Elizabeth line to open early from Monday

This coming Monday – 5th September – the Elizabeth line will start opening an hour earlier than it currently does, bringing it in line with most of the rest of TfL services. At the moment, the central section of the Elizabeth line between Abbey Wood and Paddington opens at around 6:30am, but from Monday, it will be opening at around 5:30am.

If you’re so inclined to be on those first trains, the first Elizabeth line train leaves Abbey Wood at 5:34am and from Paddington at 5:44am

There’s another change to the service though.

If you’re catching the early trains from Paddington, they will continue to depart roughly every 5 minutes until 6:13am, when they stabilise at a regular 5-minute interval.

However, from Abbey Wood, a very different service emerges with trains every 10 minutes until 6:30am. That’s because, for the first time, four of the Elizabeth line trains heading towards Paddington before 6:30am will be starting from Whitechapel station, not Abbey Wood.

After 6:30am the service resumes the standard every 5-minutes departure from Abbey Wood and trains won’t be starting at Whitechapel.

At the moment, the services will continue to stop at around 11pm in the evening as they already do, and will run Monday to Saturday, closed on Sundays. That changes on 6th November, when the line will open on Sundays and expand services in the central core to include trains from Shenfield to Paddington and Abbey Wood through to Reading/Heathrow.

A final tweak due in May 2023 formally completes the Elizabeth line.