Transport for London (TfL) has today (January 25) announced that the new Elizabeth line station at Canary Wharf has been transferred from the Crossrail construction team to TfL, meaning it is now ready for final testing and passenger service ahead of an expected opening in the first half of this year.
The transfer means that every Elizabeth line station except Bond Street should now open on day one.
The station, located just north of the existing London Underground Jubilee line station with the same name, sits underneath a five-storey development called Crossrail Place, which includes a public garden, restaurants and a now Instagram-famous pedestrian walkway notable for its resemblance to a Star Wars tunnel.
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The striking pedestrian walkway to Crossrail Place and the new station
(Image: Camille Walala and Canary Wharf Group)
The station was constructed in a 256 metres long box which used to be a dock, beneath the ground.
This required 100 million litres of water (40 Olympic-sized swimming pools) being pumped out of it and 300,000 tonnes of material removed, including part of a woolly mammoth’s jawbone and a 55 million year old piece of amber, both of which are now in the possession of the Natural History Museum.
As with all of the Elizabeth line stations, step free access will be provided and the station have eight lifts and 21 escalators. Staff will be continuing to familiarise themselves with the station in preparation for passengers, which will include staging a series of practice scenarios.
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Crossrail CEO Mark Wild said: “We are progressing well with Trial Operations, which is the final phase before passenger services. With a series of more complex exercises, which will include evacuations of trains and stations using thousands of staff due to begin soon.”
Trains will link Canary Wharf and Farringdon in just 10 minutes. Initially trains from the station will run between Paddington (Elizabeth line station) and Abbey Wood.
The total delay to Crossrail (now branded Elizabeth line to passengers) is expected to be three-and-a half to four years. Although there is optimism for the line’s eventual opening, there is still frustration that the full service will not run until May 2023.
The new station concourse
(Image: TfL)
On day one, it will run in three separate sections with the current TfL Rail lines remaining disconnected from the central section, new stations and tunnels.
Bond Street station is unable to open on day one as the delays to its construction are so significant.
That station is one of the new cathedral-sized giant stations the Elizabeth line will bring to Zone 1.
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