Hey guys welcome back to Demystified!
For our second episode we will be looking at the headline grabbing London Megaproject
Crossrail, consider following us on social media and enjoy the video!
[Intro]
The history of Crossrail or the Elizabeth Line as it's now known, in my eyes begins
in mid 20th century Paris, now stick with me.
Paris is famous for its incredibly dense Metro network with small trains and incredibly short
distances between stations, however as one might imagine this became quite a hindrance
as the network grew in both passenger numbers and size.
Not only did the small trains tend to get slammed by incredibly high passenger loads
but, the short distances between stations meant going more than a short distance ended
up taking ages.
In addition, with growing suburbs and increasing numbers of commuters coming into Paris on
regional rail lines and further congesting the Metro, a solution was needed.
And so from this came the iconic RER (which yes is where GO RER gets its name if like
me you are from Toronto). RER as a project was the enhancement and connection of existing
commuter rail lines which previously terminated on the edges of Paris via brand new tunnels
through the core of the city.
These new tunnels featured only a few large widely spaced stations, allowing suburban
commuters to quickly get deep into the heart of the city, while providing significant capacity
with incredibly large trains and advanced signalling bringing the capacity needed for
both suburban commuters and urban dwellers to utilize the new express services.
The RER has been immensely successful for Paris becoming a long haul network in its
own right separate from the Paris Metro with 5 lines criss crossing the French Capital
with service to the incredibly important CDG airport and numerous branches.
In fact, some of the RER lines are among the most used urban transit lines in the world
with trains arriving with 10 car bilevel trains arriving at stations at frequencies usually
reserved for only the most frequent subways in North America.
Now at this point you're probably asking, why oh why Reece have you spent this much
time in a London video talking about Paris of all places? Well here's the thing, London
and Paris are only about 300 kilometers apart, far closer than say Montreal and Toronto.
So it isn't much of a stretch to think that in the decades since RER opened in Paris,
innumerable Londoners have visited Paris and rode the RER which connects to both Gate du
Nord and CDG Airport, two likely locations where Britons have experienced all the RER's
glory upon arrival in France.
With all this in mind now consider Crossrail, a new branched high capacity express urban
rail line designed to link two important national rail lines the Great Western Main Line and
the Great Eastern Main Line via a central tunnel with utilizes advanced signalling systems,
while also relieving an overburdened convention Metro system, and connecting to key transport
hubs like London Heathrow Airport and and Paddington Station. The inspiration from RER
(including the plans already for a second line) are plain to see and give us a good
idea how the idea for Crossrail came about.
As mentioned Crossrail will act as a new express Urban Rail Line connecting key destinations
across London at higher speeds and wider station spacings than what is provided by the London
Underground or as it's more commonly called the "Tube". The service when complete will
operate similar to existing tube lines with regular all stops service at Metro level frequencies.
The Line will extend from Reading and Heathrow Airport in the West through new twin bored
tunnels through Central London, on to two Eastern branches, one to Shenfield to the
Northeast and another to Abbey Wood to the Southeast, passing through Canary Wharf on the way.
Crossrail is already operating in pieces with service along the Eastern leg from Shenfield
to Liverpool Street operating while entering the latter station via the surface rather
than via the currently incomplete central tunnels.
Service is also operating on the leg to Heathrow taking over the previous local Heathrow Connect
Service and Reading in the West.
Hence the main portion of the project which remains not ready for service (and which has
faced delay) is that RER special sauce of the central tunnel and advanced signalling.
Now of course I wouldn't have included the Parisian preamble if the similarities were
limited to the route. All of the stations now adopted as part of Crossrail are seeing
major overhauls though falling short of being 100% accessible, however no expense was spared
on the new central stations of which there are several feature all the latest amenities
like Platform screen doors and much like this on RER are massive to accommodate the 200+
meter trains.
Crossrail much like RER also opts for full flat heavy rail trains electrified at mainline
standards of 25 kV with overhead catenary and capable of higher top speeds than regular
Metro trains, while this is simply a byproduct of the repurposing of previous mainline railways
for frequent Metro like service, there is something very cool about the new nine car
class 345 trains operating deep under London with platform screen doors and all.
With all this in mind it seems London's Crossrail project is much like the Paris RER and hence
is the evolution of Metro services for cities who already have comprehensive short haul
Metro networks. With new larger and faster trains and all the modern amenities which
cannot be easily retrofitted into existing lines.
So with that thanks for watching the second episode of Demystified, consider supporting
the channel on Patreon or following us on Social Media and as always see you again soon!
[Music]