommended that a short railway line could be built to connect the West Coast Main Line (WCML) with the Crossrail route. This would enable train services that currently run between Milton Keynes Central and London Euston to be re-routed via Old Oak Common to serve central London, Shenfield and Abbey Wood. The report argued that this would free up capacity at Euston for the planned High Speed 2, reduce London Underground congestion at Euston, make better use of Crossrail's capacity west of Paddington, and improve access to Heathrow Airport from the north.[140] Under this scheme, all Crossrail trains would continue west of Paddington, instead of some of them terminating there. They would serve Heathrow Airport (10 tph), stations to Maidenhead and Reading (6 tph), and stations to Milton Keynes Central (8 tph).[141]

In August 2014, a statement by transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin indicated that the government was actively evaluating the extension of Crossrail as far as Tring and Milton Keynes Central, with potential Crossrail stops at Wembley Central, Harrow & Wealdstone, Bushey, Watford Junction, Kings Langley, Apsley, Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, Tring, Cheddington, Leighton Buzzard and Bletchley. The extension would relieve some pressure from London Underground and London Euston station while also increasing connectivity. Conditions to the extension were that any extra services should not affect the planned service pattern for confirmed routes, as well as affordability.[142][143] This proposal was shelved in August 2016 due to "poor overall value for money to the taxpayer".[144]

As part of the Heathrow Southern Railway scheme proposed in 2017, the western extent of the Crossrail route could be extended beyond Heathrow Airport to terminate at Staines. This extension would form part of a wider scheme to create new rail links in west London and Surrey serving Heathrow, and would require the construction of an extra platform at Staines station. This proposal has not been approved or funded.[145]

Stobart Aviation, the company that operates Southend Airport in Essex, has proposed that Crossrail should be extended beyond Shenfield along the Shenfield–Southend line to serve Southend Airport and Southend Victoria. The company has suggested that a direct Heathrow-Southend link could alleviate capacity problems at Heathrow.[146] The extension proposal has been supported by Southend-on-Sea City Council.[147]

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