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

[whole diary]

[broadgage]

The deep tube stations were very valuable indeed during the last war and saved many lives. Current thinking is no doubt that there wont be another war. The people in Ukraine probably thought that.

Given all the deep tube stations are still open, aren't all those 'facilities' still available in the event of war?

Yes, still open, and yes still available. BUT with a growing population more shelter space would be desirable.

[IndustryInsider]

Yes, still open, and yes still available. BUT with a growing population more shelter space would be desirable.

How about the literal miles of space available in the Crossrail tunnels with their wide bore and walkways throughout?

[broadgage]

Yes, still open, and yes still available. BUT with a growing population more shelter space would be desirable.

How about the literal miles of space available in the Crossrail tunnels with their wide bore and walkways throughout?

We may yet be glad of that.

[froome]

I had my first journey on the Elizabeth line at the weekend, from Paddington to Canary Wharf, and as others have said, it is impressively efficient, and has obviously made that journey very much quicker than it would have taken before.

However, there was one very big downside to my journey, which I'll post on a new thread now.

[stuving]

Elizabeth Line trains start running to Heathrow T4 from 14th June (next Tuesday). T4 itself will open progressively, with airlines transferring over the next few weeks. In fact shuttles are running between Central and T4, presumably for staff use as officially they aren't. From Tuesday, the EL trains from Paddington will split equally between T4 and T5, which initially means only 2 tph to T4 and (as now) to T5.

The currently loaded WTT^▸ (Working Time-Table) says that from 8th August the through trains to T4 stop, and the service reverts to as now, with shuttles. I imagine that's an artefact of the data feeds.

[Marlburian]

"House prices on Elizabeth Line expected to soar with increased demand." The soar seems to be inexorable! Still, the views expressed are those of Rightmove’s "director of property science", so they must be valid.

[Marlburian]

"Why Elizabeth Line trains are rammed at the front and back but the middle is always empty"

This "phenomenon" has long existed on Tube trains, such as on the Bakerloo at Paddington, where in my commuting days passengers would go on to the platform at the more-or-less central point and cluster there, then crowd onto the middle of the train. I would squeeze past them and stroll down the platform to join the last carriage (which, TBH^▸ (to be honest), was the best one from which to exit at Lambeth North).

[didcotdean]

Paddington is kind of an exception to this if connecting to/from the Bakerloo as you actually want to be in the middle.

[Surrey 455]

Paddington is kind of an exception to this if connecting to/from the Bakerloo as you actually want to be in the middle.

I used to find that there was a better chance of a seat in the rear carriage(s) on southbound Bakerloo line trains at Paddington.

[IndustryInsider]

I used to find that there was a better chance of a seat in the rear carriage(s) on southbound Bakerloo line trains at Paddington.

Certainly the case for the ones that have started only a few stops up the line at Queens Park.

[stuving]

Something happened this afternoon, which you might call another real-world learning opportunity. Trains both ways stopped for half an hour just after 4 pm. The earliest evidence I can see is that 9Y32 from Abbey Wood got to Custom House on time and was never recorded as leaving. It is flagged as part-cancelled "This service was cancelled between Custom House and London Paddington due to a delay caused on a non-Network Rail line (TX)."

[stuving]

Something happened this afternoon, which you might call another real-world learning opportunity. Trains both ways stopped for half an hour just after 4 pm. The earliest evidence I can see is that 9Y32 from Abbey Wood got to Custom House on time and was never recorded as leaving. It is flagged as part-cancelled "This service was cancelled between Custom House and London Paddington due to a delay caused on a non-Network Rail line (TX)."

This appears to be their standard response to a failed train, if it's still mobile, at this point. Obviously the trains following it all stopped very soon, and after a couple had passed the other way the next one (9U30) was held at Canary Wharf. That allowed the failed train to move forward a short distance and use the crossover, then reverse and exit the core to Abbey Wood. By now the tunnel behind it, and Abbey Wood's two platforms, were full. But with the failed train moved those blocked trains could get going again. The ex-9Y32 (ID unknown) went to the depot at Plumstead, for which the reversal happens in ABW station. But it would have to queue to get out of the tunnel at all, as the tailback extended that far.

Having a train fail on the line to the depot will be interesting - there's no flexibility and almost no alternative route around that. You do wonder why it was built like that.

[Electric train]

Something happened this afternoon, which you might call another real-world learning opportunity. Trains both ways stopped for half an hour just after 4 pm. The earliest evidence I can see is that 9Y32 from Abbey Wood got to Custom House on time and was never recorded as leaving. It is flagged as part-cancelled "This service was cancelled between Custom House and London Paddington due to a delay caused on a non-Network Rail line (TX)."

This appears to be their standard response to a failed train, if it's still mobile, at this point. Obviously the trains following it all stopped very soon, and after a couple had passed the other way the next one (9U30) was held at Canary Wharf. That allowed the failed train to move forward a short distance and use the crossover, then reverse and exit the core to Abbey Wood. By now the tunnel behind it, and Abbey Wood's two platforms, were full. But with the failed train moved those blocked trains could get going again. The ex-9Y32 (ID unknown) went to the depot at Plumstead, for which the reversal happens in ABW station. But it would have to queue to get out of the tunnel at all, as the tailback extended that far.

Having a train fail on the line to the depot will be interesting - there's no flexibility and almost no alternative route around that. You do wonder why it was built like that.

It was built "Tube" style. 

I wonder why the unit was not allowed to proceed ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) from the point it failed to OOC^▸ (Old Oak Common (depot)) depot, if it was not a dead unit that needed to be rescued

[Marlburian]

"Passengers using Elizabeth Line falling down escalators."

"'There was a whole series of minor incidents, but very minor, at Paddington shortly after opening.' However, he explained there were not any particularly noticeable or worrying trends in terms of passenger safety incidents in the first month of opening."

I've never been very comfortable stepping onto an escalator at top or bottom,matters not being helped by an inner-ear op in 1996 that affected my balance for several years. At Reading Station I always prefer to use the stairs where possible. On a visit to the town earlier this year, I found I was more uncomfortable than before on the short escalators in the Oracle. An age thing, and in a way it was reassuring when a friend and his wife recently"toured" Crossrail and admitted to also feeling uneasy on busy escalators. (He's a volunteer on the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway, where that sort of problem doesn't exist.)

[Marlburian]

Crossrail's fake destinations

Another non-story on local news media. Ealing Broadway is hardly a "fake destination" as Crossrail trains do stop there. And the same helpful "trick" was used pre-Lockdown by FGW^▸ (First Great Western) stopping services with the destination boards at Reading suggesting that  Ealing Broadway was the terminus. It probably still is -I've gone no further east than Maidenhead for 30 months.