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Crossrail

Crossrail is a railway line under development in London and the home counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Essex. The central section and a large portion of the line, between in central London and in the south-east, are due to open in December 2018; at that time the service will be named the Elizabeth line. The western section beyond Paddington, to in Berkshire and Heathrow Airport, is due to enter operation in December 2019, completing the new east-west route across Greater London. Part of the eastern section, between and in Essex, transferred to a precursor service called TfL Rail in 2015; this section will be connected to the central route through central London to Paddington in May 2019.

The project was approved in 2007 and construction began in 2009 on the central section of the line — a new tunnel through central London — and connections to existing lines that will become part of Crossrail. It is one of Europe's largest railway and infrastructure construction projects.

The line will provide a high-frequency commuter and suburban passenger service that will link parts of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, via central London, to Essex and south-east London. Crossrail will be operated by MTR Corporation (Crossrail) Ltd as a London Rail concession of TfL, in a similar manner to London Overground. It is expected to relieve pressure on existing London Underground lines such as the Central and District lines, which are the current main east-west passenger routes, as well as the Heathrow branch of the Piccadilly line. The need for extra capacity along this corridor is such that the former head of Transport for London, Sir Peter Hendy, predicted that the Crossrail lines will be "immediately full" as soon as they open.

The project's main feature is of new twin tunnels. The main tunnels will run from Paddington to and . An almost entirely new line will branch from the main line at to Canary Wharf, crossing the River Thames, with a new station at and connecting with the North Kent Line at Abbey Wood.

Services will run on of line, sharing parts of existing lines with current services, mainly on parts of the Great Western Main Line in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and London (between Reading and Paddington) and the Great Eastern Main Line in London and Essex (between Stratford and Shenfield). Nine-carriage Class 345 trains will run at frequencies of up to 24 trains per hour in each direction through the central section.

Crossrail (disambiguation)

Crossrail is a railway line across London, currently under construction.

Crossrail may also refer to:

  • Crossrail 2, another railway line across London, currently being proposed
  • MTR Crossrail, the company that will operate the Crossrail concession in London from May 2015
  • Crossrail Glasgow
  • Edinburgh Crossrail
  • Aberdeen Crossrail
  • Bradford Crossrail
  • Crossrail AG, a rail freight company headquartered in Switzerland, or Crossrail Benelux, its main subsidiary