Elizabeth line Phase 3 starts Sun 21 May
1, 2, 3, the Lizzie becomes stronger ๐ช
Coming to a station near you: the trilogy is complete on Sunday 21 May, when Phase 3 of the Elizabeth line is launched!
But what does it mean? Well... remember this?
It is Spring 2023 (already?!) and we have finally reached Phase 3, the final form of the Elizabeth line ๐
What does it mean? ๐
๐ Trains will start running directly from Shenfield to Heathrow. This means you can travel directly from the Shenfield branch to Heathrow Airport.
โ๏ธ There will also be more trains to/from Heathrow. More trains means more space in each train, which is certainly good news for the UK's busiest airport, where more than 500 flights arrive and depart everyday!
โณ No more pausing of trains (up to 7 mins) just outside Paddington, offering much faster journey times on the western branch of the Elizabeth line.
๐ We are back to a train every 5 minutes in peak hour between Abbey Wood and Whitechapel! This restores the frequency in place between May and November 2022.
๐ The peak will also last for longer, increasing capacity even further.
Will there be a Phase 4...? ๐ฎ
Yes! This isn't the finale. Like any epic cinematic universe, there's always room for more. The Lizzie hasn't finished surprising us:
โจ New station alert: around 2030, Old Oak Common station will open between Paddington and Acton Main Line to connect Liz line services to the brand new HS2 trains that will be calling at Old Oak Common!
๐ Longer trains: Elizabeth line infrastructure is very future-proofed as train capacity could potentially increase from nine carriages currently to eleven carriages, meaning we finally will be using the last few automatic doors at each platform!
๐ More trains: central tunnels on the Elizabeth line can handle up to 32 trains per hour in peak (compared to 24 trains trains per hour in phase 3 peak). This, and the longer trains, have not been confirmed yet, but either will be needed once Old Oak Common opens, as the Lizzie will take up a lot of HS2 passengers
๐๏ธ Extensions in Kent & Essex: there are all kinds of proposals... further into Kent? looping round into Essex? There haven't been any official decisions yet (boo...), but they're already being talked about (yay!) so we'll wait and see ๐
Could the Elizabeth line look like that? โ๏ธ
There are lots of interesting projects for the Elizabeth line and beyond. For sure, the Lizzie line has surpassed everyone’s expectations as, in less than a year of being in service, it is now the busiest railway in the UK, achieving record levels of customer satisfaction!
Thank you, Lizzie line!
Brought to you by executive producers
๐ Team Citymapper ๐
