How Much Quicker Is The Elizabeth line?
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- Published on May 9, 2022
- With the new about to open, it will take just 29 minutes on the train between Paddington and Abbey Wood, which is fast ... but how does that breakdown to the time between the individual stops, and how long does it takes to make that same journey at the moment? Let's take some trips to find out!
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* "Bin bag", dammit!
Bless. I'm so happy knowing that people in London will get somewhere five minutes quicker when 20 billion quid could probably have fed a good few families or rebuilt 2 or 3 local economies.
Geoff - Arriving back in the UK from Tasmania to see our son next week just before the official opening. So pleased to be there and booked our Travelcard (Used to be Twin Rover in my teens) so thanks for all your videos. The line is magnifiocent.
Regards, Mick & Sandy
hey what is the app you used to show where the train is heading, can you highlight the app name for your viewers?
@Vasco2086Roblox Aw thats sad! đżđ”đȘŠ
@Rod Krebs approx 20 mins
Tim Traveller, our Paris Correspondent, was such a delight to hear from. Crossrail is not part of the Tube methinks, itâs a new form of Trains.
@Jeff Schrader Exactly!! an hybrid suburban train ,like a commuter train in the suburbs,and like an heavy metro under the center of the city.
@geocachingwombles No. It isn't, It's needed and has been needed since the idea was originally floated decades ago. We can do both, the government just refuses to invest anywhere outside of the M25. They didn't even really want to invest in this either, this passed under the last Labour government as did HS2. If it was up to the Tories this would still be just being talked about while London grinds to a halt. The problem isn't lack of funds, the problem is lack of care from central government.
It's basically an S-Bahn that goes through the centre in tunnels. I'm hoping all future actual Underground lines (new ones of course, not extensions) are built to the same gauge and standard. It'll make it so much easier to retrofit them in the future and to get more off the shelf rolling stock. Look how adaptable the subsurface lines are because they were full standard main line loading gauge (because they were actually built as main lines). The trains are bigger and nicer and adding things like WiFi is much easier because the tunnel sizes allows them to install the radio equipment. As a side note I'd love to see proper underground systems built in other parts of the UK like Birmingham and Manchester. They absolutely need such things, Brum especially.
@Merijn Passchier I thought it was south - north.
The first section of the RER opened in december, 1969. The tunnel under central Paris was finished in 1977.
*Heathrow route would be interesting if the price is good*
Heathrow station would have a ÂŁ7 supplemental charge. Heathrow express unfortunately wonât go awayâŠ. Heathrow Connect maybe
â@lem0nwings Piccadilly Line to Holborn then Central Line to Stratford.
@lem0nwings I live in Essex; I did Heathrow to home last week. Considering this thing is eventually supposed to get to Shenfield, I'm a fan, but I have a feeling they'll find a way to make that very, very, VERY expensive.
@lem0nwings It means 1 to 2 hours.
@1chiefg I never said 2 hours.
Not only will the Elizabeth Line save a lot of time for the people who use it, the new line will also reduce passenger numbers on the older infrastructure resulting in better journeys for everyone, even if you donât use the Elizabeth Line!
@Eutony Obviously! But TfL/LU canât reduce an existing LU line in order to move staff over to the Elizabeth line, as was your suggestion.
@Thomas both are humans. They can seek opportunities from either if they wish.
@Eutony Elizabeth line drivers are not employed by TfL or London Underground, so they canât be moved around like you suggest. The train drivers and station staff are employed by MTR who operate the service.
Had a nice day out in London on Tuesday last week,though it was the hottest day of the year so far (26 C,79 F they reckoned) and crowded almost everywhere. Met up on the Euston concourse and took a lot of little Tube journeys around or near to the West End,and though I couldn't tell what effect if any Crossrail was having the trains ran as well and frequently as ever. British Museum,especially the Egyptian mummy section,and later dinner on the South Bank and a riverside stroll,before going our separate ways at Waterloo. Nice to be back visiting the capital.
Thats obvious lol
As a regular commuter I can confidently say the H&C to Liverpool Street / Farringdon is often delayed and held around Aldgate especially at rush hour, and I often have to wait 10 minutes for the train. Geoff is really overestimating how quick the current journey is. I'll definitely be taking Crossrail!
@J P not sure about that. I use it daily, coming home from work this week, waiting 15 mins for it to show up at Moorgate, and then 15 mins for it to reach Whitechapel. Itâs quicker to walk. Crossrail will take 3 mins to cover that journey. I know what Iâll be using
@edward Nicholson well considering the distance between the 2 stations is just under a mile, and these are 2 major transport hubs with a ridiculous amount of people at peak times, and the cost for the journey is amongst the most expensive in the world (per mile), then yes waiting for 10 minutes and then being held in the tunnel, and finally arriving some 15 minutes later is worthy of complaint. One could even walk it quicker.
@Thomas Day This seems to have been a problem ever since the Metropolitan / Metropolitan District Days. Should the H and C be closed completely with more trains on the district and circle leaving Crossrail to take the entire Liverpool Street - Whitechapel segment ?
Wow a whole 10 minutes what a hardship
Yeah I was going to say that too. It usually takes me about 12-15 minutes to get from Whitechapel to Farringdon and from when I've actually boarded and that's after waiting for a Hammersmith and City train to actually arrive at Whitechapel!
Geoff, I love your passion for trains. It's a subject I never thought would interest me, but your enthusiasm makes learning about them fun and entertaining. As someone who doesn't live in London but sometimes needs to commute there, I've always found the Underground quite intimidating and confusing, but your videos have helped me see it differently and have made my journeys there much less stressful. Please don't stop releasing great content.
Crossrail is the mode type, Thameslink and Elizabeth are the lines, and I will die on this hill.
(And yes this means Crossrail 2 should really be thought of as Crossrail *3* if we're thinking in terms of RER-type lines versus "The Tube"... Hey, I'm just following TfL's own precedent...)
@Will Neverforgets A slow train.
RIP
@Will Neverforgets My personal feeling is that "Overground" is a good brand for commuter lines that TfL runs (and may run in future). So that's the Euston-Watford line and Lea Valley lines. But in practice I think most people treat the Goblin and the main outer circle routes as de facto "the Tube" (even if the service frequency isn't quite there relative to the deep tunnel and SSR lines), so they should probably be rebranded into the Underground family with its own colour.
This sounds more like it. What is overground then?
@Mark Dibley Ah yes, of course!
I went to Abbey Wood recently and saw all the crossrail tests, they were going in and out very frequently
@J P Thank you captain obvious
@EngineeringVision That would not happen.
@Freddie Pearce Bristol could have an underground line. Maybe run it from Bedminster up Gloucester Road to Parkway or Abbey Wood.
@EngineeringVision we need our own metro. Thanks
It would be better if it actually went all the way to [Filton] Abbey Wood.
Coming from a tourist/crappy weather perspective even if the direct route takes a little longer I am willing to do a direct connection for simplicity. Overall, it looks like a great addition to London transport options.
thats a very good point. I think there are many travellers who prefer simplicity over time savings
I'd say both Thameslink and Crossrail are a similar type of transport to the RER.
I Agree, thameslink is also like the RER. london will have two âReRâ railways once crossrail is open
Yeah. Both are long distance, cross-city commuter lines, with a cluster of stops in the dense city centre. Crossrail has the advantage, in comparison, of being an all-new construction rather than being cobbled together from a bunch of leftovers. :P
@Father Fountain Thameslink offers fast and semi fast services. The "stoppers" seem most comparable to me.
@Father Fountain thameslink is a crosstown line
Thameslink is weird though because outside of London it doesn't really operate as a commuter/suburban rail mostly but more as a regional/intercity rail. The trains up to 60 miles from the city centre and can reach speeds of 100mph. But then in the centre of London and inner city areas its very much operated like a tube line or a standard urban mainline train like southern, southeastern etc.
Crossrail is much more comparable to a tube line than Thameslink is but they are both much more similar to the RER. I feel like crossrail can be seen as a sort of express tube line in a way like Thameslink can't
Exciting times to be in London! Despite living in Canada, I can feel all the energy building up towards the opening of the Elizabeth Line. Torontoâs major project - a light rail line which will cross the city - is dwarfed in comparison.
Hey, every little helps! :) gotta start somewhere. Ps thanks for sharing, Iâm looking up this project next đ
Why is this so interesting??!?!?!!! I sporadically visit London, and just use the Underground to get around, like millions of other people. Don't really care about times because I'm not in a rush, but this information is soooooo fascinating! Top marks, Geoff!
@Tsz Fung Li the stations are incredible. I live in the south west and can tell that this line is hugely valuable to the country as a whole in terms of benefiting the economy.
Even if time is not a problem for you, new trains and stations give us a fresh modern look, and AC in summer. Both of them are rare in London
I don't even visit London and don't live anywhere nearby. Still weirdly interested in these videos.
Following this journey from Australia. It's really interesting. Can't wait to get back there and try the new line - which isn't a tube line.
which will cross the city - is dwarfed in comparison.
so judging from tim's explanation on what the rer is my judgement on what the elizabeth line is compared to what i know from my native germany is basically correct: it's an s-bahn line going through a city tunnel (think s-bahn stammstrecke munich or city tunnel leipzig)
Yeh if London was in Germany crossrail, would be an S-Bahn as would the Overground and Thameslink
It's like the Metro in Los Angeles, the BART in San Francisco, or the PATH in New York.
@DrumHeadV nah, there are other services that fit much more into the rb/re scheme.
@Pixoon Tube yeah, of course. i always considered the overground to be londons s-bahn, thameslink fits into this as well.
Based on the trains, it strikes me as more similar to the RE trains (Regionalbahn) which e.g. go through Berlin.
I always thought it was interesting how Paris (and most cities) have lines with letters or numbers, while London has whimsical names like Piccadilly and Bakerloo.
Japan follow your way of doing things for the metro (example: Ginza line-Shinjuku Line) and for suburban trains (Yamanote line, Keio Line, Tokaido Line, etc...).
In Paris, originally, lines 12 and 13 were under the name of ("Nord-Sud") A and B because managed by a company competing with the CMP (former name of the RATP).
The metro keeps the numbers (1-14 and until18 in the future) and the RER/Transilien keeps the letters (A to E, H, J to L etc....). In order not to be mistaken, all you have to do on the map is to draw a line between the departure station, the desired arrival station, and the terminus.
Example: I am in Montparnasse M12 and I have to go to Abesses (Montmartre) so I take the M12 platform towards Aubervilliers ("Town hall" on May 31).
In Chatelet les halles, the RER lines are marked RER A East or West, RER B/D North and South to facilitate the orientation of the platforms (Tim may be able to make a video on this kind of subject).
It's because the Underground was mostly built by separate companies competing with each other, while most other subway systems were built AS an actual network. They named the lines after the companies that owned them. By the time it was an actual network the names were already well established. On a more practical note, there are more names than there are letters or numbers (in an easy to understand at a glance sense), so it allows for easier expansion if they were to ever have more than 26 lines, though I doubt this was ever considered at the time haha. Saying you need to take the Jubilee line to Waterloo then get on the Northern to Euston is less confusing than say take Line 9 to X then get on Line 2 to Y.
@House Clearance Well except for the line 7 and 13 which have branches you don't need to know the 2 terminus stations of each metro line. Knowing only one is enough, the other one obviously going in the opposite direction.
That's mostly how I have used the Paris metro in the first few years.
Usually one terminus name of a metro line stands out more than the other terminus name of the same line, here are my "prefered" directions :
1: La DĂ©fense
2: Nation
3: Levallois
4: Clignancourt
5: Italie
6: Etoile
7: Courneuve (branches...)
8: Créteil
9: none (can't decide)
10: Austerlitz
11: ChĂątelet
12: none (can't decide)
13: none (can't decide) (branches...)
14: Olympiades
So basically knowing from 10 to 14 names (and knowing their vague location on a Paris metro map) would enable you to find your way in the Paris metro without too much problem.
Of course you also have the RER within Paris...
@House Clearance Agreed, I find the Paris system much more confusing... And I'm French!
Good to see another collab with Tim. đ
I'm looking forward to part 2 of this video, when you do the same journey when the line actually opens!
I'd compare it to German S-Bahn, and there especially Berlin's Stadtbahn, the West-East diameter line. But the proportions of Crossrail are really massive. I hope to get a chance to visit London again in the future and see it myself. And I think the fact it has the purple roundel instead of red makes it clear enough it isn't just a tube line.
@House Clearance Kind of crazy that it takes longer to get from Manchester to Newcastle than it does to get from Manchester to London. We REALLY need a new high speed commuter line from west to east then up north. Looks like we're not going to get that for another 10 years at least now thanks to the government gutting the eastern leg of HS2 which the new NPR leg relied on.
We can call it the royalty roundel -- the traditional color of royalty symbolizing royal-grade service. (Excuse my US-issue autocorrect laptop on spellings...)
It more reminds me of the Munich S-Bahn, because itâs in tunnel, whereas the main east-west S-Bahn line through the centre of Berlin is elevated.
Yes we have the s-bahn here in Frankfurt and it seems to be something similar to the crossrail!
@Roderick Joyce Liverpool to Newcastle via Manchester, Leeds and York? That has to be Britain's first crossrail? Would Stalybridge be our Chatelet? or Bahnhof Friedrichstrasse?
I was just thinking of Geoff visiting the new stops on the Elizabeth line and 3 SECONDS LATER he uploaded this Video! These odds are almost impossible.
Geoff must be able to read your mind, it's the only logical explanation!
Mid May: non stop crossrail hype videos
Mid June: I'll be used to using it and forget that it's even new
The other disruptive impact that this will have is that, in going straight from A to B without faffing on the underground, you could feasibly get an unbroken stream of work done on the train, as long as it's offline by the time you get to the underground bits.
That is a huge quality of commute upgrade for those of us struggling to make commuting time productive time.
Great video Geoff, loved the cameo from Tim.
What nobody has ever been able to answer for me however, is why it isn't a Thameslink line, or why Thameslink doesn't get rebranded to Crossrail. They're the same thing, one's just deep level whilst the other isn't*. Thameslink does go further out, but Reading isn't exactly any more 'London' than Peterborough is. Thameslink in the core has a similar frequency, and Crossrail at Reading will have a similar frequency (2 off peak) as we see at St Neots.
For simplicity's sake, given the wealth of different modalities (Underground, Overground, Wombling Free, DLR, Tramlink) is already confusing to tourists and out of towners, should they not be merged?
*Canal Tunnels are deep level, but you get my point.
It's about ownership, Thameslink is Network Rail, Crossrail is TfL/London Transport.
I imagine it must be confusing to someone not used to it, especially someone from somewhere with no metro. I've lived in London all my life. I've been to Tokyo and had no problem understanding their network, but saw other people finding it very confusing.
Much quicker than our current route from King's Cross to Abbey Wood to visit family I expect! Also faster than a lot of Rollercoasters!
@Hamza Sadiq I think it would be much more refined than thameslink. Which seems to go slow through the core.
@c0wqu3u31at3r in the "core" though, much more frequent!
Thameslink with its massive... One train per hour
Isn't that just thameslink? Shouldn't it be comparable
Ha, transport museum socks star in all our London theme park vlogs!
I did my work experience building these trains on the factory floor, in Derby, back in 2018. So I look forward to seeing the line open!
From memory, various stage openings of RER Line A in early 1970s attracted much comment as to why London wasnât doing something similar. That might have led to resurrecting the Crossrail concept in the 1975 London Rail Study.
Big timesaver will be Paddington to Liverpool St which was always a painful trek when arriving on WR express services and fighting along the old narrow passage to the Circle Line platform before it was widened out.
It's worth adding that the journey time on Crossrail from Reading to Paddington is very significantly slower than the mainline trains.
There's a relatively short walk to underground trains in Paddington too, particularly for the circle line, so journey times from Reading to a number of central London stations isn't really reduced
The RER and Crossrail are essentially the same thing. They act like a faster metro within the city, but they are full-size trains (just with a high frequency).
This is interesting as itâs the first time Iâve seen timings from Liverpool Street to Paddington. 11 mins is impressive as to get to LHR I normally have to either use Vic and Piccadilly line from Tottenham Hale (very slow) or circle line to Paddington which involves a lot of walking.
Iâll be trying it out on 21st June so will be interesting what my door-to-door time is from LHR to home.
Thanks Geoff and Tim! I lived in Paris for a couple of years and the RER, though very practical, has quite a negative connotation (ie systematically overcrowded and unsafe). But I'm sure that Crossrail will be the better and more enjoyable version of the RER, and I look forward to riding it!
It depends on the line.. the RER A going from one very posh neighbourhood on one side to DisneyLand on the other is perfectly safe⊠the RER D spanning one dodgy hell hole to another is another story
I think you mean that RER in Paris is "unsafe" as it goes to "edgy" suburbs. It is not that the trains are unsafe.
even compared to a train currently from paddington to abbey wood, crossrail is 41 minutes quicker than the current quickest option
I imagine the link to Heathrow in to central London is going to be especially popular and will probably kill the express to Paddington. It'll take about as long but will be cheaper and far more frequent, not to mention easier to change to other lines.
I did this journey too a few weeks back, just so that when it opens I can say how much faster my (completely pointless) journey is to Abbey Wood. Took me 5h35 though, so crossrail will result in my journey times being reduced by 91%!
To be fair I did stop at each station to try and find all the currently blocked off entrances and exits (Bond Street being the hardest!), and I went to all the footbridges over the overground bits, and at one point got completely distracted and got a 455 to Peckham Rye as they won't be around much longer... might explain why it took so long thinking about it
Thanks for this comparison, Geoff! It shows very well which stations/connections will probably be useful (and much used) in future. Great stuff as always! đđ»
With that comparison to the RER (great to see Tim pop up, by the way), it makes me wish Crossrail had had the foresight to make Elizabeth Line double decker.
@Alain DUMAS no, the loss of time is greater. We went from 30 trains/h with the single decker, to 26 trains/h with the double decker. The space saving, seated (I specify), is lost by the lower number of trains.
we have lost the number of doors (more important than the size, because people pile up in front of the doors preventing them from going out to have a seat).
The Mi2N/09 have 30 doors per side (on a UM2), the Mi84 had 32 (UM2), and the MS61, 36 (UM3).
The RATP didn't really want a Double decker train, it was the region that lobbied...and it still is. The RATP would have preferred a "neo MS61" with a mix of transverse and longitudinal seats.
@Japanese Train and Travel Double decker trains need larger doors and then work fine.
@Chris Denham Single deck operations will be faster but won't carry as many. RER went from offering 13014 seats per hour on 27 single deck MI84 to 23504 seats on 26 double decks MI2N. Travel time penalty for the extra capacity is 3 seconds per stop in average.
@iiExplosionz12 Yes, but these are new tunnels that they made too small. Still, there are other legitimate reasons why they chose to do it this way.
Because of the height of the tunnels are too low and they would then have to rebuild and adjust the tunnelling to maximise the headroom. Not to mention about the high budget costs as well...
This new line reminds me about the passante suburban railway line (that's how they call it) in Milan, which allows suburban trains to cross over Milan without needing to change at either the main stations in Cadorna, Milano Centrale, or in Porta Garibaldi. But that's been opened a few decades earlier.
Hi Geoff! My goodness, itâs almost upon us! đ Nice to see a gratuitous Woolwich Arsenal shot and a bit of the DLR which covers a fair part of our regularTFL jaunt from West Ham to Charlton when we go to home games đ
It is astonishing just how much traffic this line would seem likely to relieve from other lines all along itâs route. Interesting too that of course the main beneficiaries are those travelling into London, and not so much people already in London travelling around it. Although specific journeys will be easier (as you illustrated) I think the main benefit will be that the kind of near crush you encountered at Tottenham Ct Rd will be eased considerably, not least because it will indirectly replicate the already rammed Central Line to a major degree. Another thing is the size of the trains mean those wanting to use Paddington, Heathrow, etc, will have more space for luggage, etc. đ€
Always great to see your French correspondent (đđ đ€Ł) crop up on your videos. I though it interesting that the chap in the meeting said it wasnât a tube line but more like the RER system in France, as though this use of through tunnels is a new thing. I immediately thought, âah yes, you mean the idea the French took from the District Railway to run trains through from Ealing Broadway to Southend and the Metropolitan via the Widened linesâŠseems perhaps inspiration nearer home got overlooked sadly and it took the foresight of another country to replicate our earlier achievements to wake our bods up to it đ
Ah well, at least it got built. Annoyingly I canât go to the opening day but I shall certainly ensure I take a trip soon, even though ironically, weâll actually add to our journey to go out of our way to do so for now! đ
Cheers mate, great fun as ever đđđ»
Thanks very much Geoff for doing these timings.
I remember pre-pandemic journeys from Paddington to Liverpool Street on the H&C being about 11 minutes, which seems comparable to what the Elizabeth Line is promising.
But the Elizabeth Line should be great. I hope to ride it in the future. đ
Considering how much itâs cost, how much extra it cost and how long weâve been waiting for the Purpline to open I should hope itâs bloody quicker, although, being a UK train line, Iâm wondering how long itâll take for it to break down or suffer delays due to signalling works or track maintenance or leaves on the line or vandalism or engineering works orâŠ
Why does no one compare Crossrail to London's RER that's existed since the 80s - Thameslink?
It actually makes so much sense to compare those two as well.
Thameslink is a great 'realtively' undercover way to cross London North to South
And it even has a 24hour service at the weekends lol
Great vid, Geoff. Really lets one get an idea of just how useful and necessary this line is.I think it's going to transform travel in London. What is your take on the proposed Crossrail 2 route?
If the Elizabeth line were to be extended to Dartford in the future do you think it would run fast services compared to existing services like how it skips plumstead?
Been waiting for this for so long- have actually worked down the hole in Paddington when they were building it- checked how much time my most common journey will be cut.... arrive at Paddington on the Cotswold Line, get to Docklands via Canary Wharf- DLR.....
Cutting out changing from Bakerloo to Jubilee.....and there appears to be no time saving at all when you factor in the increased walking time đ
Still think it will be a better journey- cant wait to try! đđ
The Metropolitan line, the Bakerloo to Watford or the outer ends of the Central line are also just suburban rail lines that were connected underground. Of course nowadays noone sees it as a main-line train anymore, but I don't see that big a difference to the Elizabeth line. Of course the Elizabeth has fewer stops, but express metros are a thing elsewhere
@Norbiton Flyer I did indeed mean Baker Street, not Bakerloo!
@Annabel Smyth I think you mean the Baker Street - Watford section, and yes they do. They also share with main line trains (Chiltern)
@wasmic5z Thank you
@Annabel Smyth The Met only has fast trains during rush hour in the peak direction nowadays, but it used to have fast trains throughout the day.
@English Cider Lover true, but I mean it's still the Watford DC line that it travels on, together with National Rail (Overground)
Great video Geoff, I really can't wait until this opens! Every station just looks really amazing!
Thanks for the video : )
Just 2 weeks from now until the Elizabeth Line opens as of writing this comment
Hey Geoff, another brilliant video from yourself on the new Elizabeth Line, which I am really excited to try out after it opens on 24th May, it was great insight to the journey times, it is so much more which most of us know why it isnât a Tube line as it is National Rail which goes underground hence the name Crossrail I look forward to more of your videos! đđ
I love that transition from a 1996 stock to a Z20500 train. Would be nice if London had an "RER" of both the thameslink and crossrail lines.
Omg! Tim! I love when Tim and Geoff work together for videos! Some of my favorite European TheXvidrs (plus the Southerner and Nonstop Eurotrip)! Thank you for sharing and educating!
Abbey Wood will be having the first Elizacrosspurple line train! 06:30 compared to 06:33 at Paddington
Having lived near LCY for a long time, DLR sucks for time sensitive commutes! It's the only choice in east London, but the low frequency and change coordination is seriously crippling.
Excellent video Geoff! I cannot wait to go on the Cross/Eliz/Purple train. I went to visit the new Canary Wharf Elizabeth Line on the 24th April and it looks brilliant.
Great video Geoff, you say it's 29 minutes from Abbey Wood to Paddington on the purple train, would have been interesting to see the quickest journey time for the whole trip using current connections.
This feels like the Quarter Final of the 1st Phase of #CrossElizPurpLine ! Also, the trains seems awesome đđœ
I've based myself in Paddington the last few times I've been down. Seeing the purple roundel along with all the works happening just made me want it all to hurry up. I should hopefully be down in the summer and looking forward to purple trains.
Although my brother has kinda set me a challenge of going on every line with no repeating stations đ Maybe not that summer trip as it's a flying visit.
One observation from someone who used to use the Paris RER. I agree if you at or going to one of the stations on the new line, it is clearly quicker. However my experience was if you were already on the tube/metro it could be as quick to stay on the tube and if required change rather than have an additional and an additional wait to travel on the new line
Yes. The question some have asked is whether people who currently travel in from north west London on the Jubilee Line to Canary Wharf will want to change at Bond Street to the Elizabeth Line. Will the time spent changing trains be made up by the faster journey from Bond Street to Canary Wharf, and/or being able to avoid the crush if you were a standing passenger on the Jubilee Line train?
When I visited London for the first time, I made the mistake of being at Canary Wharf Jubilee Line at peak times, it wasn't ideal lol.
Love the video.. wish this is a guided tour.. would had been fun to do it with a group.. đ€
Thanks for inviting Phillip and for advertising the magazine. I would not have bought this magazine, if it wasn't for this mention! I am looking forward to reading the supplement!
I'm still cross that we're going to be away on opening day! Can't be helped, though. And Tim, much as I love him, made an uncharacteristic mistake - line A of the RER was open in 1973, as I used to take it to visit friends! I am not sure when the two ends of the line joined up, though - I left Paris in 1975, and I honestly can't remember whether they'd joined up by then or not.
The Central underground stations of the RER A opened in serveral phases between 1969 and 1977 and the full east-west cross wasn't possible until the opening of the section in December 1977.
That's why 1977 is used as the birth date of the RER even if several station were indeed already open.
1969 : Nation
1970 : La DĂ©fense and Charles de Gaulle-Etoile,
1971 Auber
1977 : Chatelet-les-Halles and Gare de Lyon.
Love this video as yes some parts of London are a nightmare as you feel your going round a maze to get to a stop that you could just jump over too. đ
Great to see Tim on your channel again.. love the potential of the purple line.. but doubt anyone will take it from Reading.. you'll be faster to take the fast train to Paddington and chance to purple there.. but anyone between Reading and Paddington will benefit off course :)
If nothing else there will be ENORMOUS time savings when there are big conference events on at the ExCel. The DLR station there rivals Bombay super-dense crush busy-ness sometimes at the moment!
Nice to see you discussing times between trains of 4 and 2œ minutes. The (Dutch) village I live in has an hourly bus service (weekdays 07:00~23:00) with 4 buses/hour during commute times. Still a lot better than no public transport at all.
@george birchall I live in Newcastle. Bus and train services along the A1/East Coast Main Line corridor to Berwick and through the Tyne Valley are at least acceptable and often quite good. But if you are heading into the interior of Darkest Northumberland or the Borders ... and travelling to Cairnryan for the ferries to NI takes hours longer than travelling to London or Bristol.
A friend of mine wanted to travel to a village in Northumberland. When he rang to ask for bus times, he was told "Every Thursday" (Market day)! One bis an hour seems like overkill compared to that.
@Gill Chatfield I used to live in a village in Northamptonshire which had an hourly bus service to Northampton. A neighbouring village had one bus every three weeks to Kettering.
@Gill Chatfield Fellow Lincolnshire yellowbelly đ
Try Lincolnshire! One bus an hour maximum. Nothing after 7.30pm (just one route), and nothing Sundays and Bank Holidays.
You should have your own documentary mate..love the whole video style and production values!
3:40 Hi Geoff - I was wondering if you change to the Elizabeth line from the DLR at West India Quay then would this charge you for two separate journeyâs since there is no interconnector shown on the map (vs it counting as a single journey if you change at Canary Wharf DLR)?
While I agree that it's more like an RER, the Metropolitan line is essentially a suburban railway with a short bit underground, so isn't hugely different. But whatever it is, it'll be a game changer.
Thanks Geoff, your video was highly illustrative... just goes to show how utterly TRANSFORMATIONAL the Elizabeth line will be.
To be a fare comparison you should do the entrance to exit times. This will take into account the huge depth you have to descend and the miles of connecting corridors to be navigated. I often do Farringdon to Whitechapel and I think I'll be sticking to the H&C.
Some journeys will be significantly better, Paddington to Canary Wharf for example. Right now it is hellish.
Geoff's confidence is proper inspiring. Especially for a man speaking aloud on a London tube!
Well they'll be a lot of 'newcomers' transiting across London from the regions, or coming in to the railway termini stations, airports, etc..
People who, hithertofor, may have made other arrangements for bypassing London,
- a common alternative that comes first to mind has been the M25 by car.
I have questioned a lot of people on this during my 'all the counties'.
With that comparison to the RER (great to see Tim pop up, by the way), it makes me wish Crossrail had had the foresight to make Elizabeth Line double decker.
With that comparison to the RER (great to see Tim pop up, by the way), it makes me wish Crossrail had had the foresight to make Elizabeth Line double decker.
Everytime I'm in London I travel from St Pancras International to Paddington on the Circle line that stops a few times. I wonder if going to Farringdon and then Paddington by the Elizabeth line would be quicker. Has anyone tested that yet?
Brilliant video Geoff! I can't wait for the opening on the 24th May :)
Geoff, you need to consider that behaviourally interchange time is at least twice the perceived value of real time, so a huge advantage to CXR compared to anything else.
Geoff! Enjoyed this one - what a great cameo. So Iâve thought on this a while. Train or tube, rail or line. My answer? Neither, both. I echo a bunch of the statements made already below. It is wholly unique - the Elizabeth Rail Line. Cheers
Munich's S-Bahn system is similar - full size trains spreading out to about 13 outlying locations, with all routes sharing a single tunnel through the city centre. A second parallel tunnel is being built slightly to the north to allow more frequent services. There is already less than 2 minutes between trains though the tunnel The city centre stations all link to one or more underground lines, plus the tram network on the surface. All work on a single ticket system.
8:22 Pretty sure walking Farringdon - Chancery Lane and then Central Line would be quicker than waiting for thameslink and then walking to St. paulâs. Geoff must really love his thameslink
Every time I've used the RER in Paris (to go from Gard du Nord to La Defense) I've fallen foul of dual ticketing, different price if RER v Metro, so different ticket, but trying to buy the RER ticket has beaten me every time. Each time I play the ignorant Brit and every time they let me through, but it's such a hassle, glad we will not have this in London.
This means I now have 3 ways of getting home avoiding HS1
From Victoria (roughly 50 mins)
TL (Roughly 1hr 30mins)
Purp train + TL (gonna guess 55 mins - 1hr if good changes) so this is gonna be exciting
@Rashid Chinery don't wanna disclose exactly where I am but it's not past Rainham
Where to?
Hey Geoff. That's excellent content! Can you explain what the Overground compares to, if the Elizabeth line compares more to the RER? Paris has two systems, Berlin too (S and U Bahn) but London has three systems (Overground, Underground and the Purple line). Quite confusing to me, someone who doesn't live in London. Maybe an idea for a video?
And they way they implemented oyster on tramlink is just plain confusing.
@Ceph Al O'Pod Yeah, better than it used to be, though there is still a significant premium for "mixed mode" journeys over "rail only" or "TfL only" journeys.
@PETER GREEN This seems like a good summary. I don't mind the hodgepodge given that London like most cities has developed over time instead of being planned out in one go. The important thing is to have a good level of integration from the passenger's point of view, in terms of fares etc. It seems like Oyster has made this better than it used to be.
We already had three before this in London though, overground, underground and wombling free*.
*Where the wombles made a lot of money in the 70s and 80s and moved to docklands.
The overground is a bunch of commuter/suburban rail services that were taken over and re-branded by Transport for London.
You also have.
Thameslink, a RER-like running on a north/south axis through the city center.
The Docklands light railway, a low-budget (at least initially) metro service serving the docklands area of london, initially it ran on a mixture of old railway alignments and new elevated sections on concrete viaducts. Underground sections were later added as well.
Tramlink, a tram service in Croyden with street running, but also with sections running along old railways lines.
And of course a bunch of regular mainline rail services.
All in all it's a bit of a mess, lots of lines built by different companies at different times and then re-jigged to meet changing demands from passengers and politicians.
Geoff I really like the B07 dlr trains (the one u rode to custom house)
Also Iâm excited to see the new stations open on the Elizabeth line
#purpletrain
#Howmuchquickerwillthepurpletrainbe?
Fun but relevant. And great to see Tim. Can't wait to see this in action when I am up in September.
Got to love how a 5 minute wait is such a surprising thing for Londoners. I wish the rest of the country had this problem with our crappy public transport lol.
It's not really that surprising outside of rush hour on a good day, tbh. With the number of delays and setbacks London's existing transport services have (read: many, as they're underfunded) 5 minutes is hopeful.
Trains are often so packed that you need to wait for a couple to go by before you can catch one, too. Fun!
Wouldn't it have been quicker to walk from Farringdon to Chancery Lane? Admittedly I haven't been to London in 15 years (so maybe things have changed a lot) but when I worked at Farringdon it was normal to do that.
hey Geoff, this video should be the fewest changes possible on the route,not necessarily with this point checking mode, I would just go from dlr and one simple change at west ham for J or HM lines and additional for Bond ST, I'll just change at Stratford or Mile End for Central line
Also, consider that for example a lot of people going from Bond Street to Paddington would just get on the Bakerloo at Oxford Circus rather than go to Bond Street and change, especially if your starting point is between the two stations.
As someone who lives in the NL and visited London only once, this video really drives home the point for me. A good break-down of what's going to improve and how.
Looking forward to trackbashing on CrossRail in two weeks from today! :)
Such a shame the route could not manage a station or connection via Kings Cross St. Pancras. đđ It would have linked the two International travel hubs of London - LHR and St. Pancras.
@casey I have but it will probably not be in my lifetime đ đđđ
Looks like you haven't heard of crossrail 2 yet then.
@Barrie Shepherd There will be provision for Crossrail 2 at King's Cross/St. Pancras/Euston under the British Library.
@Tony Naggs I know that but it's not exactly a convenient interchange - lots of walking especially if you are lugging suite cases. It looks as though Paddington H&C to KX St.P will remain my routing.
Farringdon station connects with Thameslink trains, 1 stop north to (Kings Cross) St Pancras and Thameslink also serves Gatwick Airport & Luton Airport Parkway stations.
awesome work i cant wait for this to open now and i cant wait to try it out after it opens
For comparison, having checked Google maps, if you just want to get from Abbey Wood to Paddington via a direct route via current services, it would take 56 minutes with a train to London Bridge, the Jubliee line to Baker Street, then either Bakerloo, Circle or Hammersmith & City line, depending on what's first, to Paddington.
Great video, love this stuff! Does anyone know if Crossrail will take riders away from other lines or don't they care? Cheers.
I guess it will take people off the Central Line and that will be seen as a good thing
11:25 Yes the Elizabeth line is like the RER in Paris. And it's also like the Thameslink in London that we've had for a while now!
PS the excitement of the travellers and staff was brilliant!
Iâm on a supported internship and work 3 days a week at Paddington, can now direct people on the purple train towards Liverpool Street and avoid the tube!
Having used the Elizabeth line to get form reading to Paddington I can safely assure you I would never be using it again. It took over an hour to get to Paddington, when you can just as easily catch a GWR train to Paddington and change to the underground there. The time save is much worth the "hassle" (if you could even call it that) of switching.
Well that was a nice surprise. A familiar face. Great video as always. Will have to come to London to check out the system myself
Looking at the new tube map with the new line, I was disappointed that the disability access on the North East portion of the Elizabeth line is not step free to train, only to platform.
Sweet! Another Tim Traveller collaboration or in this instance more like onsite location correspondent.
Ok I wasnât really expecting the Time Trav- uh, Tim Traveller but I love the collaboration. More please!
It would be interesting to know where Driver changeovers take place on the Purp. Thameslink, the north/south Crossrail, are plagued with issues of Driver relief. Trains arriving at Blackfriars/London Bridge and the relieving driver delayed on a late running train in the opposite direction. Will Purp's drivers drive end to end or do they changeover mid journey?
Brilliant video, loved Timâs section being slotted in.
While I am sure it will be a game changer for travel around London, I think that it cost far too much money, as someone not living in London I wish we could see this level of investment in other parts of the UK, but of course that will not happen.
@Paul McHutchison I was replying to Kevin Jones.
@Christopher Wright my point is that it *is* buying improved connections elsewhere through a greatly reduced cross-London transfer time
The point is what that fortune could buy in transportation elsewhere, not whether it could buy the *same* solution there.
London is helped by having the right geology oof London Clay and chalk that allows relatively easy tunnelling without flooding. Most Midland or northern cities sit on permeable Triassic or Carboniferous sandstones, very difficult to tunnel through.
It'll make a huge difference to people making journeys between Essex/Suffolk/Norfolk and Reading/Oxford/Bristol/South Wales and the South West of England. That's an awful lot of people benefitting from something that is perceived as just for Londoners!