London’s Elizabeth Line will finally open this month after two decades since the railway plan was developed. The long-awaited rail expansion will provide a much-needed boost to the capital’s travel infrastructure, cutting some journey times considerably and opening a number of new stations.
Crossrail has been under development since 2002 and originally due to open in 2018.
But the rail link has been mired by setbacks and no shortage of controversies throughout its development, having cost £18.9 billion to date – £4.1 billion over the budget set in 2010.
Still, the scheme is the biggest boost to transport for London in decades, creating ten new stations and 26 miles of new tunnels.
Opening just ahead of the Platinum Jubilee weekend, the Queen is expected to attending the grand opening in the coming weeks.
READ MORE: London Crossrail opening date confirmed after delays
“We are using these final few weeks to continue to build up reliability on the railway and get the Elizabeth line ready to welcome customers.
“The opening day is set to be a truly historic moment for the capital and the UK, and we look forward to showcasing a simply stunning addition to our network.”
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: “This is the most significant addition to our transport network in decades, and will revolutionise travel across the capital and the South East – as well as delivering a £42 billion boost to the whole UK economy and hundreds of thousands of new homes and jobs.
“Green public transport is the future, and the opening of the Elizabeth line is a landmark moment for our capital and our whole country, particularly in this special Platinum Jubilee year.”
if(typeof utag_data.ads.fb_pixel!==”undefined”&&utag_data.ads.fb_pixel==!0){!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,’script’,’https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);fbq(‘init’,’568781449942811′);fbq(‘track’,’PageView’)}
