London’s Elizabeth Line to Open May 24, 3 ½ Years Behind Plan

(Bloomberg) --

London’s long-awaited Crossrail project connecting the east and west of the city is set to open on May 24 following years of delays and cost overruns.

The Elizabeth Line will initially operate as four separate railways, and be fully connected by fall, Transport for London said in a statement Wednesday. The central section opening this month goes from Paddington to Abbey Wood in the east, with services to Heathrow airport and the towns of Reading and Shenfield already running. 

Construction work on the project began in 2009 ahead of an initial planned starting date in 2018, only for completion to be pushed back. The line is intended to accelerating travel across the U.K. capital, with journeys from Paddington in the west to the eastern financial district of Canary Wharf set to take just 17 minutes. 

The project will also boost capacity on an overstretched part of London’s transport network, while speeding up access to Heathrow. Those benefits won’t be fully realized until the line is fully connected later this year, with customers changing trains at Paddington or Liverpool Street in the meantime. 

After several budget overruns, the project now looks set to cost 18.9 billion pounds ($23.6 billion). TfL said the project will add an estimated 42 billion pounds to the U.K. economy by supporting regeneration across the capital. 

Work is still ongoing at Bond Street, which means that central station won’t open alongside the rest until later in the year. The central section of the line will also only run Monday to Saturday to allow for work to continue across the project on Sundays. 

The May 24 opening is subject to obtaining final safety approvals, TfL said. 

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