London’s remarkable new train service, the Elizabeth Line is more, or less, open. Its cost is massive (as all UK infrastructure is) – pushing £20 billion – and the approval process is sluggish (again as is usual in the UK).
It’s currently running as 3 separate services: the east & west sections (largely overground) and the core section mainly underground. The service will be completely linked in late Autumn 2022, by which time the unopened Bond Street station will be finished. The trains are full-size overground trains – up to 200m long, and the system may well be capable of running automatically, though currently, it does have drivers – (the drivers Union is especially powerful).
Named in honour of Queen Elizabeth, who already has the Jubilee Line named after her for the Silver Jubilee. The Elizabeth Line’s purple colour may well have been chosen to represent Imperial Purple (or perhaps it was one of the few colour options left for the Tube lines), irrespective purple is the colour theme.
It is a superb service – the trains are extremely comfortable, and the stations themselves are well designed; goodness knows how many psychological and physical tricks have been used to get people moving between entrance and train. As a result, its very easy to use.
London is en fete, decked out in flags for the Jubilee celebrations. Even the miserable grey London Pigeons have been ousted by far more attractive Parakeets, in their lime green and bright crimson beaks.
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