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

[whole diary]

[stuving]

Hopped off at Slough.  345's are bright, have a very good ride, very sure footed with no wheelslip despite quite hard acceleration.  In this respect better than 387's.  Also motor noise almost imperceptible, again better than 387's.  There were a few surprised passengers.  SO this was a Crossrail owned train, operated by Tf l, with MTR drivers, operated on behalf of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway).

Crossrail were pretty demanding on ride and track wear, because their tunnels are so wiggly and expensive to replace track in. So the bogie unsprung weight is very low, and the motorised axle count relatively high at 20/36 to push it up those underground hills. None of that needs a lot of software, fortunately.

But the trains were owned by TfL^» (Transport for London - about), until earlier this year when they flogged therm off to a bunch of funders in return for a big heap of folding stuff and now lease them:

TfL completes ‘sale and leaseback’ of Elizabeth line trains to 345 Rail Leasing Consortium
22 March 2019
Deal releases approximately £1bn of capital to reinvest into London's transport network, whilst allowing TfL to retain control and operate new Class 345 trains across the Elizabeth line

TfL has completed a sale and leaseback deal for the new Class 345 'Elizabeth line' trains to 345 Rail Leasing - a consortium comprising Equitix Investment Management Ltd, NatWest and SMBC Leasing.

The deal, which was approved by TfL's Finance Committee in December, will release approximately £1bn to TfL. This will be reinvested in infrastructure across London's transport network, including delivering a fleet of new Piccadilly line trains, the first of which will appear in London from 2023.

I'd say they are leased by TfL from a special-purpose ROSCO^» (Rolling Stock Owning Company - about), operated by MTR-Crossrail (I think still) under contract to TfL, branded as Tfl Rail, and run services that fulfill part of GWR's SLC^▸ (Service Level Commitment) under their "franchise" agreement.

[BBM]

A notice appeared at Reading trying to explain to us simple Berkshire country folk the changes that TfL^» (Transport for London - about) will make in December. Apart from free rides for Freedom pass holders (but not for us) and four of their ominous offspring, the enigmatic phrase "TfL train" was used without explanation.

This has the potential for many tears with the subtle differences in ticketing etc. Many travellers will not hold current Ian Allan Certificates and are likely to miss the difference between a white and green train, at least in the short term.

It would help if a colour poster showing the differences (and seat plans) were displayed.

OTC

Posters with the enigmatic "TfL train" on them have been appearing on bus stops in Reading:

[Reading General]

A quick glance at that doesn’t really highlight that there is another company. There will be many travelling on fast trains thinking this applies. Cue a ludicrous amount of annoying announcements on General station to add to the transport for a city up the road travel update.

[broadgage]

I recall a widely reported ticketing dispute, on a train from Brighton IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly). Two different operators involved, Southern and Thameslink.
Customer had a ticket valid only on one of these two operators, and boarded a train liveried in accordance with the ticket type. Unfortunately the train in the livery of company A was being hired or leased to company B, and the ticket marked "only valid on trains run by A" was therefore invalid. I cant recall how it ended, but this sort of thing shows the railway in a very poor light.

Wonder if any TFL^▸ (Transport for London) trains will be hired to FGW^▸ (First Great Western), or vice-versa. Could be interesting ! "sorry sir, your ticket is only valid on TFL services, and this is a GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) service, you must pay a penalty of £20"

But says TFL on the side of the train !

"I cant help that, sir, the train is leased from TFL to GWR and is therefore a GWR service."

[BBM]

Here's Geoff Marshall's video report of the first morning of TfL^» (Transport for London - about) services from Reading:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXV95PR7pEc

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

From 15th December 2019 the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website claims that, for Hanwell and Acton Mainline, "Great Western Railway will continue to operate some services from here at weekends".  Neither sees a Sunday service now are after 15th December, and I see no GWR trains stopping there on Saturdays after 15th December.  This explains why both stations disappear from GWR's T10 timetable and timetable map from 15th December of course. 

So I think the GWR website needs correcting. 

[Marlburian]

What Crossrail will bring to the people of Berkshire

I'm yet to be convinced about the benefits to people living in Reading itself, with toilet-less Crossrail services to Paddington taking 65 minutes. The advantages only begin when you get to London, with increased capacity and faster journeys through/under the Capital.

Originally Crossrail was intended to start at Maidenhead, but campaigning by local politicians led to it being extended to Reading. I can see that people using Maidenhead Station and stations between there and Paddington would benefit from boarding a Crossrail train to travel past Paddington.

I've no doubt that this has already been much debated, but thought that the article might be of interest. Not that I'm overly impressed by analyses on local news websites: a few weeks ago there was a short-lived travesty of an article that suggested that Crossrail would run express trains but wouldn't go to Swindon. A couple of critical comments led to it being taken down and replaced with something more accurate.

Marlburian

[Bmblbzzz]

Presumably (some) Reading commuters will benefit when it eventually runs through to Liverpool Street, or wherever it exactly will run to, by not having to change to tube at Paddington to reach City/Docklands/WEnd/etc? At least I thought that was the general idea.

[Reading General]

Once again a poor piece of journalism that doesn’t really explain what is actually going on. Crossrail isn’t taking over all the stopping services from Reading (general) to london, it will be taking over half of them. The article tells us that Maidenhead etc. will be getting the same trains with no toilet, it then goes on to suggest that the whole thing is a brand new line rather than a tunnel under central london. As for Rob Wilson fighting hard to get it, I’m guessing he too probably doesn’t quite understand what it’s going to be but wants to repeat that he was responsible for the project as it sounds great in a short conversation with people who will never use it and probably never question how viable it is. Crossrail has of course become a positive and negative word in the last few years.

The london workers snapping up new homes will all clearly be adding to the amount of people on the capital bound platforms 10 and 11 on Reading (general) station every morning, or is it hoped by TFL^▸ (Transport for London) and GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) that people will all swap to the already existing slow services of which crossrail is? It looks to me that London’s subsidised transport system gains a new form of income for little return, while increasing overcrowding on the fast line trains run by GWR, which will possibly be reduced in future, making the grand junction of opportunity to access the whole country from Reading (rather than just london) redundant and leaving us simply as the terminus to a long drawn out tube line that only goes one direction.

This is of course the writings of a cynic and only parts of it will probably come true but i still stand by the opinion that crossrail is an ill thought out project, creating capacity that could have been done for much less money on the GW^▸ (Great Western) main line.

[Marlburian]

Presumably (some) Reading commuters will benefit when it eventually runs through to Liverpool Street, or wherever it exactly will run to, by not having to change to tube at Paddington to reach City/Docklands/WEnd/etc? At least I thought that was the general idea.

How many regular commuters - or even occasional travellers - are going to want to spend 65 minutes between Reading and Paddington? Optimally one day they could still take a fast train and then change on to Crossrail at Paddington, though it remains to be seen how easy it will be to walk from one part of the station to another. Admittedly at the moment it's not much fun working one's way through the crowds to the Tube platforms.

Until recently I used to travel from Tilehurst to Liverpool Street off-peak a couple of times a month and, rather than change on to a faster service at Reading, would stay on the stopper until Ealing Broadway and the Central Line. (The first off-peak fast trains are usually very busy.)

Coming back in the rush hour,  I would aim for a semi-fast rather than a slow service.

BTW^▸ (by the way), good assessment, Reading General.

Marlburian

[Bmblbzzz]

Presumably (some) Reading commuters will benefit when it eventually runs through to Liverpool Street, or wherever it exactly will run to, by not having to change to tube at Paddington to reach City/Docklands/WEnd/etc? At least I thought that was the general idea.

How many regular commuters - or even occasional travellers - are going to want to spend 65 minutes between Reading and Paddington?

That's a good point, which I had failed to consider.

[didcotdean]

When the full Crossrail service is in operation there will be two semi-fast services in the peaks to/from Reading, calling at Twyford, Maidenhead, Slough, West Drayton and Ealing Broadway only. The other two are to stop at all stations apart from Hanwell and Acton Main Line.

[Reading General]

I guess there is the possibility of pricing people off the fast trains at the expense of time and I would hazard a guess that this is what TFL^▸ (Transport for London), GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) and the DFT^▸ (Department for Transport) are hoping happens but then we end up with a two tier railway, one for the regular folk and one for those, or the companies they work for, that can afford it. This could be repeated on a grander scale with HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)).
Crossrail and GWR’s new timetable reinforces the national (at least southern England) idea that rail travel is simply for going to london and nothing else, when right now we should be considering making the railway as easy as possible to use, locally and nationally. With a private railway this was always going to happen, aim the service at the most popular and most money making opportunities at the expense of the lesser used (but equally important to get people out of cars) routes and lines. Add to this a city with a regulated transport system different to the rest of the nation that only has its own interests in mind and you have a railway which doesn’t entice those people in cars mentioned in the article, to choose the train for as many journeys as possible.

[IndustryInsider]

The main reason it was extended to Reading was to cater for the not insignificant number of passengers from places like Ealing, Hayes and West Drayton to Reading.  They were originally faced with a change at Slough onto a Reading to Slough shuttle service if original plans hadn't been changed.

There may well be the odd niche customer who decides to use the Elizabeth Line all the way out to Reading, but unless prices are significantly different then expect the vast majority to take a fast train to/from Paddington and change there.  Remember there is a much more frequent service eastbound starting from Paddington when the Elizabeth Line commences, so unless there is major disruption on GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) then it will always be quicker than Elizabeth Line all the way.

[Reading General]

So were GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) looking to completely give up service of the relief line between Slough and London, dividing a through line in two? I can’t see TFL^▸ (Transport for London) sympathising with those passengers from outer london heading west. Would the Didcot relief line service not have continued to do what it does today, providing a half hourly option heading east from those stations?