Elizabeth line timetable

No. I've not seen anything public and I doubt we will for several more months. It will be interesting to see if it hits NR systems 12 weeks in advance or if it is delayed. The nearest to any sort of clues we've had about the timetable have been the Crossrail consultations where a range of regulatory documents have been consulted on.

However tucked away in a file somewhere I have a draft Crossrail timetable for the 1990s version of Crossrail when it also covered the Chiltern branch. Might be another little souvenir to take along with my Crossrail mug on opening day. "Excuse me, can you tell me where the train to Aylesbury is?"

I completely understand the issues that NR are having with timetable changes at present. However that is supposed to be a temporary situation caused by the impact of the revised Thameslink implementation strategy and the multiple knock on impacts from electrification delays and assumed timetable changes / fleet cascades.

The timetable in the Crossrail core is, mostly, a matter for TfL really as they own all of the infrastructure that the *passenger* service will run on. Yes there will be ECS paths over NR tracks to each portal so trains can take up service but that is a relatively minor impact on the GWML / GEML timetables come December. It has also been under negotiation for years and I believe MTR Crossrail have gained all the paths they need. I'd therefore expect the Dec 2018 timetable to be pretty uncontentious for NR. Clearly a very different situation come May 2019 and Dec 2019 when major service groups divert to the core and the impacts there are much greater for NR, TOCs and freight operators (FOCs). I would hope that NR would be past their timetable woes in 12 months time but I'm not going to hold my breath.

We know almost for certain what the core will be getting on 9th Dec (or whenever that stage will open in the event). Every 8 mins (7.5 tph) off peak and every 4 mins (15 tph) for the peaks. I don’t foresee any changes to the Shenfield Metro until the 315’s have been rid off completely at the earliest.

I’m aware that all of the above are stabling points but will they also be whet drivers are based?

Most of the reputable sources seem to indicate a maximum of 12tph reversing via the sidings at Paddington in the peak stepped down slightly to 10tph in the off peak. A ten and twelve min layover seems reasonable enough. There are two diamond crossovers both west of the platforms at Paddington which would favour ‘out and back working’ in the Westbound direction mostly.

From opentraintimes showing the sidings and the through lines marked by ERTMS (European Rail Traffic Management System) block markers XR010/011/012/017/018.

These are the planned services from December 2019.

The soft start up is a self contained service between Abbey Wood and Paddington from December 2018. This means the systems can be run in service without risking impact on other services.

It becomes more complicated from May 2019 when Shenfield - Paddington services are added.

I may be completely out of date but I thought the plan was for the trains to "auto reverse" in the sidings meaning negligible turnround time. The driver will be able to walk through the train to change end as it cycles from Paddington - sidings - Paddington.

Furthermore, and I may be being completely stupid, but that diagram shows 4 tracks (2 main and 2 sidings) that could presumably be used to turn trains round if need be. I recognise there may be all sorts of issues in reversing trains on "main" tracks but these are still dedicated XR tracks at this point are they not? I can't believe we have got to this stage with indicative tph numbers having been publicised for several years with TfL / MTR not being entirely confident that they can turn the planned number of trains at Paddington in the interim phase between May and Dec 2019. I refuse to believe that Howard Smith would have allowed such an "error" to be perpetuated for so long.

Yes they are already dedicated by that point, I couldn't remember this with absolute certainty (which is why I cropped it out of the image above), but looking at the full diagram again, the track second from the bottom could also operate as a reversing siding even it's a through track which merges with the local lines out of Paddington as does the line at the very bottom of the diagram so naturally only one of those would be needed intern allowing more reversing capacity. Fully Automatic Train Operation into the sidings would certainly be a precedent on the mainline and dare I say it, could have ramification on LU lines such as the Jubilee. But that's a topic for another thread. 

dmncf ,I believe it skims by the edge of it although there were definitely sidings used during construction that were under the bus garage.

Not sure on the origins of TVM430  (In-Cab Signaling display used on CTRL/HS1 and High Speed networks on the continent), but ERTMS had the thing about being universally compatible being able to be overlaid conventional signalling as seen on Thameslink with the drive supposedly coming from the European Union. Pretty sure TVM30 could be overlaid to a degree, Eurostars still get the AWS 'sunflower' for the North London Line when approaching St Pancras Int.

12tph to reverse that's one every 5 minutes. They would need staff at every coach to detrain a 9 coach train. You still have to fit in 4 Heathrow and a minimum of two Reading trains and possible 2 at Maidenhead. That's 20 trains through the core 3 minutes apart. Can't see 12tph reversing at Paddington.


The five tracks here are from the top Crossrail Eastbound (bidirectional), Turnback C, Turnback B, Turnback A which is bidirectional connected at both ends to Crossrail Westbound (bidirectional). Further west is the connections to the Crossrail depot and after the eastbound becomes the up relief and the westbound the down relief and the tracks as do the rest of the tracks out of Paddington cease to be bidirectional.


From my latest trackmap the platforms at Paddington are lettered A= eastbound, B= Westbound. Do not know if that is final.


Just looked again at trackmap all the Crossrail platforms are lettered A and B until Abbey Wood they are platform 3 and 4.

Only the 373s, I believe; the 374s aren't fitted with AWS at the moment, so they can't stop at Ashford's platforms. They're putting TVM430 down there, I believe.

There will also probably be different workings on the peak shoulders. Not sure where inter-peak stablers will be. I would assume at Old Oak Common, Gidea Park and Abbey Wood, so it may be necessary to "break" the service pattern for trains to access these points.

It was my understanding that the Maidenhead trains and 2 of the Reading trains were going to come from Shenfield with all Heathrow T4 and the other two Reading trains coming from Abbey Wood and all others terminating at Paddington (at the time I heard this T5 hadn't been announced), for me I think that's how it should be, seems odd to have all trains from one branch terminate at the earliest opportunity. As well as this I would have the 2tph to T5 also come from Shenfield to even it up a bit.