TfL Rail

TfL Rail is the concession operating two separate railway lines in London and its environs whilst the planned link-up between these lines is being constructed. This will form part of the Crossrail service when it opens in 2021. At that time, the TfL Rail name will be retired and the services will become operated by Crossrail, with the route named the Elizabeth line.[2][3][4] The Elizabeth line was initially due to open in December 2018.

TfL Rail

A TfL Rail Class 345 at Shenfield
Overview
Owner	Transport for London
Locale	Greater London, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Essex
Transit type	Suburban/Commuter rail Rapid transit[1]
Number of lines	2
Number of stations	32 (22 managed)
Website	tfl.gov.uk/modes/tfl-rail/
Operation
Began operation	31 May 2015 (2015-05-31)
Operator(s)	MTR Corporation
Reporting marks	XR
Technical
System length	36 miles 54 chains (59.0 km)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in)
Electrification	25 kV AC overhead lines

TfL Rail
Miles from Liverpool Street 20¼ Shenfield 18¼ Brentwood Essex Greater London 150 Harold Wood 13½ Gidea Park 12½ Romford 100 Chadwell Heath 9¼ Goodmayes 8½ Seven Kings 7¼ Ilford 6¼ Manor Park 5¼ Forest Gate 4½ Maryland 40 Stratford Pudding Mill Lane portal 00 Liverpool Street Under construction 00 Paddington Royal Oak portal 4¼ Acton Main Line 5¾ Ealing Broadway 6½ West Ealing 7¼ Hanwell 90 Southall 110 Hayes & Harlington Heathrow junction 14¾ Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 16½ Heathrow Terminal 4 140 West Drayton Greater London Buckinghamshire 14¾ Iver Buckinghamshire Berkshire 16¼ Langley 18½ Slough 210 Burnham Berkshire Buckinghamshire 22½ Taplow Buckinghamshire Berkshire 24¼ Maidenhead 310 Twyford 360 Reading Miles from Paddington

TfL Rail was introduced on 31 May 2015 when it took control from Abellio Greater Anglia of the commuter "metro" service between Liverpool Street in central London and Shenfield in Essex. The branch comprises the first 14 stations on the Great Eastern Main Line, with interchange at Shenfield for medium- and long-distance services beyond to East Anglia. TfL Rail has also taken over operation of some services from Paddington to Heathrow Airport and Reading. Services are operated by MTR Corporation under contract to Transport for London (TfL). Between May 2016 and May 2017, TfL Rail carried over 47 million passengers on the Shenfield branch.[5]

History

In June 2013 TfL announced that Arriva, MTR Corporation, Keolis/Go-Ahead Group and National Express had been shortlisted to bid for the concession to operate Crossrail, which was under construction.[6][7]

In July 2014 TfL awarded the contract to Hong Kong's MTR, for a duration of eight years with an option to extend by an additional two years.[8][9]

MTR Corporation (Crossrail) Ltd was created as a new train operating company and took control of the "metro" service between Liverpool Street and Shenfield from the previous operator, Abellio Greater Anglia, on 31 May 2015.[10] The existing Class 315 trains were re-painted in TfL Rail livery, and appropriate branding, advertising and message boards were added at the 14 stations along the line. Every station is staffed, from the first train to the last of the day.

In May 2018 TfL Rail took over operation of the Heathrow Connect service between Paddington and Heathrow, as well as some GWR services between Paddington and Hayes & Harlington.[11]

In November 2019, Class 345 trains began running between Paddington and Reading.[12][13]

In July 2020, Class 345 trains began running between Paddington and Heathrow.[14]

The line will be renamed the Elizabeth line when the central section opens, with the current branches connecting up with the core later.[15]

Route

The eastern branch of TfL Rail runs over the existing 20 miles 16 chains (32.5 km) of track on the Great Eastern Main Line between Liverpool Street and Shenfield. The future Elizabeth line route will retain the use of most of this track, except the portion between Liverpool Street and Stratford, where trains will use new tunnels to connect to the central section of the route.

The western branches operate over part of the Great Western Main Line and the Heathrow tunnel between Paddington and Heathrow for 16 miles 38 chains (26.5 km), and entirely over the Great Western Main Line between Paddington and Reading for 36 miles (58 km). The future Elizabeth line route will retain the use of most of this track, except the portion between Paddington and Acton Main Line, where trains will use new tunnels to connect to the central section of the route.

Stations

Stations served or managed by TfL Rail[16]

Station	Image	Dates			Location
		Opened	Managed from	Served from	Zone	Local authority
Reading CrossCountry Great Western Railway South Western Railway		30 March 1840	Managed by Network Rail	15 December 2019	N/A[lower-alpha 1]	Reading
Twyford Great Western Railway		1 July 1839	Managed by Great Western Railway			Wokingham
Maidenhead Great Western Railway		1 November 1871				Windsor and Maidenhead
Taplow		1 September 1872	May 2018			Buckinghamshire
Burnham		1 July 1899				Slough
Slough Great Western Railway		8 September 1884	Managed by Great Western Railway
Langley		1845	May 2018
Iver		1 December 1924				Buckinghamshire
West Drayton		4 June 1838			6	Hillingdon
Heathrow Terminal 5[lower-alpha 2] Heathrow Express Piccadilly line		27 March 2008	Managed by Heathrow Express	Diversions only[lower-alpha 2]
Heathrow Terminal 4 Piccadilly line		23 June 1998		May 2018
Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 Heathrow Express Piccadilly line
Hayes & Harlington Great Western Railway		1864 or 1868	May 2018		5
Southall		1 May 1839			4	Ealing
Hanwell		1 December 1838
West Ealing Great Western Railway		4 June 1838			3
Ealing Broadway Great Western Railway Central line District line		1 December 1838
Acton Main Line		1 February 1868
Paddington Great Western Railway Heathrow Express Bakerloo line Circle line District line Hammersmith & City line		4 June 1838	Managed by Network Rail		1	City of Westminster
Liverpool Street Greater Anglia Central line Circle line Hammersmith & City line Metropolitan line London Overground		2 October 1874		31 May 2015		City of London
Stratford Greater Anglia Central line Jubilee line London Overground Docklands Light Railway		20 June 1839	Managed by TfL		2/3	Newham
Maryland		6 January 1873	31 May 2015		3
Forest Gate		1840
Manor Park		6 January 1873			3/4
Ilford		20 June 1839			4	Redbridge
Seven Kings		1 March 1899
Goodmayes		8 February 1901
Chadwell Heath		11 January 1864			5
Romford Greater Anglia London Overground		1844			6	Havering
Gidea Park		1 December 1910
Harold Wood		1 December 1868
Brentwood		1 July 1840			9	Brentwood
Shenfield Greater Anglia		29 March 1843	Managed by Greater Anglia		C
Abbey Wood Southeastern Thameslink		30 July 1849	23 October 2017	Not served by TfL Rail[lower-alpha 3]	4	Greenwich

1. Stations between Iver and Reading only accept contactless Pay-as-you-go and are therefore not in the Oyster zones
2. Heathrow Terminal 5 is not officially served by TfL Rail, but services divert to this station when Heathrow Terminal 4 is closed, for example during the COVID-19 period
3. TfL Rail does not provide any services at Abbey Wood, but the Elizabeth Line, its successor service, will do.

Services

As of May 2020, the timetabled Monday–Saturday off-peak service pattern is [17]:

Shenfield branch
Route	tph	Calling at	Stock
Liverpool Street to Shenfield	6	Stratford, Maryland, Forest Gate, Manor Park, Ilford, Seven Kings, Goodmayes, Chadwell Heath, Romford, Gidea Park, Harold Wood, Brentwood During peak times, service frequency is doubled with supplementary services terminating at Gidea Park and calling patterns are varied, with some stations omitted on certain services. On Sundays frequency is reduced to 4 trains per hour between Liverpool Street and Shenfield.	315 345
Reading and Heathrow branches
Route	tph	Calling at	Stock
Paddington to Reading	2	Ealing Broadway, Southall, Hayes & Harlington, West Drayton, Iver, Langley, Slough, Burnham, Taplow, Maidenhead, Twyford During peak times, service frequency increases up to 4 trains per hour.	345
Paddington to Heathrow Terminal 4[lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 2]	4	Acton Main Line (2tph), Ealing Broadway, West Ealing, Hanwell, Southall, Hayes & Harlington, Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3	345[lower-alpha 1], 360

1. Until Class 345 trains are fully tested on the Heathrow branch, the 4tph Paddington - Heathrow Terminal 4 service consists of 2tph Paddington - Hayes & Harlington (skipping Acton Main Line) run by class 345s, 2tph Paddington - Heathrow Terminal 4 all stop service and a 2tph Heathrow Terminals 2&3 to Heathrow Terminal 4 shuttle both run by Class 360s
2. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Heathrow Terminal 4 station has been closed with the Paddington service diverted to Heathrow Terminal 5 and the shuttle cancelled

Rolling stock

Class	Image	Type	Top speed		Carriages	Number	Routes operated	Built	Years in operation
			mph	km/h
Class 315		EMU	75	120	4	20	Liverpool Street - Shenfield	1980–81	May 2015–present
Class 345 Aventra			90	145	7 or 9	70	Liverpool Street - Shenfield Paddington - Reading Paddington - Heathrow Terminal 4	2015–19	June 2017–present
Class 360 Desiro			100	160	5	5	Paddington - Heathrow Terminal 4	2002-05	May 2018–present

Shenfield branch

A Class 315 and Class 345 at Liverpool Street

The eastern branch of TfL Rail operates with a fleet of new Class 345 trains.[18][19]

The Class 315 trains will continue to be maintained at the existing Ilford depot, but the Class 345 trains will be maintained at Old Oak Common and Ilford depots.

Heathrow branch

TfL Rail inherited five Class 360 units from Heathrow Connect when it took over operations on 20 May 2018. These trains will be used to operate the existing half-hourly (2tph) service to Heathrow.[20] On 30 July 2020, Class 345 trains entered passenger service on the Heathrow branch.[14]

Reading branch

On 26 September 2019, TfL Rail announced that it would take over the Paddington to Reading stopping services on 15 December 2019,[21] using Class 345 trains in place of the Class 387 and Class 165 trains used by Great Western Railway. Before that, on 25 November 2019 six GWR services a day started to operate using Class 345 trains, operated by TfL, to get drivers ready and stock in place for the main 15 December switch over.[22]

References

1. "TfL Rail: What we do". Transport for London. Archived from the original on 25 May 2015.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
2. "MTR Crossrail - Crossrail Rolling Stock".
3. Smith, Howard. "Crossrail – Moving to the Operating Railway Rail and Underground Panel 12 February 2015" (PDF). 12 February 2015. Transport for London. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 February 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
4. Jobson, Robert (23 February 2016). "Crossrail named the Elizabeth line: Royal title unveiled as the Queen visits Bond Street station". Evening Standard. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
5. "TfL Rail". Transport for London. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
6. TfL announces shortlist of bidders to run Crossrail services Crossrail 25 June 2013
7. Crossrail shortlist reveals four contenders Rail News 25 June 2013
8. TfL announces MTR to run Crossrail services Crossrail 18 July 2014
9. MTR Corporation wins £1.4 billion contract to run Crossrail services Rail Technology Magazine 18 July 2014
10. Blackburn, Ralph (25 May 2015). "TfL to take over Abellio Greater Anglia lines from May 31". Romford Recorder. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
11. https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2018/may/tfl-to-operate-heathrow-connect-services-ahead-of-elizabeth-line-opening
12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXV95PR7pEc
13. https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2019/september/tfl-rail-to-operate-services-to-reading-from-15-december
14. "First '345' reaches Heathrow". Key Modern Railways. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
15. "Our Plan to Complete the Elizabeth Line". Crossrail. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
16. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 May 2015. Retrieved 28 May 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
17. "TfL Rail timetables". Transport for London. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
18. Crossrail rolling stock and depot contract to be awarded to Bombardier Department for Transport 6 February 2014
19. Bombardier wins Crossrail train contract Railway Gazette 6 February 2014
20. "Crossrail: The Western Approach". London Reconnections.
21. Matters, Transport for London | Every Journey. "TfL Rail to operate services to Reading from 15 December". Transport for London. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
22. Rosehill, Harry (26 November 2019). "Crossrail Trains Have Started Running To Reading...Early!". Londonist. Retrieved 29 December 2019.

External links

• Official website
• Crossrail website

Preceded by Abellio Greater Anglia East Anglia franchise 31 May 2015	Operator of Crossrail concession 2015 –	Incumbent
Preceded by Great Western Railway Greater Western franchise 15 December 2019
Preceded by Heathrow Connect Heathrow Airport Holdings & Great Western Railway 20 May 2018