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

[whole diary]

[Adelante_CCT]

Yes, the shuttle will operate all through the day, I did hear it would be increased to every 20 minutes during rush hour, though this hasn't been confirmed of late.

The paths that are then freed up from Paddington will immediately be covered by the new electrics (365s?) which will run a shuttle to Hayes and I believe this will continue until crossrail is up and running.

[SandTEngineer]

Once again referring to the most current scheme plan I have access to, Line 6 is cut back permanently to allow the Crossrail lines to merge into the relief lines roughly in the Ladbroke Grove area.

[paul7575]

The paths that are then freed up from Paddington will immediately be covered by the new electrics (365s?) which will run a shuttle to Hayes and I believe this will continue until crossrail is up and running.

I found a few days ago that the direct award franchise agreement is now available on DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)'s site, and has the first 10 new EMUs^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit) as 387/1s ex GTR, 6 by end of March 16, and another 4 by end of April, the first 365s are not until 2017.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/426295/FGW_Interim_Franchise_Agreement_02.pdf

Loads more rolling stock dates in there...

Paul

[Adelante_CCT]

Thanks Paul, yes I wasn't sure if it was 365s or not, thank you for clearing that up for me.

[eightf48544]

Passengers inbound from Hayes are going to very disappointed when Crossrail comes in with it's non loo cattle trucks compared to the 365s they've travelling in up until then!

[IndustryInsider]

Passengers inbound from Hayes are going to very disappointed when Crossrail comes in with it's non loo cattle trucks compared to the 365s they've travelling in up until then!

I know you're of the opinion that running Crossrail west of Paddington isn't going to work, but personally I'll be waiting to see the interiors of the trains before describing them as 'cattle trucks' which in my opinion is unlikely given that each and every train will be over 200 metres long compared with the 160 metres (at best) that the 365's will provide. 

As for loos, short distances from the likes of West Drayton and Hayes into London won't, in my opinion, cause many problems.  The length of journey will be comparable, probably less, than many commutes in on the Met and Central lines, which of course have no toilets.  Possibly more of an issue on longer journeys from places like Twyford, Maidenhead, and, if the extention gets the go-ahead, places like Tring and Berkhamsted.

[ChrisB]

I found a few days ago that the direct award franchise agreement is now available on DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)'s site,

Been there some time....BNM drew our attention to this.

What we've been waiting for is the SLC^▸ (Service Level Commitment) that goes with it & on checking, I notice that this is now posted too - can only have gone up very recently as I've been regularly checking for it....

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/452229/first-great-western-service-level-commitment-3a-22032015.pdf

[paul7575]

I found a few days ago that the direct award franchise agreement is now available on DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)'s site,

Been there some time....BNM drew our attention to this.

Yes, and I even posted the same info about the 387s from it at the time, back in May!

Memory must be going...

Paul

[Electric train]

Passengers inbound from Hayes are going to very disappointed when Crossrail comes in with it's non loo cattle trucks compared to the 365s they've travelling in up until then!

I know you're of the opinion that running Crossrail west of Paddington isn't going to work, but personally I'll be waiting to see the interiors of the trains before describing them as 'cattle trucks' which in my opinion is unlikely given that each and every train will be over 200 metres long compared with the 160 metres (at best) that the 365's will provide. 

As for loos, short distances from the likes of West Drayton and Hayes into London won't, in my opinion, cause many problems.  The length of journey will be comparable, probably less, than many commutes in on the Met and Central lines, which of course have no toilets.  Possibly more of an issue on longer journeys from places like Twyford, Maidenhead, and, if the extention gets the go-ahead, places like Tring and Berkhamsted.

I agree need to wait to see what the new Crossrail trains look like, I had a very good look around the Thameslink class 700 on Saturday night the interior is very good for a 12 car train there is only 2 loos ad absolutely no buffet or plan for trolley service 

Not sure folks will be too impressed with the 365 they are a 25kV version of the 165 no aircon compared to the 387/1 which are fully aircon and the 0-60 on them compared to 365 is better

[Electric train]

Notice on both the Main Lines and Relief Lines along the route between Maidenhead and Airport Jcn stove pipes, insulators, registration arm support tubes and some other SPS^▸ (Small Part Steel).

(Techie note    SPS - Small Part Steel, ie bits of steel that just have parts numbers and no common name.   Stove Pipes are the steel tubes (round or square) the drop down from the structure above to support the OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE") components, why stove pipe because they look like the old iron stoves chimneys)

[Electric train]

The TBM have gone and left a big hole ................ so now its time to fill them with some concrete http://www.europeanrailwayreview.com/24531/rail-industry-news/crossrail-welcomes-465-metre-long-concreting-train/

The concrete batching plant on wheels has arrived to start laying the slab for the track

[Electric train]

The OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE") insulators, support booms between Maidenhead and Stockley Park are getting added to all the time.  Also today I notice the 25kV circuit breakers and ancillary equipment building have been delivered to the Slough AT site

[IndustryInsider]

A Crossrail Class 345 test vehicle has now been produced:

http://www.globalrailnews.com/2015/09/10/bombardier-completes-first-crossrail-body-shell/

[Bmblbzzz]

I hope it's ok if I ask a very basic question about Crossrail here. I can't think of another topic it would fit into, but it is quite basic!

Simply, how will Crossrail affect journeys to and more importantly across London from this part of the country? I presume that travelling to London you'll arrive at Paddington as now and onward travel will be via Tube, taxi or whatever, just as today. But sometimes I go to Colchester. (Yes, I admit to visiting Essex; I even have friends there!  ) At the moment this is usually train to Paddington, tube to Liverpool St then a horrible Greater Anglia service to Colchester. When Crossrail is done, will it be possible to use that from Paddington ^ or even from Reading ^ as far as Shenfield, thus hopefully missing out the very worst of the Essex commuter-line nightmare? Come to that, is Crossrail even to be accepting National Rail tickets or does it have its own ticketing system? Or a bit of both, like LU?

I dare say the answer is already in this thread, somewhere, but I'm afraid I haven't had time to wade through all of it.

[ChrisB]

I suspect that the fastest route will be GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to Pad, Crossrail to Liverpool St and fast non-stop train to Colchester. Yes, you will be able to do Crossrail from Reading to Shenfield & slow(er) train to Colchester, but it's likely to be at least an hour longer! Normal BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) fares will be available, but I suspect Crossrail will launch it's own lower fares at some stage to compete.