London's new £19bn transit line opens

Elizabeth Line speeds up east-west travel in the UK capital and its surrounding areas
By Adam Hill May 24, 2022 Read time: 2 mins
Construction of the £19bn project began in 2009 (© ITS International)

London's newest public transportation line opened today.

Construction of the £19bn Elizabeth Line, named after the UK's 96-year-old monarch Queen Elizabeth II, began in 2009.

Designed to speed up travel between the east and west of the UK capital and its surrounds, it was due to open in 2018 but was delayed by engineering difficulties.

The new route is 62 miles (100km), including 25.5 miles (41km) under London and 36.5 miles (59km) above ground.

It halves journey times from Abbey Wood, south-east of London, to Paddington in the centre, to 29 minutes.

While there has been criticism of the 'Crossrail' infrastructure project's $4bn overspend and late opening, much has been made of the economic advantages of having trains running every five minutes via the commercial areas of Canary Wharf and the City of London, as well as into the retail and entertainment areas of the capital's West End.

Mohamed Mezghani, secretary-general of the International Association of Public Transport (UITP), tweeted: "£19bn investment for £42bn positive impact on the economy of London: public transport is good for the economy."

Until autumn 2022, the Elizabeth Line will run as three separate railways, but it is expected to be fully linked after that, connecting to the city of Reading, west of London, and Heathrow Airport, through to the county of Essex to the north-east of London.

Mass Transit & MaaS

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Land of ITS opportunities
    February 2, 2012
    Geographically, Russia, the largest country in the world, is vast. So too are the opportunities for the global ITS community, which is why ITS Russia has been actively promoting the country and the opportunities that abound there. ITS Russia is reaching out around the world. In October, at the 17th ITS World Congress in Busan, South Korea, a cooperative agreement was signed with ITS America to promote and strengthen research, educational, and commercial cooperation in the ITS field among the two association
    Read More
  • Land of ITS opportunities
    February 6, 2012
    Geographically, Russia, the largest country in the world, is vast. So too are the opportunities for the global ITS community, which is why ITS Russia has been actively promoting the country and the opportunities that abound there
    Read More
  • Technology and creative sectors the key to London’s future – CBI/CBRE
    September 22, 2017
    As the UK’s future relationship with the European Union hangs over the capital’s businesses, According to the latest CBI/CBRE London Business Survey, firms view the technology and creative sectors as fundamental to London’s future prosperity. Two thirds of the 271 respondents to the London Business Survey (65 per cent) said that the technology and creative sectors were the principal sectors for the capital’s economic growth over the next five years, followed by professional services (49 per cent) and f
    Read More
  • High hopes for Detroit streetcar system
    June 12, 2013
    Detroit, the historic home of the US automotive industry, is to get a new streetcar rail system to help drive the economic revival of Motor City. M-1 Rail, the organisation overseeing the US$140 million project, has been pursuing an aggressive timetable toward a late 2015 service launch. “We are now jumping out of the gate,” says Heather Carmona, M-1 Rail’s chief administrative officer. Final design could be completed by mid-August and, depending on when the necessary permits are secured, construction coul
    Read More

Highlighted Content