After months of speculation, Transport for London (TfL) commissioner Andy Byford has officially said that Bond Street station will not be ready to open with the rest of the Elizabeth line when it becomes operational in the coming months.
At today’s (Wednesday 9th February) meeting of the London Transport Committee, Byford was quizzed about progress on Bond Street station and said: “I don't think it will - in fact, I’ll say it won’t open concurrent with the line opening. I don't want to hold up line opening for one station, but it won't be far behind.”
The £19bn project is already years overdue Bond Street is supposed to be the first Crossrail stop after Paddington when the next tranche of Crossrail launches by the end of June. Trains will run between Paddington and Abbey Wood.
In the meantime, those wishing to get off in Soho or around Oxford Circus will need to change for the Underground or get off at the new Tottenham Court Road station. The Bond Street delay follows Crossrail and contractor Costain Skanska parting ways in 2020 “due to the volume of work remaining and the number of people required on site to complete the station”.
There are just two Crossrail stations yet to hand over to TfL - Bond Street and Canary Wharf. The latter is expected to be taken over by TfL at the end of this month, but there is no clear transfer date yet for Bond Street. TfL Rail is already operating services from Paddington to Reading and Heathrow, and the Liverpool Street to Shenfield stretch in the east, routes which will eventually become part of the Elizabeth line.
Two other separate lines to the Paddington-Abbey Wood route are due to be joined up over the next year, running from Heathrow and Reading to Paddington, and Shenfield to Liverpool Street. On Wednesday (19 January) politicians expressed their fears that the impact of Omicron could push back Crossrail's opening date, though these may now be calmed after Boris Johnson announced he'd be scrapping Plan B Covid restrictions next week.
Trial operations on the Elizabeth line are now underway, which are effectively dry runs before opening day. They include staging a full evacuation and simulating a range of emergencies.
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