sport in a moment. but first. the elizabeth line in london is carrying its first passengers this morning, £4 billion over budget and three and a half years late. when fully linked up, the crossrail project will run from reading in berkshire to shenfield in essex and abbey wood in south east london, via central london. let s speak to our transport correspondent, katy austin, in woolwich.
the whole point of this railway is to cutjourney the whole point of this railway is to cut journey times, the whole point of this railway is to cutjourney times, a 10% to the rail capacity in london and to boost the economy. it is about three and a half years late, it s gone over budget and is costing about £18.8 billion. we are now in a slightly different world to when crossrail was first designed. we had the pandemic, people were working from home more. the passenger number forecasts are below what they would initially have been. transport for london insists this new railway is still very much needed and it said it will actually transform the way people travel around london and the south east and actually people be spoken to this morning say it will, in some cases, cut their commuting times by half. in some cases, cut their commuting times by half- times by half. which is quite astonishing times by half. which is quite astonishing and times by half. which is quite astonishing a
railway got up and running. i turned up really early, i have been waiting for nearly ten years for this thing to open. just shorter travel for me, - very convenient for me, yeah. once in a lifetime opportunity. a transport line, in a city like london, opening, it probably won t happen again in my lifetime. the journey time between canary wharf and whitechapel blew my mind. the line links reading in berkshire with shenfield in essex, via central london. it is initially running in three separate parts. from today, the newly built section between paddington and abbey wood will run monday to saturday with a train every five minutes. seamless end to end travel will come later, by may next year. we are on board one of the new elizabeth line trains, they are pretty state of the art and 200 metres long. each one can carry up to 1,500 passengers. the crossrail project is opening three and a half years late. one new station, bond street, still is not ready, and its budget
wood between paddington and abbey wood will run monday to saturday with trains every five minutes. seamless end to end travel will come by may next year. we are on board one of the new elizabeth line trains, they are pretty state of the art and 200 metres long. each can carry up to 1500 passengers. the crossrail project is opening three and a half years later, one new station, bond street, is still not ready, and the budget has swelled to £18.5 billion, but it is still seen as a hugely impressive engineering achievement. the crossrail elizabeth line is really important for us to all be proud of, but don t believe it has gone down beautifully well in leeds, liverpool and manchester where they want a share of the investment kick, and i think there will be big discussions in future. passenger numbers forecast discussions in future. passenger numbers forecast for discussions in future. passenger numbers forecast for the - discussions in future. passenger. numbers forecast for the eliz
happened than ever before. the politics of the present is always affected by the pain of the past here. the proposed change in the law is almost certain to be challenged in the courts. chris page, bbc news, belfast. hundreds of people queued in the rain this morning to be the first to travel on the elizabeth line in london. the crossrail project will eventually connect reading in the west with shenfield to the east. today, the central section opened to the public more than three years late and more than £4 billion over budget. our transport correspondent katy austin reports. just after 6am and the doors were finally open. passengers streamed into new stations, including here in woolwich in south east london, to catch the first trains. good morning everyone and welcome to your brand new elizabeth line service. ..as the country s newest