Thrills today, gains tomorrow: Why the Elizabeth line is a blessing for London

Even for the ever-changing capital, the new link is a great leap forward, says Simon Calder

Action station: London mayor Sadiq Khan and Andy Byford, commissioner of Transport for London, at Paddington station (Simon Calder)

“There will be a short delay while we change drivers,” passengers at Edgware Road are told.

On the day the world’s newest subterranean railway line opened beneath the streets of London, I temporarily sidestepped the carnival of rail enthusiasts to jolt along the oldest Underground line on the planet: the link from Paddington to Farringdon.

What with the changeover, the journey on the Victorian-era “cut and cover” line lasted 21 minutes.

The new Elizabeth line takes a mere seven minutes between the two stations. A churlish traveller will no doubt point out that time will increase when Bond Street station finally opens: the key West End stop is running even further behind schedule than the rest of the line.

The three-and-a-half-year delay in opening the central section is as scandalous as the £4bn overspend. But 24 May 2022 finally marks the day we can start talking about “the botched Crossrail project” in the past tense and start celebrating what looks like a great leap forward for London.

The opening of the Metropolitan line from Paddington to Farringdon in 1863 proved profoundly transformative. Three main-line terminus stations – Paddington, Euston and King’s Cross – were connected with the City of London (St Pancras opened next to King’s Cross five years later). It was a brilliant engineering achievement, as its continuous use for the past 159 years testifies.

After this proof-of-concept, London created a vast Underground network that contributed to it becoming – and remaining – the dominant city in western Europe. For decades, though, overseas capitals have seen much more investment in public transport.

Paris began leapfrogging London in 1977, with the opening of the Réseau Express Régional – the RER. The overstretched Métro needed relief. The best way to deliver extra capacity was to link some of the suburban lines that terminated around the French capital.

Dig big tunnels, capable of holding double-deck trains, beneath the city. Serve only the most important stations to allow faster running, but at the same time provide connect with as much of the existing Métro network as possible. Scale up, speed up.

Decades later, the Elizabeth line follows this mantra faithfully. Liverpool Street station, for example, extends from the East Anglia rail terminus all the way to Moorgate station on the Northern line. So vast is it, that a member of staff urged me to take a Circle line train for one stop to get to the other side of the Elizabeth line.

Once there, I joined enthusiasts sampling the amazing funicular lift that briefly does a convincing impression of a ski resort fixture while paralleling the escalators.

Among the thousands of rail devotees who celebrated the rare thrill of a new line, there was nothing but praise.

As they clutched purple balloons given out to match the regal hue of the line’s adopted colour, everyone was in the best of moods.

I met Colin Kelso amid a crowd of around 1,000 rail devotees who showed up at Paddington station for the 6.33am departure for Abbey Wood. He had taken time off from his job at Glasgow airport to travel to London and board the maiden eastbound passenger train on the new line.

“To be able to say I was on the first train from Paddington is such an experience,” he told me

“This has been delayed for many years now, and I’ve been waiting probably since the first day I heard about it. I’ve been reading up almost every single day, and now that it’s open it’s finally amazing.”

The real test, of course, is how well Londoners will take to the new line. Early signs are encouraging: lack of amazement, in a good way. Within a couple of hours of the first train, grumbles about the quality of the in-train WiFi 130 feet below the city streets started to emerge on social media – a sure sign that some commuters had instantly assimilated the journey possibilities.

Here at Tottenham Court Road station, where I am writing, the flow of humanity in all its great diversity is working splendidly as people follow the highly intuitive signage to connect with the Northern and Central lines. The Elizabeth line shadows the Central line for much of its course through central London, and will ease the burden for the benefit of all – including the tourists and business travellers on whom the capital depends for a good slice of its economic well-being.

All the projections for the new line were made before the coronavirus pandemic, and have not endured well. Rail and Underground ridership is still below 80 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. Ticket revenue for Transport for London is way down on predictions. The lost earnings due to the Elizabeth line being so late means the project is a financial shambles.

Yes, London could survive without the Elizabeth line. Spending £19bn on transport infrastructure in other parts of the UK might be even more transformative. But a great city needs constant augmentation.

Back at Edgware, a signal failure on the 1863 original is causing problems. The Circle is broken.

“This train will now terminate at Moorgate,” we are told. But London moves on.