(London) Hundreds of passengers gathered on Tuesday to take the first train carrying the public on the new underground line linking the eastern and western outskirts of London, the Elizabeth Line, launched four years late.
Posted at 8:27
It enters service a little over a week before the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II, in whose honor it was baptized.
“This is a very great moment, not just for London but for the whole country, especially in this special Jubilee year,” Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said in a statement.
Nine stations have been created in the city center for this line, which notably connects the financial district of Canary Wharf in the east to Heathrow airport in the west, with trains every five minutes from 6:30 a.m. at 11 p.m.
PHOTO HENRY NICHOLLS, REUTERS
Passengers on the Elizabeth Line subway
“The Elizabeth Line will help transform life and travel in London and the South East by dramatically improving transport links, reducing journey times, providing additional capacity,” said Commissioner Andy Byford. to London transport.
The line was inaugurated last week by Queen Elizabeth II who made a rare public appearance on this occasion.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Twitter that he was “absolutely delighted” with the opening of this line, which he said should boost the British economy by 42 billion pounds sterling (49 billion euros).
Its opening is a relief after years of delay.
This project, launched 15 years ago and supposed to be completed in December 2018, has been delayed four years and its budget has exploded to reach around 19 billion pounds (22.5 billion euros at the current price), almost a third more than originally planned.
However, a station in the city center (Bond Street) is not yet open and the line has so far been launched in three separate sections requiring changes before being connected. Initially, trains will not run on Sundays with the exception of Sunday June 5 during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
Transport for London (TfL) estimates that annual passenger numbers will reach 170 million by 2026.
The Elizabeth Line is launched at a difficult time for London transport, with finances weighed down by the COVID-19 pandemic requiring injections of public funds and steep fare hikes. With the popularization of telecommuting, metro traffic remains on average well below its pre-pandemic average.