The £14.8 billion Crossrail project is currently Europe’s largest infrastructure project. Construction began in 2009 at Canary Wharf, and is now almost 75% complete. The new railway, which will be known as the Elizabeth line when services begin in next year and will be fully integrated with London’s existing transport network and will be operated by Transport for London.
The new state-of-the-art trains will carry an estimated 200 million passengers per year. will speed up journey times, increase central London’s rail capacity by 10% and bring an extra 1.5 million people to within 45 minutes of central London. Journeys from Reading in the west all the way Shenfield in the east, taking in 40 stations (10 new ones) and providing the first ever direct connection between all of London’s main employment centres and Heathrow airport.
Up to 24 trains an hour will run during peak periods slashing journey times into the capital and changing the lives of millions of Londoners and suburban commuters.
Over 1.5 million more people will be placed within a 45-minute commute of the key business district The Elizabeth line will make travelling in the capital easier and quicker and will reduce crowding on London Transport.
Crossrail could help create £5.5 billion in added value to residential and commercial real estate along its route between 2012 and 2021, according to research for Crossrail by GVA.
Nothing boosts the value of homes more than a major transport upgrade, Crossrail is already providing a catalyst for regeneration and forward-thinking home buyers and savvy investors are beginning to focus on the neighbourhoods now in the spotlight because of the new route. Canary Wharf is tipped as a Crossrail winner. For the first time, it will have a direct link to Heathrow, while the new station will be one of the largest on the route, with six storeys of shops, plus restaurants and cafés and a landscaped park. About 10,000 new homes in Docklands are also in the pipeline.
If you’re looking for great transport links Canary Wharf is where it’s at - Crossrail, Underground, DLR, Riverboats, and two airports less both less than 40 mins away.
Crossrail, sorry Ma'am, the Elzizabeth Line, is due for completion in December 2018.
