Last week, TfL Rail completed a migration to running longer trains between Paddington and Reading.

When TfL Rail took over parts of the service from GWR ahead of the opening of the Elizabeth line, although it ran with Lizzie line trains, they were 7 carriages long rather than the 9 carriages that will be used when the Lizzie line opens fully.

They started swapping over to 9-car trains back in March, and starting from last (Monday 18th May), they’ve been using full-length trains and running a near full timetable on the line.

The 7-carriage trains are now being moved across London to replace the remaining 30 year old Class 315 trains that TfL Rail inherited from Abellio Greater Anglia in May 2015 on the Liverpool Street to Shenfield line.

Old and new

The line between Liverpool Street and Shenfield will continue to use 7-car trains as the platforms at Liverpool Street station would need lengthening to accommodate the longer trains. When the Elizabeth line opens fully, then all trains will be extended to the full 9-car configuration, and Liverpool Street station platforms will be extended as they will be a reserve option for the Elizabeth line when needed.

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7 comments
  1. Brian Butterworth says:
    25 May 2020 at 1:18 pm

    “Liverpool Street station platforms will be extended as they will be a reserve option for the Elizabeth line when needed.”

    And run the peak hours service to/from Liverpool Street High Level, of course!

    • Rachel Gibbons says:
      25 May 2020 at 2:43 pm

      If they could now get around to replacing the 5-car trains on the Heathrow line and give those of us in haswell and west ealing half a chance of squeezing onto a peaktime train when properly-normal life begins again…

    • Dave Richards says:
      26 May 2020 at 2:13 pm

      @Rachel I think the Heathrow new trains are o the way to replace the old Heathrow Connect trains

  2. Daniel Johnson says:
    25 May 2020 at 2:57 pm

    The Class 315 were built 1980-1981 – making them 40 years old, not 30…

  3. Jonathan Harris says:
    25 May 2020 at 6:45 pm

    Not quite.

    There are still 7-car units in use between Paddington and Reading – the workings starting with the 0536 from Maidenhead and 0551 from Reading were 7-car all last week and there are two 7-cars out today. The others were 9-cars.

  4. Stuart Kale says:
    26 May 2020 at 2:28 pm

    Please use the correct name for the line. It is not the Lizzie Line
    Off to the Tower for a public execution.

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