By what date are the Bond Street Station Crossrail works expected to be completed?

The Elizabeth line will transform life and travel in London and the southeast, reducing journey times, creating much‑needed capacity with longer trains and spacious stations, transforming accessibility and providing a huge economic boost for the country. When fully open, the Elizabeth line will increase central London’s rail capacity by 10%. Significant progress continues to be made and the project is now in its complex final stages, with the central section due to open in the first half of this year. Eight out of 10 stations in the central section have now been handed over to TfL with Canary Wharf due to be handed over by the end of this month.

Bond Street has always been the station that has faced the most challenges in terms of installation, construction and fit‑out works. It was also uniquely affected by COVID‑19. Due to the extent of the work remaining, and the number of people required onsite to complete the station during the pandemic, the work at Bond Street had had to be replanned. Towards the end of last year, we commenced the first phase of Trial Operations on the new railway, in line with the earliest forecast dates. This is the final phase of the Crossrail programme and part of the process by which we ensure the Elizabeth line can open with the highest levels of reliability and safety.

Bond Street has met its requirement to support Trial Operations. This means that the station is ready for full‑scale passenger evacuation and emergency intervention. This is the minimum requirement needed for the railway to enter into passenger service and is key to ensuring the Elizabeth line opens safely. Bond Street remains at a less advanced stage than the other Elizabeth line central London stations, but good progress continues to now be made.

May I interrupt you there? Apologies, but the Conservative Group is now out of time, so we have to move on to the next question.

Sorry, Chair, could I just clarify. Did I miss a date in that answer? Did I miss the date?

If you had more time, I could answer that, couldn’t I?

Can I suggest that you write to the Member with a date? Thank you.