Crossrail/Elizabeth Line. From construction to operation - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[stuving]

It's hard to abbreviate neatly to fit any text display with a low character limit, and because it's regarded as a separate operation rather than just another Tube line it ends up quite clumsy in places; it always has to have the word "line" included when the others are often just referred to as the Bakerloo, District etc. The Victoria line has of course long suffered from a similar clumsiness but I'm not aware of the same degree of official policy.

I've seen a lot of comment about the name with "line" being needed because it's not a proper tube line, but I can't see it. Surely you can't just use a living queen's name just as it is. Hardly lèse-majesté, but it just feels wrong - too familiar. With Victoria's one, maybe there were enough radical traditionalists in the 50s to apply the same logic, but by now that wouldn't count for much. However, there is a practical issue that would call for a bit of policy - Victoria (the station) is a major destination. So best to avoid just "Victoria" on wayfinding signs (though I can't check whether they do sitting here at home).

[RichardB]

I have to say I really don't care what it's called - I'm just glad it's opening.

Good to see the Queen at Paddington today - it would be interesting for someone to pull together all the rail things she has opened over the years, plus her Royal Tours.  The 50s tour of Devon & Cornwall saw the railways go to mad lengths to show off for the Queen including covering whole station buildings in drapes, special signs etc e.g. Saltash when it was a very busy station.

In recent times, no draping of stations and she travels on an ordinary EMU^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit) to King's Lynn for Sandringham.  Here's a video from 2019 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPpazK0P0kc

And then we had this in 2013 

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/video/the-queen-arrival-at-st-ives-and-visit-to-lifeboat-news-footage/687600762

Closet gricer the Queen, clearly.......

[Bmblbzzz]

In recent times, no draping of stations and she travels on an ordinary EMU^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit) to King's Lynn for Sandringham.  Here's a video from 2019 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPpazK0P0kc

I hope this doesn't mean Rod Hull fixing the Sandringham TV aerial.

[stuving]

TfL^» (Transport for London - about) now want to sneak in an extra stage - 5b-! From the Elizabeth Line Readiness report to the EL Committee meeting next week (hence it's dated 25 May):

5 Stage 5b
5.1 The plan to complete the end-to-end railway entails three steps; 5b-minus which will provide a 22 trains per hour peak (16 trains per hour off-peak) frequency in the central section (Paddington – Whitechapel) which can commence outside of a National Rail timetable change but requires a 16-week notice period; and stages 5b and 5c both of which step up the peak frequency to 24 trains per hour but require auto-reverse

You've probably forgotten exactly what stage is which - I had to check up. Assuming they are as reported last
year, stage 3 starts next week. Stage 5c is the final service, and 5b is much the same train frequencies but simplified so no train runs outside the core on both east and west sides.

So it looks as if 5b- doesn't alter the service pattern, just adds more of the same.

[Marlburian]

"Reading and other Berkshire railway stations have appeared on the Transport for London tube map for the first time"

I may be being unfair to "Get Reading", but I think that the article is mostly an old story. Certainly I can recall local news websites last year marvelling at Reading being included on a map of London transport and comments (perhaps here in the Coffee Shop) about how Reading had been squeezed in at right angles.

Or perhaps that map showed only the Crossrail route west from Paddington. Whatever, the article intro is wrong.

[stuving]

"Reading and other Berkshire railway stations have appeared on the Transport for London tube map for the first time"

I may be being unfair to "Get Reading", but I think that the article is mostly an old story. Certainly I can recall local news websites last year marvelling at Reading being included on a map of London transport and comments (perhaps here in the Coffee Shop) about how Reading had been squeezed in at right angles.

Or perhaps that map showed only the Crossrail route west from Paddington. Whatever, the article intro is wrong.

I had to stop and think about that - I don't often see the "tube map", mostly I use the "rail and tube services" one. But I think you're right: TfL^» (Transport for London - about) Rail was put on the tube map from December 2019.

[onthecushions]

The Lizline opening day of 24th May is Queen Victoria's birthday, also, until 1957, Empire Day. It is still observed in Canada on the nearest Monday as a public holiday entitled "Victoria Day"

The Maple Leaf for Ever

OTC

[infoman]

Sky news are reporting live from "Central London" on Tuesday morning news at 07:35am not sure where though in connection with opening of Crossrail.

BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) news are LIVE from Woolwich

[TonyK]

Sky news are reporting live from "Central London" on Tuesday morning news at 07:35am not sure where though in connection with opening of Crossrail.

BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) news are LIVE from Woolwich

BBC Radio 4 has a reporter ready to board a train.

The Maple Leaf for Ever

OTC

From a Spike Milligan book (probably "Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall")

Canadian soldier: "Can you play the Maple Leaf Forever?"
Harry Edgington (pianist with Milligan's band): "Sorry, my hands get tired after an hour."

[Marlburian]

Reading this latest article and watching the Meridian TV news coverage about Crossrail, I wonder if I'm missing something - or more than two somethings.

Some of the vox pops on the TV item still don't seem to realise that it takes an hour to get from Reading to Paddington, yet the reporter said that when Crossrail was fully open it would be possible to get from Reading to Central London in under an hour.

"Travellers boarding at Reading, Maidenhead and Slough will soon have access to more modern, less crowded trains, and some will have faster commutes." Haven't these trains been running for more than two years?

[Richard Fairhurst]

As luck would have it, I had a meeting near Liverpool Street today... so an ideal opportunity to try the Lizzy Line on its first day.

It is fast. Really fast. Ten minutes from Paddington to Liverpool Street. (Presumably that'll be 11 or 12 once Bond Street opens.)

Because it's basically sub-surface at Paddington, access from the main platforms is really quick: just walk out the west side of the station, down a shallow escalator and you're on the platforms. Liverpool Street is obviously deeper, and further to walk.

The station architecture, at least the bits I saw, is efficient but unspectacular - much less flashy than the Jubilee Line Extension. But lots of space everywhere - platforms, halls, corridors. Clear information screens both in the trains and on the platforms, where they're positioned directly above the platform doors rather than crossways along the platform.

I can't help feeling this is going to have a big knock-on effect on the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) network. The City (and Silicon Roundabout etc.) are now within 1hr30 of somewhere like Charlbury. Previously schlepping across town on the Circle Line (or walking to catch the Central) was slow and unreliable, making it a sensible commute only for the really dedicated. If you're working part-time from home, part-time from the office, this becomes a very attractive option.

(Now on the train home and I'm reminded how colossally GWR have screwed up demand management on the Cotswold Line. The 17.34 is a nine-carriage train and in our carriage (B) there were just seven passengers at Paddington. Many more joined at Reading. That is kind of an inevitable consequence of charging sky-high peak fares from Paddington, and not stopping the majority of the evening trains at Reading. There has to be a better way of doing it than this...)

[stuving]

Why have almost all reports of this included that it is late and over its budget? No-one (else) has said that it was underbudgeted and promised too early. Isn't that as good a description of what happened - and arguably more accurate? After all the function of an estimate is to predict what will happen, so in this case the time and cost estimates (and thus the budget, based on that) were in error.

[TaplowGreen]

Why have almost all reports of this included that it is late and over its budget? No-one (else) has said that it was underbudgeted and promised too early. Isn't that as good a description of what happened - and arguably more accurate? After all the function of an estimate is to predict what will happen, so in this case the time and cost estimates (and thus the budget, based on that) were in error.

Careful, or HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) will offer you a job in their PR^▸ (Public Relations) department!

[Electric train]

I used the line this morning 06:50 (ish) for every commuter there was 3 or 4 enthusiasts with a camera or phone videoing it.         

This afternoon not a camera videoing in sight 

[Reading General]

Reading this latest article and watching the Meridian TV news coverage about Crossrail, I wonder if I'm missing something - or more than two somethings.

Some of the vox pops on the TV item still don't seem to realise that it takes an hour to get from Reading to Paddington, yet the reporter said that when Crossrail was fully open it would be possible to get from Reading to Central London in under an hour.

"Travellers boarding at Reading, Maidenhead and Slough will soon have access to more modern, less crowded trains, and some will have faster commutes." Haven't these trains been running for more than two years?

This appears to have been the marketing from the start. It does seem that only those with knowledge of the railways know what the arrangement is, everyone else has been conned with misleading information about a new line for the entire 70 odd miles. The ‘new’ line the Thames valley is getting is the same one that’s been open since 1840. Yes, journey times once IN London have improved for those going there but the over the top hype about this project from the media and property companies has mostly been misleading, particularly for Reading as the journey times quoted, largely never mentioned that you’ll still be on the very same mainline trains you’ve been on for decades to achieve the advertised times. The real benefits to Reading are the same as they would be for Swindon, Bath, Bristol and anywhere else on the former Intercity routes from London Paddington. Cynical I know but I do dislike misinformation and the way things are marketed to be more than they perhaps are, particularly when it means I can no longer afford to live in the town I’m from.
This post is all just my opinion.