Recommendation 15

Once the central section opens, commuters must still change to other Elizabeth line services to continue their journeys on the eastern and western ends. The opening of full east-west services must align with national rail timetable changes which take place in May and December each year. TfL told us it was reviewing the staged opening approach inherited from the previous Crossrail Board in order to deliver more services sooner. TfL told us there is potential to operate services, for example, from Shenfield in the east, through the central section to Paddington, or Heathrow through to Canary Wharf, as soon as September 2022. Crossrail Ltd told us that this approach would deliver the majority of passenger benefits by September 2022. TfL told us that it does not expect to run full east-west services, without an interchange, until December 2022. The Department told us that it expected the final Elizabeth line timetable of services to run from May 2023.43 We have previously reported on the challenges and risk of disruption following the introduction of timetable changes and new services onto the National Rail network. In our Rail management and timetabling report we found that the Department did not ensure, as it should have done, that those responsible for the railway were clear about their roles and that they worked together effectively, contributing to major disruption and misery for passengers.44 34 Qq66, 67 35 Mayoral Decision MD2702, Additional funding for Crossrail, November 2020, para 1.6 36 Government agrees conditions-based £1.08 billion funding deal with Transport for London - GOV.UK (www.gov. uk) 37 Q 18 38 Transport for London, Financial Sustainability Plan, January 2021. 39 Q 18 40 Q 48 41 C&AG’s report, para 10 42 Q 16 43 Q 32–35 44 Committee of Public Accounts, Rail management and timetabling, Eighty-first Report of Session 2017–19, HC 1793, 27 February 2019 12 Crossrail: A progress update