Elizabeth Line signage at Canary Wharf
Elizabeth Line signs have been appearing across London

Elizabeth Line trains will not run on Sundays when the £19 billion rail line opens this month, Transport for London has announced.

TfL confirmed this morning that Crossrail will open on Tuesday, May 24, ending weeks of speculation about a start date for trains linking Paddington with Abbey Wood and Woolwich.

Trains will initially run every five minutes from 0630 to 2300, Monday to Saturday, from Abbey Wood and Woolwich to Paddington, with new stations at Custom House, Canary Wharf, Whitechapel, Liverpool Street and Tottenham Court Road. Bond Street will join the network later.

The slightly restricted schedule is so work can continue on joining the route up with services from Essex and Berkshire that are currently branded as TfL Rail. When finished, direct trains will run from Abbey Wood and Shenfield to Heathrow and Reading.

A service will run on Jubilee Sunday, June 5, from 0800 to 2200 to help the crowds expected to flood into London.

Woolwich and Abbey Wood will be in zone 4 (click to expand)

Journeys from Abbey Wood to Canary Wharf will take just 11 minutes, while a trip to Tottenham Court Road will take 24 minutes.

A ride to Paddington will take just 29 minutes – almost halving the journey time and transforming prospects for anyone needing to head west of the capital.

Bus services will also be amended from May 14 to boost services to Abbey Wood – including the rerouting of the 472 from Thamesmead to Abbey Wood. But there is a sting in the tail, as direct buses from Woolwich to Greenwich have been cut by half to make way for the changes.

Test trains are continuing to run under Woolwich as engineers make final preparations for the line’s opening.

Andy Byford, TfL’s commissioner, said: “We are using these final few weeks to continue to build up reliability on the railway and get the Elizabeth line ready to welcome customers. The opening day is set to be a truly historic moment for the capital and the UK, and we look forward to showcasing a simply stunning addition to our network.”

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