Time to dance in the streets, on the tubes, wherever you feel like it – because the Elizabeth Line finally has an opening date.
UPDATE: The saga isn’t over, as the Elizabeth line has officially been delayed nine months – read all about it here.
Much like Game of Thrones, the story of the Elizabeth Line is a long-running saga that has delighted, shocked, and generally enthralled viewers. And finally, we have an end date for this storied tale, as the Elizabeth Line will officially open on December 9th, 2018. It’ll have 100% fewer dragons than Game of Thrones, but it’ll get you from Paddington to Abbey Wood direct – and isn’t that the dream?
Let’s just remind ourselves of the story so far. The dream to connect Paddington to Liverpool Street has been kicking around since the 1940s, so it was with a hearty cheer that construction began in 2009. For a long time, nothing happened, but Crossrail (as it was once called), began to grab the nation’s attention after a royal rebrand. We watched, enraptured, as the first stations were revealed, and we were charmed by the new Tube map.
There were gasps of horror and conspiracy theories aplenty when it looked like veering into a dystopian hellscape, but plucky TfL won back public trust by showing off their fancy new trains. They set us up for a stunning season finale by revealing Elizabeth’s endgame, and now we have the final piece of the puzzle.
December 9th. Mark your calenders, people. Except, that still isn’t the end of it! Though the official opening is this December, that only marks the completion of the third stage, in what is a five-step endgame. TfL still need to connect the Stratford-Shenfield branch to the Paddington-Abbey Wood line in Stage 4, and then bring Reading into the map and join the East and West sections in Stage 5. Phew.
By that time (December 2019), Elizabeth will rule the Tube map, and we’ll have reached Peak Train. Oh, and Game of Thrones will have finished too, making Train of Thrones (as I’m calling it) the essential watch of 2019.
Featured image: @alongthedocks