原始標題 Here’s How Crossrail Will Transform London Travel
新聞網址 https://reurl.cc/7D4NWd
發表日期 2022/05/24
全文完整內容
Today London launches the biggest extension of its public transport system thi
s century. Dubbed the Elizabeth Line—and launched to coincide with celebratio
ns of Queen Elizabeth II’s 70th year on the throne—the long-awaited ꌱ8.9 bi
llion link is much more than just a new railway line.
First approved in 2008, the heavy rail line will dramatically improve public t
ransport coverage of the city, says Transport for London (TfL), slashing journ
ey times, providing substantial extra capacity and making the city more altoge
ther more accessible. By extending the transport system to areas that were pre
viously much slower to access and creating new central hubs for transfers to t
he Tube, the line could also reshape the way people navigate the city. Here ar
e five of the key changes the Elizabeth Line should deliver:
Quicker Journeys
Running along an east-west axis, the new link should make many London journeys
altogether speedier. Travel times from Southeast London’s Abbey Wood to the
major western rail terminus of Paddington, for example, will be cut by almost
half to 29 minutes. Journeys from southeastern Woolwich—currently one of Lond
on’s worst-served areas for train connections—to London’s main eastern rail
terminus at Liverpool Street will be halved to 15 minutes, while connections
between Farringdon, in London’s financial district, and the newer dockland bu
siness hub of Canary Wharf will be slashed from 24 minutes to just ten. While
all Londoners stand to benefit from these connections, business travelers will
be particularly well-served, with connections from Heathrow Airport to Canary
Wharf soon to be possible in 44 minutes.
Easier Commute
An additional 1.5 million people will be within a 45-minute commuting distance
from the capital’s major commercial and business centers of the West End, th
e City and Canary Wharf, up from 5 million currently according to Crossrail.
Despite lying outside the boundaries of Greater London, services to Heathrow A
irport and the towns of Reading and Shenfield are already running under TfL Ra
il, the city transport authority lying under the control of London’s Mayor Sa
diq Khan. The lines will initially operate as three separate railways, to be f
ully connected by Autumn.
Before the pandemic, many London-area commuters were obliged to take crammed T
ube carriages for parts of their journey. Riders from eastern Essex or western
Berkshire, for example, had to get a suburban train to a rail terminus, then
go down into the Tube to continue to their final destinations. With the Elizab
eth Line connecting outer suburbs directly to a string of new stations in cent
ral London, many of those commuters should be able to go straight from their h
ome stations to one within easy walking distance of their offices, without nee
ding to transfer to the Tube. That stands to make towns like Slough, Romford a
nd others more convenient for London-bound workers.
The Elizabeth Line will also redraw the map of London’s central transport hub
s.
To take an example: Farringdon Station—the central London terminus of the wor
ld’s first underground railway, which opened in January 1863—was, before the
Elizabeth Line’s opening a busy but not necessarily pivotal station in Londo
n’s transport network. Thanks to the Elizabeth Line, it will now be a key int
erchange station, connecting the line not just to the Tube but with high frequ
ency trains to London’s northern and southern suburban hinterland that are ro
uted through the station. Farringdon will also now have direct links to St. Pa
ncras International for Eurostar connections and to three major airports: Gatw
ick, Heathrow and Luton. Combined with the station’s existing Tube links, Far
ringdon will eventually be served by over 140 trains per hour at the busiest t
imes.
Accessibility
London’s Tube system has never been an easy place to navigate for people with
limited mobility. While around a third of Underground stations (and all stati
ons on the Docklands Light Railway) currently have step-free access, many stat
ions are accessed by long escalators and short stairways. The Elizabeth Line b
y contrast, will provide step-free access that could open up many routes into
central London for people with disabilities. The 10 new stations in the centra
l section of the line—as well as Heathrow—will have level access from platfo
rm to trains, and step-free access from street to train at nearly all other st
ations. The changes in speed and ease will be drastic for some. Given London’
s population over 65 years old is expected to be 62% higher by 2040, the need
for accessible stations is only going to grow.
Previously, for example, a wheelchair user using public transport could only t
ravel the two miles (3.2 km) from Paddington to Tottenham Court Road by taking
two buses, with a journey time of 25 minutes. On the Elizabeth Line, this sho
uld be a five-minute journey.
Less Congestion
Before the pandemic, the Tube at rush hour could be packed even at a rate of t
wo trains per minute, with alternative Overground and commuter rail services o
ften equally busy. Building a new link was one of the only ways for the city t
o increase capacity.
Elizabeth Line capacity will be greater than all others, with 200 metre long t
rains, accommodating up to 1,500 passengers. The Northern Line, by comparison,
has a per train capacity of just 800. Twenty-four trains an hour will run on
the line’s busiest section. That means a train every 2.5 minutes—a high volu
me but still less than the 34 trains per hour at peak times running on London
’s busiest Tube link, the Victoria Line. Overall, the line is projected to ac
commodate 200 million passengers annually, increasing the capacity of London’
s train network by 10%.
It is still unclear how much the pandemic will affect demand for the new line,
as at least some former commuters will likely continue the habit of working p
artly from home into the near future. But with TfL’s daily ridership having r
ecently recovered to 73% of pre-pandemic levels, the need for an increase of t
he transport system’s extent and capacity remains persuasive.
Faster Heathrow Access
For visitors to London, getting into town from Heathrow airport by train has l
ong involved a choice between either traveling slowly or paying a lot for spee
d. While the airport is connected to the Tube, journeys into central London on
the Underground can take up to an hour. Meanwhile, the Heathrow Express, a no
n-stop train service that connects Heathrow to Paddington Station in an impres
sive 15 minutes, costs ꌲ5 ($31) one way (or ꌱ8 if tickets are bought a month
in advance), an especially high price given that Paddington Station has a not
-especially convenient location on the edge of central London. With the Elizab
eth Line’s inauguration, however, air passengers will need just 30 minutes an
d ꌵ.50 to reach central London, and can disembark at a greater number of more
convenient stations. People living in East London will also get a faster, tra
nsfer-free train service straight to Heathrow.
Coming after a challenging few years, the Elizabeth Line is also delivering an
other less tangible asset to London: something to be optimistic about. By stre
amlining travel across the city, the line will “turbo charge our recovery fro
m the pandemic,” said Mayor Sadiq Khan, while TfL commissioner Andy Byford sa
id it was a “game changer, not just for London but for the whole of the UK”.
The Elizabeth Line may not solve all of the city’s transport issues at once,
but despite the project’s delays and cost overruns, its arrival shows that L
ondon still has the ability to think big.
鐵路板首發，請多多指教～～～
這篇文章大概講了伊莉莎白線對倫敦交通的影響，他提到這條線可以在既有的地鐵網上並
創造新的樞紐，提升部分地區的公共運輸可近度。文章細論了幾點：
1.通勤時間縮短
這部分有點瑣碎，就不翻了
2.通勤更方便
離West end 的商業與金融中心的45分鐘通勤圈內人口從500萬提升至650萬
過往市郊的居民抵達市中心後還需換乘地鐵抵達目的地，伊莉莎白線新開通的車站或許可
以節省轉乘的麻煩。
Farringfon站伊莉莎白線的開通也大大的提升他的重要性，因為此站有開往南北市郊的列
車，也有開到St.Pancras國際車站以及Heathrow, Gatwick,Luton三座機場的車
3.無障礙化（應該是這樣翻譯吧
字面意思，車站有無障礙化
4.減少交通阻塞
在尖峰時段，倫敦地鐵部分路線每半分鐘可發出一班車，然而車廂依舊壅塞。伊莉莎白線
列車車長200公尺，每列可載1500人，尖峰時段每2.5分鐘一班，預計每年可載運2億名乘
客，整體可以為倫敦都會區提升10%運力。
5.更快來往希斯羅機場的方式
總之過往軌道方面市區機場之間要不搭Piccadilly line （便宜、慢），要不搭Heathrow
express（快、貴）。伊莉莎白線提供了又便宜又快的新選擇。
心得：車站滿美的，空間簡潔明亮，看起來滿有未來感的，但去過倫敦就會發現月台牆壁
圓弧面的設計和過去所建的地鐵站立體造型滿像的，有種新舊融合的感覺。