Final Elizabeth Line timetable introduced ahead of one-year anniversary

The last stage of the Elizabeth Line has been completed today (May 21) as its final timetable is introduced, bringing an end to the £19bn project.

Stretching from Reading and Heathrow in the west to Abbey Wood and Shenfield in the east, the line has drastically improved services through central London since it was opened on May 24 last year.

According to the latest Transport for London (TfL) data, it has clocked more than 140m passengers, while a recent Elizabeth Line committee report detailed how customer satisfaction was at 82% for quarters three and four last year - the highest of all of TfL’s transport options.

Introduced just before its one-year anniversary, the new timetable, which will be fully-implemented tomorrow (May 22) due to peak trains not running on Sundays, will see the line’s capacity increase by around 10%, as services are ramped up across the network.

These include peak-time trains between Paddington and Whitechapel, going from 22 to up to 24 per hour, and 12 an hour between Canary Wharf and Abbey Wood, restoring the frequency passengers enjoyed between May and November 2022.

Other amendments include services running all day between Shenfield and Heathrow Airport, and additional trains between Liverpool Street and Gidea Park.

Ahead of the new timetable, Howard Smith, TfL’s director of the Elizabeth Line, said his team will “continue to review the Elizabeth line timetables and changes can be made twice each year in line with National Rail timetable changes to add capacity where possible and provide the best service for customers”.

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, described the Elizabeth Line as being “transformational” for the capital, “with hundreds of thousands of Londoners and visitors now enjoying the fast and reliable trains each day”.

He added the final timetable “will enable the Elizabeth line to provide even more frequent, speedier journeys and better connect the capital”.

Strike action by Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) members was due to disrupt the Elizabeth Line on the day of its one-year anniversary. However, the TSSA recently announced the action has been suspended, after agreeing a proposal from Rail for London Infrastructure (RfLI), which will now go before its members.