Tim Traveller, our Paris Correspondent, was such a delight to hear from. Crossrail is not part of the Tube methinks, it’s a new form of Trains.

I was just thinking of Geoff visiting the new stops on the Elizabeth line and 3 SECONDS LATER he uploaded this Video! These odds are almost impossible.

As a regular commuter I can confidently say the H&C to Liverpool Street / Farringdon is often delayed and held around Aldgate especially at rush hour, and I often have to wait 10 minutes for the train. Geoff is really overestimating how quick the current journey is. I'll definitely be taking Crossrail!

It's shiny, it's new, but most importantly IT'S PURPLE!

Geoff, I love your passion for trains. It's a subject I never thought would interest me, but your enthusiasm makes learning about them fun and entertaining. As someone who doesn't live in London but sometimes needs to commute there, I've always found the Underground quite intimidating and confusing, but your videos have helped me see it differently and have made my journeys there much less stressful. Please don't stop releasing great content.

"So do I know someone in Paris, who..." -> here's a segue that gets me jumping right on the spot!

I always thought it was interesting how Paris (and most cities) have lines with letters or numbers, while London has whimsical names like Piccadilly and Bakerloo.

Exciting times to be in London! Despite living in Canada, I can feel all the energy building up towards the opening of the Elizabeth Line. Toronto’s major project - a light rail line which will cross the city - is dwarfed in comparison.

Following this journey from Australia. It's really interesting. Can't wait to get back there and try the new line - which isn't a tube line.

Geoff's confidence is proper inspiring. Especially for a man speaking aloud on a London tube!

I went to Abbey Wood recently and saw all the crossrail tests, they were going in and out very frequently

I’m on a supported internship and work 3 days a week at Paddington, can now direct people on the purple train towards Liverpool Street and avoid the tube!

Being able to bring out a random Paris correspondent for a mini segment is why this Channel is next level good. I don't even like trains.

Was a pleasure seeing you outside the Woolwich Crossrail station. Apologies for my girlfriend’s ignorance of your status 😅

Crossrail is the mode type, Thameslink and Elizabeth are the lines, and I will die on this hill. (And yes this means Crossrail 2 should really be thought of as Crossrail *3* if we're thinking in terms of RER-type lines versus "The Tube"... Hey, I'm just following TfL's own precedent...)

Good to see another collab with Tim. 🙂 I'm looking forward to part 2 of this video, when you do the same journey when the line actually opens!

Best new feature: Its purple. Love it.

Why is this so interesting??!?!?!!! I sporadically visit London, and just use the Underground to get around, like millions of other people. Don't really care about times because I'm not in a rush, but this information is soooooo fascinating! Top marks, Geoff!

A 48 Page Crossrail Special? That’s very cool BRB SCREAMING

Thanks for inviting Phillip and for advertising the magazine. I would not have bought this magazine, if it wasn't for this mention! I am looking forward to reading the supplement!

*Heathrow route would be interesting if the price is good*

From memory, various stage openings of RER Line A in early 1970s attracted much comment as to why London wasn’t doing something similar. That might have led to resurrecting the Crossrail concept in the 1975 London Rail Study. Big timesaver will be Paddington to Liverpool St which was always a painful trek when arriving on WR express services and fighting along the old narrow passage to the Circle Line platform before it was widened out.

I'd say both Thameslink and Crossrail are a similar type of transport to the RER.

Coming from a tourist/crappy weather perspective even if the direct route takes a little longer I am willing to do a direct connection for simplicity. Overall, it looks like a great addition to London transport options.

Much quicker than our current route from King's Cross to Abbey Wood to visit family I expect! Also faster than a lot of Rollercoasters!

3:55 The guy in the blue suit wondering what on earth's going on! Can't wait for this to open to reduce the number of people on the Central Line

Thanks Geoff, your video was highly illustrative... just goes to show how utterly TRANSFORMATIONAL the Elizabeth line will be.

The fact High Speed 1 is completely isolated from the tube and Elizabeth line is a transport scandal. For those who don't know- Stratford International was intentionally built at the OTHER side of the shopping centre to force commuters to walk through the shopping centre to buy things. It takes 5 mins from St Pancras to Stratford International but 10 mins from Stratford International to Stratford.

Omg! Tim! I love when Tim and Geoff work together for videos! Some of my favorite European KZfaqrs (plus the Southerner and Nonstop Eurotrip)! Thank you for sharing and educating!

i love your videos geoff. you are always smiling as positive.

When I visited London for the first time, I made the mistake of being at Canary Wharf Jubilee Line at peak times, it wasn't ideal lol.

Thanks for this comparison, Geoff! It shows very well which stations/connections will probably be useful (and much used) in future. Great stuff as always! 👍🏻

so judging from tim's explanation on what the rer is my judgement on what the elizabeth line is compared to what i know from my native germany is basically correct: it's an s-bahn line going through a city tunnel (think s-bahn stammstrecke munich or city tunnel leipzig)

Love how I immediately knew it was going to be Tim when Geoff talks about his friend in Paris.

I am SO excited for the Elizabeth line!!!

The RER and Crossrail are essentially the same thing. They act like a faster metro within the city, but they are full-size trains (just with a high frequency).

I did my work experience building these trains on the factory floor, in Derby, back in 2018. So I look forward to seeing the line open!

A superb video. Thanks Geoff.

awesome work i cant wait for this to open now and i cant wait to try it out after it opens

As someone who lives in the NL and visited London only once, this video really drives home the point for me. A good break-down of what's going to improve and how.

Great to see Tim on the channel again!

This new line reminds me about the passante suburban railway line (that's how they call it) in Milan, which allows suburban trains to cross over Milan without needing to change at either the main stations in Cadorna, Milano Centrale, or in Porta Garibaldi. But that's been opened a few decades earlier.

Fun but relevant. And great to see Tim. Can't wait to see this in action when I am up in September.

Tim Traveller shout out earns this video a LIKE!

Brilliant video, loved Tim’s section being slotted in.

Abbey wood looks spacious ,modern

Hey Geoff, another brilliant video from yourself on the new Elizabeth Line, which I am really excited to try out after it opens on 24th May, it was great insight to the journey times, it is so much more which most of us know why it isn’t a Tube line as it is National Rail which goes underground hence the name Crossrail I look forward to more of your videos! 😊👍

Brilliant video Geoff! I can't wait for the opening on the 24th May :)

Another great video, thanks very much. Must comment on the one moment that tickled me: "It's a 4 minute wait for a Central Line train." 😂😂 Living in Mid Wales, a wait of 4 minutes for any transport is a nanosecond. Keep up the good work, Geoff, the vids are great.

The music at the beginning was wonderful and fun. It’s awesome surprise to have Tim Traveller here! Riding the Elizabeth line is on my list when I finally get to visit the UK (and not just because I’m Elizabeth ;-) ).

geoff this video literally made my day thank you

So HUGELY excited. Popped into Sainsburys next door and thought, first day, why not be there. So went to Liverpool Street and back and home for tea. Amazing!

Excellent video Geoff! I cannot wait to go on the Cross/Eliz/Purple train. I went to visit the new Canary Wharf Elizabeth Line on the 24th April and it looks brilliant.

Thank you for the video Geoff that was very interesting and informative.

Thanks for the video can't wait to travel on the Elizabeth line!!😎🚆🚆🚆🚆🇬🇧🇺🇦

The other disruptive impact that this will have is that, in going straight from A to B without faffing on the underground, you could feasibly get an unbroken stream of work done on the train, as long as it's offline by the time you get to the underground bits. That is a huge quality of commute upgrade for those of us struggling to make commuting time productive time.

Why does no one compare Crossrail to London's RER that's existed since the 80s - Thameslink?

Ok I wasn’t really expecting the Time Trav- uh, Tim Traveller but I love the collaboration. More please!

Fantastic cameo from Tim, more of these please

Yay for Tim!

Great for Tim to pop up there. I just viewed his Charleroi Metro film a few minutes ago.😀

Thanks very much Geoff for doing these timings. I remember pre-pandemic journeys from Paddington to Liverpool Street on the H&C being about 11 minutes, which seems comparable to what the Elizabeth Line is promising. But the Elizabeth Line should be great. I hope to ride it in the future. 🙂

This video is amazing!

Brilliant Video, even got time to get a cup of coffee while waiting for someone is using the current method of travel. enjoy the Elizabeth Line when it opens Geoff.

11:25 Yes the Elizabeth line is like the RER in Paris. And it's also like the Thameslink in London that we've had for a while now!

Well that was a nice surprise. A familiar face. Great video as always. Will have to come to London to check out the system myself

Hi Geoff! My goodness, it’s almost upon us! 😎 Nice to see a gratuitous Woolwich Arsenal shot and a bit of the DLR which covers a fair part of our regularTFL jaunt from West Ham to Charlton when we go to home games 😜 It is astonishing just how much traffic this line would seem likely to relieve from other lines all along it’s route. Interesting too that of course the main beneficiaries are those travelling into London, and not so much people already in London travelling around it. Although specific journeys will be easier (as you illustrated) I think the main benefit will be that the kind of near crush you encountered at Tottenham Ct Rd will be eased considerably, not least because it will indirectly replicate the already rammed Central Line to a major degree. Another thing is the size of the trains mean those wanting to use Paddington, Heathrow, etc, will have more space for luggage, etc. 🤔 Always great to see your French correspondent (😂😅🤣) crop up on your videos. I though it interesting that the chap in the meeting said it wasn’t a tube line but more like the RER system in France, as though this use of through tunnels is a new thing. I immediately thought, “ah yes, you mean the idea the French took from the District Railway to run trains through from Ealing Broadway to Southend and the Metropolitan via the Widened lines…seems perhaps inspiration nearer home got overlooked sadly and it took the foresight of another country to replicate our earlier achievements to wake our bods up to it 🙄 Ah well, at least it got built. Annoyingly I can’t go to the opening day but I shall certainly ensure I take a trip soon, even though ironically, we’ll actually add to our journey to go out of our way to do so for now! 😂 Cheers mate, great fun as ever 👍🍀🍻

I love the jubilee line!!

PS the excitement of the travellers and staff was brilliant!

Nice to see that London has a new line.

Thumb up for Tim :)

Love this video as yes some parts of London are a nightmare as you feel your going round a maze to get to a stop that you could just jump over too. 👍

We love a Tim cameo!!

This will be a great benefit when Elizabeth Line opens that journey times will be slashed. Looking forward to this opening

I am so lucky to work for the Elizabeth Line! I glad you like it Geoff. great video as always

Rode it today. Weird feeling of being motionless at some point because it so smooth.

Excited!

I'd compare it to German S-Bahn, and there especially Berlin's Stadtbahn, the West-East diameter line. But the proportions of Crossrail are really massive. I hope to get a chance to visit London again in the future and see it myself. And I think the fact it has the purple roundel instead of red makes it clear enough it isn't just a tube line.

Geoff! Enjoyed this one - what a great cameo. So I’ve thought on this a while. Train or tube, rail or line. My answer? Neither, both. I echo a bunch of the statements made already below. It is wholly unique - the Elizabeth Rail Line. Cheers

Fantastic video. I might do that myself 1 day as I love trains.

Great video, I loved seeing Tim Traveller as your Parisian correspondent!

Been waiting for this for so long- have actually worked down the hole in Paddington when they were building it- checked how much time my most common journey will be cut.... arrive at Paddington on the Cotswold Line, get to Docklands via Canary Wharf- DLR..... Cutting out changing from Bakerloo to Jubilee.....and there appears to be no time saving at all when you factor in the increased walking time 😭 Still think it will be a better journey- cant wait to try! 😃👍

You should have your own documentary mate..love the whole video style and production values!

Great video Geoff, loved the cameo from Tim. What nobody has ever been able to answer for me however, is why it isn't a Thameslink line, or why Thameslink doesn't get rebranded to Crossrail. They're the same thing, one's just deep level whilst the other isn't*. Thameslink does go further out, but Reading isn't exactly any more 'London' than Peterborough is. Thameslink in the core has a similar frequency, and Crossrail at Reading will have a similar frequency (2 off peak) as we see at St Neots. For simplicity's sake, given the wealth of different modalities (Underground, Overground, Wombling Free, DLR, Tramlink) is already confusing to tourists and out of towners, should they not be merged? *Canal Tunnels are deep level, but you get my point.

nice thanks geoff

AND TIM TRAVELER! OMG OMG OMG OMG. Its like an Avengers Transit Team!

Britain imitating France? (gasp) I can't wait for Tim to do a video from the UK and open with, "Hello, and... Hello!"

I like the new audio processing on your voice-over microphone Geoff!

Great to see Tim on your channel again.. love the potential of the purple line.. but doubt anyone will take it from Reading.. you'll be faster to take the fast train to Paddington and chance to purple there.. but anyone between Reading and Paddington will benefit off course :)

[Fancy meeting you here!] [Brought prepared pamphlet]

Loving the Paris correspondent. You should get him on more :)

Can't wait!

Thanks Geoff and Tim! I lived in Paris for a couple of years and the RER, though very practical, has quite a negative connotation (ie systematically overcrowded and unsafe). But I'm sure that Crossrail will be the better and more enjoyable version of the RER, and I look forward to riding it!

Geoff's trim is on point. That fade is fire

Looking forward to trackbashing on CrossRail in two weeks from today! :)

If nothing else there will be ENORMOUS time savings when there are big conference events on at the ExCel. The DLR station there rivals Bombay super-dense crush busy-ness sometimes at the moment!

You're like a kid with a new toy and I love it.

Just...- Awesome.

Loved seeing the plug for the magazine + in a bag.

Awesome vid