Club Meeting: Monday 10th September

Crossrail is a 118-kilometre railway line under development in London and the home counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Essex, England. The central section and a large portion of the line, between Paddington in central London and Abbey Wood in the south-east, is due to open in December 2018, whereupon that section and two other existing routes will be officially renamed the Elizabeth line after Queen Elizabeth II. 

At each end of the central core, the line will divide into two branches: in the east to Abbey Wood and Shenfield in Essex, and in the west to Heathrow Airport and Reading in Berkshire. Part of one of the eastern branches, between Liverpool Street and Shenfield, was transferred to a precursor service called TfL Rail in 2015; this precursor took control of the Heathrow Connect service in May 2018. 

The Shenfield branch will be connected to Paddington in May 2019 and the branches west of Paddington will be connected to the central core in December 2019, completing the new east–west route across London and providing a new high-frequency commuter and suburban passenger service.