A point that has been raised a few times in my comments section is the question of whether the
Elizabeth line can truly be called a new railway. And that's an interesting point. The core section
of the Elizabeth line (the bit under Central London) is new, but an awful lot of the rest
is just old lines that have been upgraded. So, how much is new, how much is old and who built what?
The railways of London are crazy. In the 1840s, the country was gripped by "Railway Mania," when
just about everyone with a little bit of money was either proposing a railway or investing in one.
Naturally, a lot of that mania involved building railways into or through London. Lines were built
wherever people thought there was money to be made. Sometimes, they were built to prevent anyone
else from building them. Deals were struck and rivalries were formed between companies. In 1846,
a Royal Commission was set up to prevent the city from being carved up by speculative railways. Not
that this stopped builders. They just started building railways under the city instead.
Often, the lines didn't make much sense in terms of the service they provided,
and in most cases they made very little money. Not too far into the 20th century, it was becoming
clear that everyone had been very silly. Railways amalgamated to keep their heads above water.
From 1933 onwards, London Transport (the predecessor of Transport for London)
faced the task of making sense of it all. The priority was not building new lines, but turning
the illogical lines they had into a coherent, sensible network. The majority of transport
projects in London since then have involved trying to stitch it all together in ways that make sense.
Like me in the edit, looking at the footage I actually have. This could be said of the DLR,
Thameslink, several bits of the Underground, Tramlink and of course the Crossrail project
that would give us the Elizabeth line. Old lines connected up to make new ones that work better.
That's a pretty long preamble. Let's get on to the actual meat of this video.
The oldest part of the Elizabeth line is the western section from Reading to Paddington.
This is part of the old Great Western Railway. The bit between Reading and Twyford opened in 1840,
from Twyford to Maidenhead Railway Bridge in 1839, and Maidenhead to London in 1838. Obviously,
the railway we have now is very different from the one we had then, but it's still strange to
think that the newest route includes a section that's over 180 years old.
The line to Heathrow Airport is far more recent, dating back only to 1998. it was originally
built for the Heathrow Express and branches off the main line at Hayes and Harlington.
At the time this video was originally published, the connection at Paddington between the
Elizabeth line core section and the old Great Western Railway is not yet open to the public.
The bit from Paddington to Liverpool Street is, of course part of the entirely new section,
but I think it's interesting that this is actually the second line to link these two destinations.
The first section of the Metropolitan Railway was built in 1863 and ran from Paddington
(Bishop's Road) to Farringdon Street, and in 1875 it extended to Liverpool Street,
which was then a new station. the Elizabeth Line takes a very different route though,
cutting across the West End rather than running around it. The bit from Liverpool Street to Abbey
Wood is new as far as Custom House. That section of track, though, is another rather old railway.
The original Custom House station was opened by the Eastern Counties Railway in 1855 as part of a
railway from Stratford to North Woolwich via the Docklands. In the 1870s, a new dock was built,
known as the Albert Dock. This would cut right across the route of the railway, so in 1878,
a tunnel was dug under the new dock: the Connaught Tunnel. This tunnel, with some modification,
carries the Elizabeth line today. The Lizzie continues along the old North Woolwich branch
until just before North Woolwich station. The old North Woolwich building is still there,
as is the ferry pier it once served to take people over the river to Woolwich. The Crossrail project
had other ideas and constructed a new tunnel under the Thames. The line into Abbey Wood is new, but
the station was opened in 1849. It was originally owned by the South Eastern Railway. It's kind of
ironic that the old North Woolwich branch should now run to a South Eastern Railway station,
because those two lines were rivals for passengers to Woolwich Arsenal. Which brings me back to my
original point about how much needless competition there was in the 19th century. But there we go.
Alright, back to Liverpool Street and up to Shenfield. The connection between Liverpool
Street on the Elizabeth line core section and Stratford is so new that, again, it hasn't been
opened yet. At least at the time of filming. The section from Stratford to Romford is nearly as old
as the bit into Paddington, having been opened in 1839 by the Eastern Counties Railway. From Romford
to Brentwood opened in 1840, and finally the line reached Shenfield in 1843. Well, actually,
it reached Colchester in 1843, but Elizabeth line trains terminate at Shenfield. Of course,
this is a very simplified version of events. All of these lines and stations have been altered,
often substantially, since the 19th century, and the coming of the Elizabeth line necessitated
further works to provide extra capacity at many of these old stations. But still, it's worth noting
that for all the Elizabeth line is touted as a new railway, it owes a lot to some very old railways.
Good evening! I hope you enjoyed today's video. Researching it involved learning an awful lot
about the route, and I have to say that it's given me a lot of inspiration for future videos.
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