Elizabeth line: Hundreds gather to ride long-delayed £18bn service on opening day

Hundreds of people gathered in central London to be amongst the first to ride the Elizabeth line on opening day.

The long-delayed £18bn service opened to the public on Tuesday (24 May) with the first train departing on time from Paddington at 6:33am.

Enthusiasts began queuing at a number of stations long before the first trains arrived, with some arriving to wait before 6am.

It didn’t all go smoothly on opening day though, with passengers sharing videos of Paddington being evacuated due to what Transport for London (TfL) has described as a “fire alert”.

Click here to sign up for our newsletters.