TfL Rail was the concession which operated commuter services on two separate railway lines in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England and its environs whilst the

Crossrail Crossrail is a railway construction project mainly in central London. Its aim is to provide a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system crossing the capital from suburbs on the west to east, by connecting two major railway l ...

construction project linking these lines was underway. On 24 May 2022, upon the opening of the

central section, TfL Rail was rebranded as

Elizabeth line The Elizabeth line is a high-frequency hybrid urban–suburban rail service in London and its suburbs. It runs services on dedicated infrastructure in central London from the Great Western Main Line west of Paddington to and via Whitechapel ...

and the name was discontinued. TfL Rail was introduced on 31 May 2015 when it took control from

Abellio Greater Anglia Greater Anglia (legal name Abellio East Anglia Limited) is a train operating company in Great Britain owned as a joint venture by Abellio, the international arm of the state-owned Dutch national rail operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen, and the J ...

of the commuter "metro" service between in central London and in

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

. The branch comprised the first 14 stations on the

Great Eastern Main Line The Great Eastern Main Line (GEML, sometimes referred to as the East Anglia Main Line) is a major railway line on the British railway system which connects Liverpool Street station in central London with destinations in east London and the ...

, with interchange at Shenfield for medium- and long-distance services beyond to

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

. TfL Rail had also taken over operation of some services from to

Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...

and

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...

. Services were operated by

MTR Corporation MTR Corporation Limited is a majority government-owned public transport operator and property developer in Hong Kong which operates the Mass Transit Railway, the most popular public transport network in Hong Kong. It is listed on the Hon ...

under contract to Transport for London (TfL). Between May 2016 and May 2017, TfL Rail carried over 47 million passengers on the Shenfield branch.

History

In June 2013, TfL announced that

Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.MTR Corporation MTR Corporation Limited is a majority government-owned public transport operator and property developer in Hong Kong which operates the Mass Transit Railway, the most popular public transport network in Hong Kong. It is listed on the Hon ...

Keolis Keolis is a multinational transportation company that operates public transport systems. The company manages bus, rapid transit, tram, coach networks, rental bikes, car parks, water taxi, cable car, trolleybus and funicular services. ...

/ Go-Ahead Group and

National Express National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...

had been shortlisted to bid for the concession to operate

, which was under construction. In July 2014, TfL awarded the contract to Hong Kong's MTR, for a duration of eight years with an option to extend by an additional two years. MTR Corporation (Crossrail) Ltd was created as a new

train operating company A train operating company (TOC) is a business operating passenger trains on the railway system of Great Britain under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since the privatisation of the network under the Railways Act 1993. T ...

and took control of the "metro" service between

London Liverpool Street Liverpool Street station, also known as London Liverpool Street, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, in the ward of Bishopsgate Without. It is the t ...

and

Shenfield Shenfield is a commuter suburb of Brentwood, in the borough of Brentwood, Essex, England. In 2020, the suburb was estimated to have a population of 5,396. History The old village (now town), by the church and Green Dragon pub, lies along the ...

from the previous operator,

, on 31 May 2015. The existing trains were re-painted in TfL Rail livery, and appropriate branding, advertising and message boards were added at the 14 stations along the line. Every station is staffed, from the first train to the last of the day. In June 2017, Class 345 trains began running between London Liverpool Street and Shenfield. In May 2018, TfL Rail took over operation of the

Heathrow Connect Heathrow Connect was a train service in London provided jointly by Heathrow Express and Great Western Railway (GWR), between Paddington station and Heathrow Airport. The service followed the same route as the non-stop Heathrow Express serv ...

service between

London Paddington Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by the Great We ...

and Heathrow, as well as some GWR services between London Paddington and Hayes & Harlington. In December 2019, TfL Rail took over operation of the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

stopping services between London Paddington and

. In November 2019, Class 345 trains began running between London Paddington and Reading, as a soft launch of the service. In July 2020, Class 345 trains began running between London Paddington and Heathrow. The two branches became part of the Elizabeth line when the central section opened on 24 May 2022, with the current branches connecting up with the core later.

Route

The eastern branch of TfL Rail ran over the existing of track on the

between London Liverpool Street and Shenfield. The western branches operated over part of the

Great Western Main Line The Great Western Main Line (GWML) is a main line railway in England that runs westwards from London Paddington to . It connects to other main lines such as those from Reading to Penzance and Swindon to Swansea. Opened in 1841, it was the o ...

and the Heathrow tunnel between

and Heathrow for , and entirely over the Great Western Main Line between London Paddington and Reading for .

Stations

Former services

Shenfield branch

315858 and 345012 at London Liverpool Street

TfL Rail took over operations from

on 31 May 2015. TfL Rail subsequently introduced a fleet of new trains.Crossrail rolling stock and depot contract to be awarded to Bombardier
Department for Transport 6 February 2014
''Railway Gazette'' 6 February 2014 On 22 June 2017, Class 345 trains entered passenger service on the Shenfield branch. The Class 315 trains will continue to be maintained at the existing Ilford depot, but the Class 345 trains will be maintained at

Old Oak Common Old Oak Common is an area of Hammersmith, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, West London. Together with neighbouring Park Royal, the area is intended to become the UK's largest regeneration scheme, the scale of which has led to ...

and Ilford depots.

Heathrow branch

TfL Rail inherited five units from

when it took over operations on 20 May 2018. These trains were used to operate the existing half-hourly (2tph) service to Heathrow. On 30 July 2020, Class 345 trains entered passenger service on the Heathrow branch. The last Class 360 trains were withdrawn in September 2020.Heathrow 360s Retired ''

Modern Railways ''Modern Railways'' is a British monthly magazine covering the rail transport industry which was published by Ian Allan until March 2012, and Key Publishing since then. It has been published since 1962. The magazine was originally based in She ...

'' issue 865 October 2020 page 85

Reading branch

On 26 September 2019, TfL Rail announced that it would take over the

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...

stopping services on 15 December 2019, using Class 345 trains in place of the Class 387 and Class 165 trains used by

. Before that, on 25 November 2019 six GWR services a day started to operate using Class 345 trains, operated by TfL, to get drivers ready and stock in place for the main 15 December switch over.

Route tables

Prior to the opening of

on 24 May 2022, the timetabled weekday off-peak service pattern consisted of:

Rolling stock

Fleet carried over to
Elizabeth line The Elizabeth line is a high-frequency hybrid urban–suburban rail service in London and its suburbs. It runs services on dedicated infrastructure in central London from the Great Western Main Line west of Paddington to and via Whitechapel ...

Past fleet

Former units operated by TfL Rail include:

References

External links

* {{MTR Corporation 2015 establishments in England Crossrail Railway companies established in 2015 Train operating companies in the United Kingdom Transport for London MTR Corporation