Queen ‘Elizabeth’ rail line finally opens

London’s long-delayed and over-budget Crossrail finally opens to passengers on Tuesday, offering faster journeys from Heathrow Airport and Berkshire in the west to Essex in the east through a series of new, long tunnels under Britain’s capital.

The railway, which has been renamed the “Elizabeth” line in honour of Queen Elizabeth, is expected to carry 200 million people a year and will increase London’s rail capacity by 10%, according to Transport for London (TfL).

Construction started more than 12 years ago on Europe’s biggest infrastructure project at the time. In 2010, the project was budgeted at 14.8 billion pounds and was set to open in December 2018.

Delayed by issues with safety testing and signalling systems, even before the onset of the pandemic, Crossrail will open three and a half years late and more than 4 billion pounds over budget for a total cost of 18.8 billion pounds ($23.6 billion).

Initially 12 trains per hour will run in each direction through the middle section of the line, which includes 21 kilometres (13 miles) of tunnel, linking Paddington in the west to Canary Wharf and Abbey Wood in the east. (Reuters)