Crossrail has doubled the number of trains it is running per hour through the central core tunnels as it ramps up its testing regime.
Trial running, which builds up to a timetable-style service is underway and aims to iron out any unexpected problems still left in the system. When it started on 10th May, they were running four trains per hour along the line between Abbey Wood and Paddington.
As of last Monday, that has doubled to eight trains per hour.
Throughout the Trial Running programme, operations and maintenance staff and train drivers will play an integral role with the Romford Route Control Centre (RCC), the hub where they will signal all trains in the tunnel. Maintenance teams will be available to keep the railway running, as well as responding to any operational incidents across the network.
The aim is to ramp up to 12 trains per hour in the next month or so, and once that’s completed they can move onto the next phase, trial operations.
In that final stage before opening to the public, the line is tested as a live service, and staff are brought in to test the human side of the service, such as evacuations and emergencies.
At the moment, the Elizabeth line is expected to open sometime in the first half of next year.
Theres no reason whatsoever they cannot open that line up to passengers today. Run 24 trains per hour thru the line 24 hours/ day for a week and if there’s no crashes then its safe. Those contractors are truly taking the pizz. They will never get not a single future contract in this country, based on their performance on this. To have allowed this to happen, there’s got to be politicians on the take. I can smell the stench of the corruption from here. And for the billions WE paid, we get concrete seats to sit on.
Gosh, how have TFL managed without your expertise for so long?
I wish I knew as much about anything as you seem to about everything.
I wonder if they might have already considered this and discounted it 🤔
🤪
Ah the lazy accusation of corruption.
If you have any real evidence then please contact the Met Police.
Corruption for not running trains with people on until the line has been proven both safe in normal operation and in emergencies? Personally, I’d rather be certain the line is safe than have it open early in the middle of a pandemic that is still causing a reduced number of passengers, and risk something awful happening. Run the tests, not the risks.
Yes I too hate the Elizabeth line trains. The seats are like sitting on a board and you can feel every bump in the track through the suspension. I use C2C whenever I travel to London as their trains are not airconditioned cattle trucks.
Apart from the fact that several stations aren’t yet ready to be handed over to TFL. And trial running will be suspended from the end of this week for three weeks while (they hope ) all the remaining work which impacts on passenger areas is completed. I quite agree that certain contractors haven’t covered themselves in glory -the Bond St lot were effectively fired.
The need for trial running becomes essential when everything is run by computer. I would love to know what software version they’re now on.
I’m so tired of this wool witch station not being opened, at this rate I’ll have retired before it opens.
Congratulations on retiring this year – and don’t worry, pensioners will be allowed to use the line when it opens, so you won’t lose out on that.
I seem to remember a member of parliament being killed during the rainhill trials because enthusiasm had dampened caution.
It was William Huskisson, who was run over by Stephenson’s “Rocket” at the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester railway in 1827, thus becoming the world’s first widely reported railway fatality.
You must be very old John to remember that