A fourth TV series about the construction of the Elizabeth line will be shown on BBC2 in a couple of weeks’ time, covering the final stages ahead of opening the line for passengers.
The first two series covered the construction of the Crossrail project, and the third series looked at the work undertaken after the delays and cost overruns were announced. With exclusive access to Crossrail and Transport for London, this fourth and final chapter of the documentary series follows the final stages of the work that was needed to get the line open.
Guiding the project through the final three years of construction and testing is Crossrail’s new CEO Mark Wild – the person tasked with getting Britain’s flagship engineering project back on track. The show also follows Pradeep Vasudev the project’s head technician responsible for integrating the complex lines of code that powers the signalling and train software – the area responsible for delaying the project by years. Pradeep and his lead technicians run thousands of tests to debug the safety-critical software that allows the trains to run on the track.
The show will also follow train driver Emma Knowles – a former London bus driver of 15 years – as she applies all of her training to drive the new Elizabeth Line trains during the crucial timetable trials. The episode ends with train testing in the tunnels and across the tracks of London’s commuter network – running into problems, leaving lots more work for the team to do if they’re to deliver the railway by 2022.
Don’t want to spoil the suspense, but I think they manage it in the end.
The first of the two-part series, The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway: Inside the Elizabeth Line will be shown on BBC2 at 8pm on Sunday 12th June.
Ahead of the fourth series starting, episodes from the third series are also being shown on BBC4 – on Monday 6th June and Tuesday 7th June at 7pm.
Well, apart from Bond Street!