Elizabeth Line Opening - Q&A 

I love the ‘only’ twelve trains an hour. I wish my local rail service had that many trains an hour! 😀

How are you not a guest of honour for the opening, Geoff?! You've done more to drum up hype and enthusiasm about this debacle of a railway than anyone! You should be presented to The Queen as a central figure in the story of the line!

"If you miss that train, you'll have to wait five minutes for the next one." *Cries in American*

I was employes as a noise consultant for a few years on this project in the earlier stages, and went down tunnels and ventilation shafts, and up tall a*sed tower cranes. Superb experiences.

Geoff, bikes are allowed on all Elizabeth Line services, I have a TFL brief that I can send if you want to see, folded bikes are allowed at all times and normal bikes are during off peak only, but bikes are allowed on all Elizabeth Line services. People are not allowed to change onto the underground of course.

Glad to hear about the ceremonial opening on Monday before the official opening on Tuesday. In selected English-speaking portions of Canada, May 23rd is a designated holiday, Victoria Day. There should be lots of media coverage of changes between those two queens. I wish London every success on this massive infrastructure project.

The furthest west (good tongue twister there) TfL managed station is Taplow. Maidenhead and Twyford are both still managed by GWR. Reading is managed by Network Rail. SLough is also GWR. The only station served by a GWR branch that IS managed by TfL is West Ealing. I'm thinking that in a few years, this could turn into an Overground line.

I love how you've got so many clothing items Elizabeth Line branded!

Honestly I really do hope this is worth the almost 4 year delay! Thanks for making a video on this Geoff! I've been waiting for this video as soon as Crossrail announced the opening

I must say that I'm very excited to try out the Elizabeth Line from the 24th between Paddington and Liverpool Street. This is a revolutionary once-in-a-generation type of infrastructure project for London, especially for transport.

@Geoffmarshall fyi: Basically the new core section aka Paddington lower level to Abbey wood we aren't technically "route trained" on, as the train operates in ATO. We have a 2 week classroom based course where we learn how to operate the CTBC system and all its associated rules etc. Then a few sessions in a simulator to back that up, its not really a route thing though and more of a systems thing. We have what's called an "experience day" down there, and then we're kind of good to go. We have route maps available etc if we ever need them. We do learn how to transition in and out of the core sections though, as it changes operating modes from TPWS to CBTC into the core and obviously CBTC to TPWS out. No real route retention is needed as we don't technically "drive it" per say. All drivers have a fantastic knowledge of whats going on down there though in terms of where escape shafts are and speeds etc etc should for some reason we do have to drive down there manually if anything went slightly wrong. Initially when you start, you'll be trained on either East (Liverpool Street higher to shenfield) or West (paddington higher to Reading including Heathrow.) ((Previously some would do just west inner to Heathrow, and then west outer route training west Drayton to reading)). After qualifying east or west, you then will lean the other side within the first few months of driving. So for the core section if a driver just signs the west they can't transition though to Stratford so will only be rostered jobs to Abbey wood. Alternatively an East driver can't transition out at paddington out west so will only be given jobs to paddington lower level where the trains can reverse and go back East. Eventually I think the plan is all drivers will sign all of the routes East,west and core so all jobs can be covered by all drivers hopefully improving the ease of operation. Hope this helps and sorry for the waffle. By the way, no platform 13 at paddington 🤣 mentioned at 2.31...rookie error 😋 P.s I may be a cross-eliz-purp choo choo driver... hope to see you down there open day!

I thought it was so touching to see the Queen officially unveil the Elizabeth line on her Platinum Jubilee year

Thanks Geoff for the video answering many questions. The opening of initial Jubilee Line from Charing Cross was the day before the public in 1979 (as shown on Secrets of the London Underground last night). It will be great to have the Elizabeth Line opened at last, it has been a while coming and will also ease congestion on the underground network.

Noticed that Langley station has already had the TfL roundel signs changed to read "Elizabeth Line".......They have a lot of roundels to alter !!

The current Sheffield to Liverpool Street TFL line run every 10 minutes. The Elizabeth line means they will run every 5 minutes. I live 2 minutes from Gidea Park so will have an excellent service.

A fantastic engineering achievement, this will benefit future generations.

Thanks for the Freedom pass and 60 + answers 👍

“Finally, and then I’ll get to my plugs…” [Geoff proceeds to talk about sockets]. Pure gold. Also love the way that Geoff is being coy about the dignitaries at the opening. If he’s not cutting the ribbon himself, I’m rioting.

The TFL trains come into Paddington on platform 11, 12, 14 and sometimes 9 or 10, Paddington no longer has a platform 13

In some ways it reminds me of the initial stage of opening for what became the London Overground between Dalston Junction and New Cross/New Cross Gate (it opened all the way to West Croydon and Crystal Palace roughly a month later)

though I'm not a londoner, not even a brit. I'm still interested in this fantastic project. so thank you for this vid!

I would expect trains running 24 hours at one point, like they pretty much do out of London Paddington currently.

I like that they're opening the Elizabeth Line on Queen Victoria's birthday. :)

Well there goes my plan to sneak down like a ninja without anybody knowing 😂

Altogether now 🎶purple train, purple train!🎶🎸

Very helpful video Geoff! Can’t wait to ride on the purple trains on the 24th May!

“ONLY” 12 trains an hour, here in Norfolk we only get ONE an hour!

I've had a trip to London planned for the first week of June even before they announced the opening and your videos have gotten me even more excited! Can't wait to get over there and ride some new trains!

Can't believe I got my question answered!!!

Someone needs to make an advent calendar for the opening. I mean, if it's on the 24th you could use a christmas one

May the 24th be with you.

Great info. Thanks flor uploading.

Drivers ARE allowed to drive in the tunnelled sections IF they have signed it off and have had the relevant training for those sections. All the drivers are so nice and friendly!

Nice explanation Geoff! The thing that puzzles me is that the 129/180/304 route changes was gonna happen on the same day CrossElizPurpRail was opening, which was next Saturday I believe. But I guess TFL decided to change that date for Crossrail🤷🏼‍♂️

Hang on, bicycles- I took a bike from West Drayton to Euston (via Paddington, using TFL rail then the circle line). Off peak that's a permitted thing to do

Brilliant explanation, that really shows up the hopelessly inadequate TfL briefing and subsequent press stories

i've been riding the "purple train" 3 times now and im about to ride it the 4th time, this line never lets me down

I remember when December 1st came and I saw the project was delayed, I was so angry that I threw up twice! So excited for this to open even though I live far away from London

I've already booked to visit both Reston (on its first day) and Crossrail (on its first day). Things couldn't have aligned any better.

Since I'll be coming from Barnet, if I'm going to get the Abbey Wood train I'll have to get the 04:16 train from New Barnet to King's Cross then change at St Pancras to get to Abbey Wood. Lord have mercy on my soul.

We are totally gutted to be away on opening day - my descendants will be exploring as it's over half term! When we get back, we'll start, I think, from Paddington, go straight to Abbey Wood, then come back slowly, stopping at odd stations to explore.

I’ll be in London for the Jubilee. It’s channels like this one that make me want to explore public transit.

The closest we get to night service on the Elizabeth Line is the few night trains GWR provides between Paddington & Reading stopping at more stations than usual.

I live in the west ealing - paddington section and bikes are allowed. There is even a bike storage next to the platform in paddington. Maybe this might change when they combine then in October, but so far the train is quite full of bikes..

Geoff, please invite the lovely Phil to your Elizabeth line video party. Always love when he pops up!

Great video Geoff. There were so many questions that I wanted to ask and you have covered nearly all of them. Thank You.

Thanks for being so informative, surprised there was no mention of the 315s staying though! 😃

May The Twenty fourth be with you Geoff on Crossrail…

This feels like a full circle moment for this channel 🔥(Never have I ever been more invested in anything lol) #CrossElizPurpLine

Biggest Change for me is the Lifts at Whitechapel that I have been waiting for for Ages! - which have been in place for a few weeks now.

Thank you Geoff for all the Q&A, your enthusiasm and excitement.

im looking forward to the Purple train opening on the 24th and i cant wait to go and check it out for myself after it opens

RealTimeTrains has just been updated. First train is from Abbey Wood! At 06:30. First from Paddington is at 06:33.

3 Sections? Mi nuuh business!!! FINALLYYYYYYY!!!!!!!

i thought great i can get from whitechapel to heathrow quickly. then I landed in heathrow recently and it took and HOUR AND A HALF to get my bag and get on the heathrow express... so back to LCY.. time from luggage to DLR ..10 mins.. 5 at a jog :)

Excellent one day will be able travel Whitstable to Reading changing at Stratford to see my Mum. Good video Geoff.

Henceforth we should call it the PURPLE TRAIN in honour of you and all the children at heart...Purple Train line 💜 😄 Makes total sense...

Always good to see you buzzing with excitement. Can't wait to check out the CrossLizPurple line when I can *finally* get to London again!

I’m am a class 345 driver and driver instructor. The drivers all sign the COS. The other routes are then learnt and eventually all will sign from end to end. East driver learn west then west drivers learn east. We already have quite a few drivers that sign all routes

1) 0:46 - is it going to be a full service on opening day (24th may) 2) 4:15 - active hours 3) 6:00 - will the queen be there? 4) 7:13 - fares, travelcard 5) 9:15 - only 12 trains an hour? 6) 9:40 - are you frustrated that it's late 7) 10:18 - night trains? 8) 10:27 - can you take bikes? 9) 11:17 - auto door opening 10) 11:35 - are the stations tfl or national? 11) 12:19 - are drivers limited to sections 12) 12:42 - charging, WiFi, usb? 13) 13:27 - how many videos can we expect? Who else is going on opening day in order to get a limited edition oyster card 🤤

I’m not a Londoner. I don’t even live in the UK. But this is great news because it will be open by my trip to London next month.

I’m mega excited now and am so going to be on the first train - I’m thinking the 06.30 from Abbey Wood but I might go for the 06.33 from Paddington. As luck would have it, it’s my long weekend. Thanks as always for update 😊

When were bicycles banned from the Underground? In 1995, I had my touring bike, got off Gatwick Express, sent down Victoria line long escalators and took the tube underground for a few stations and then changed to the line to Heathrow. I had called ahead and they told me it was perfectly legal for me to travel with bike. This was a tourinmg bike with panneirs (and Christmas shopping to boot, and I still remember having to hold the very heavy bike down some incrediby long escalatrors down at Victoria).

Oh, haven’t been in London for about 10 years and will go there in the last week of May. Sounds like a bonus week, since the CrossLizPurp line is opening that exact week.

Yes, you are probably right that the late opening of the Liz line will be forgotten in time, but the incompentence / mendacity of the Directors who were still spouting their 'On Time & On Budget' mantra until weeks before the scheduled opening means that means that it will be remembered for longer than it otherwise might!

PURPLE TRAIN HYYYPE ^_^ Being from SE London, I'm gonna aim for Abbey Wood for 6:30am on this particular Tuesday morning, what happens after that, no idea - but it'll be very exciting!!

Where I live in the US (Boston) they do the grand opening after the actual line opening, we usually start with a soft open where all the transit fans show up, and then a day or two later they have the press conference, that way they can work out any opening kinks without too much publicity

I had Prince in my head while I was watching this... 😄 Great video Geoff

2 seconds in and I love the scarf! 👏🏽

I always thought Tuesday was a weird day to open a Railway Line but that what I got thinking that must be a official opening on Monday and the Queen gets to ride the line first, nice video and it is a real shame that I cannot be there on the opening day

Thank you for this informative video. Glad it's getting a ceremonial opening. :)

I arrive on my first UK trip since the plague started on Jun 15th and can’t wait to take the Perp Twain from LHR to Paddington on my Oyster Card instead of HEX.

I have a book covering opening (and closing) days of all Dutch rail (including tram) lines. It usually lists an official opening day and a first day of normal service. Those usually are a few days apart, sometimes even months, amd in both directions, i.e. the official opening can be before or after the first day of general service. It also has a few lines listing an "opening day," then an asterisk explaining service suspended that same day due to derailment/accident/... and service resuming several days or weeks later.

I’ll have to join from Bond Street when that section opens but for now I’ll be joining from Liverpool St. so looking forward to my commute from Wembley Park to Essex being so much quicker!

Had a jolly on the Elizabeth Line today. Pretty impressive but I was a little bit disappointed that the seat covers for the priority seats aren't more different to the regular seats. It should be very clear these are priority seats so that people know to offer them to others. Orange would probably been quite complimentary to the purple seats

If they hopefully retrofit usb sockets in the trains I wish they replace the seats with something more comfortable like tube line quality at least.

For me coming from Slough I have to still use a paper ticket to add a student discount on from Slough to Paddington, then from Paddington to Central I use a student oyster hopefully there's a better solution to this in the future or atleast having oyster pads on the platform at Paddington.

The line I needed, Canary Wharf to Paddington will be a breeze now 😌

Amazing video Geoff! Can’t wait for the Elizabeth line opening!

I don't think the Queen will be present at an official opening of the line on monday the 23th of may. She'll probably be at the opening of the Chelsea flower show.

Fantastic video geoff

Being very picky but that station that you can get to from Liverpool St is Cheznt.

Excellent video Geoff, soo excited for the opening I'm going to Abbey Wood 1st. Won't get there till after 7am which is annoying but hopefully I'll see you around, it's the final countdown! 🎉

I've been waiting for so long... and I'm not going to miss this opportunity going on the Elizabeth Line... even if I have to wake up early...

A really helpful summary, thank you Geoff

At last it's gonna be officially open. Can't wait either, it is exiting yes indeed.

As a family we have already taken our 4 bikes on TfL 345s out of Paddington and as far as Langley, even changing trains at Southall. Hard to imagine them revoking this.

Oh! I’ll be in London when it opens! Maybe i’ll ride it before I leave

Thanks Geoff - You're a lot more helpful than TFL

I'm not a class 345 driver, but I know that the driver will - at the start - NOT have full route knowledge. I also know, that it is not priority for MTR to establish full route knowledge for every driver, but ultimately operation will be much more flexible, once they achieve it.

Can't wait for the King George extension

As the official RU-vid 'Train Man' I think you should extend that high level shelf behind you .. and have a model railway running around your room.

By complete coincidence I'm sitting here watching this while wearing one of Dan's Purple Train T shirts!

Why is it I'm so hyped abt this new railway even though I'm not even from London (or the UK, for that matter)

Fun fact: the Jubilee line got delayed *twice*, the first section was proposed to be open by 1976, but this was pushed back several times to actually open in 1979. Then there was the Jubilee Line Extension to Stratford, which was meant to be open in one by 1997 but instead was opened in phases throughout 1999.

What you said about bikes isn't quite right. Non-folding bikes *will be allowed*, including in the central tunnels, but with the same peak restrictions as currently apply to Crossrail services into Paddington & Liverpool St HL stations. This is from a rail industry brief which a friend sent me.

I must admit Geoff, this is one of those things where the cynic in me can’t help wonder if there will still yet be another twist in the plot with the October estimate, but even I must concede that it looks like we will finally have an actual Crossrail/Purple Line/Lilibet Line/Betty’s Basement train through Central London in the last week of May! 😅🥳🤩👍 Long time coming but let’s hope it is worth it and they aren’t beset with issues so it goes off like a damp squib 🙄 Interesting to note that some people on various media platforms are saying it’s a waste of money apparently because it isn’t any quicker than existing routes. Obviously didn’t get the “need to move large quantities of people to avoid mass congestion” memo 🤷🏻‍♂️It might even mean that the Central line isn’t like a sardine tin processing plant for 9/10s of its services (sometimes it smells like one too 🤮) during the day. Funny how some people really miss the point, eh? 😉 In truth it isn’t going to help me much per se as our line into London (c2c) is pretty direct and well connected already, but I am certainly looking forward to checking out the new service in due course. And to actually being able to breathe on a train to the West End 😆 Cheers Geoff, great stuff as even. Don’t forget the air guitar for those rock licks at the end of Purple (T)rain 😜👍🍻🍀

I have a friend who has been working on the Elizabeth Line (no names no pack drill), and what he tells me is scary ! I won't be riding it for a good while !!

I passed by Hayes & Harlington station the other day and the Lizzie Line branding is already there.

TfL confirmed folding bikes / folding ebikes are allowed throughout the network which is a relief!