Crossrail Update
Spring 2017 will be remembered as a time of frantic activity to get Crossrail surface-level infrastructure ready for the phased opening of the Elizabeth Line. Extended Easter possessions are being used by Network Rail to finalise the Shenfield route in time for the stage one launch in May: the work involves new signalling configurations and completing platform extensions at stations on the lines to and from Liverpool Street.
To the west of the capital Network Rail has been able to scrub one major job off its Crossrail to do list. Electrification of the Great Western route between Stockley Junction and Maidenhead has been completed and this project, commissioned as part of the Crossrail programme, upgrades 12 and a half miles of railway west of the junction with Heathrow Airport and means the route between London Paddington and Maidenhead is now wired up for use by electric multiple-units.
Apart from removing any uncertainty about when work will be completed, this is not of immediate benefit for Crossrail: Elizabeth Line trains are not scheduled to be introduced west of Stockley Junction before December 2019. However, electrification will allow train operator Great Western Railway to e…
