Tottenham Court Road station, one of the stations of Crossrail’s central section, has reached an important milestone: works are now sufficiently progressed for final commissioning activities to begin.
Crossrail Ltd says the station is 12 weeks away from being ready for handover to Transport for London. This means Crossrail Ltd can begin the process of handing the station over to TfL.
The remaining work at the station will focus on the extensive testing and commissioning of systems before Crossrail’s central section can open. Currently Crossrail Ltd believes the railway line is still on track for opening in full in the first half of 2022.
The first Crossrail (Elizabeth line) station to be handed over to TfL was Custom House last year and Farringdon should be handed over to TfL in March 2021.
Tottenham Court Road station will have step-free access for Elizabeth line passengers, from street to train. The station’s main entrance will be on Dean Street. The Elizabeth line station will be integrated into the expanded and upgraded London Underground Station. Construction is progressing on commercial developments.
Crossrail Ltd says trial running will begin later in the year. This is the next major stage of the project.
“This is an incredibly important moment for the team at Tottenham Court Road station and for the Crossrail project as a whole and is another important step for us on the journey to opening the Elizabeth line.
“Tottenham Court Road is an iconic location and a part of London that everyone in the city will be incredibly familiar with. Everyone who has worked on this magnificent new station can be incredibly proud of the contribution they have made to the lives of Londoners and the look of the city. I hope our new station will continue to delight everyone using it for generations to come.”
The station is being built by Laing O’Rourke.
“This is a significant achievement by our construction team and I thank them for their commitment and hard work.
“The station has created some interesting engineering challenges to solve, including constructing the line’s only curved platform for the routeway to avoid the foundations of Centre Point. We’ve worked in close partnership with Crossrail and London Underground to create a state-of-the-art station and are proud to be part of the team delivering a world-class piece of infrastructure that will improve the journeys of millions of people for many years to come.”
The Elizabeth line platforms are 230m long and will have ticket halls at both ends. Once open, Tottenham Court Road will be an interchange between the Northern, Central and Elizabeth lines.
