Underground enthusiasts flocked to London's newly opened Elizabeth Line. Photo / Getty Images, Leon Neal
Underground enthusiasts flocked to London's newly opened Elizabeth Line. Photo / Getty Images, Leon Neal
London has celebrated the opening of its new $37 billion tube line, the Elizabeth line. Rail enthusiasts, some of whom had travelled half the world to be there, queuing for hours in purple colours to be first aboard.
Transport for London says that 130,000 journeys across the line on its first morning.
Around 500 people queued to be first through the gates when they opened at Paddington Station at 6.30am.
Running from Reading in the west via to Shenfield in Essex the commuter line has been a decade in the making since it broke ground in May 2012.
Among those queuing to be first abroad were rail enthusiasts from around the world. Some had travelled from as far as Canada and Hong Kong to be there on opening day, reported the Daily Mail.
Over 500 Rail enthusiasts queued outside Paddington Station to be first aboard. Photo / Getty Images
Many had been there since midnight with purple-dyed hair and facemasks, the colour of the new tube line on transport maps.
Special edition Elizabeth Line oyster cards were issued to mark the occasion.
Despite a fire alarm being triggered, accidentally evacuating Paddington station and cancelling several services, the first trains managed to stay on track.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and Transport for London Commissioner Andy Byford greeted the waiting crowds shortly after 6 am.
Khan said people in the line were a "source of pride" who would be "contributing £42bn to our national economy" and had already created 70000 jobs along the line.
TfL Commissioner Andy Byford and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan board the first eastbound train on the Elizabeth Line. Photo / Leon Neal, Getty Images
Byford said he would welcome a "normal day of service" as a successful start to the ten-year project.
There were 65,000 journeys across the central section between Paddington to Abbey Wood on opening day.
The 'Crossrail' Project has been named the Elizabeth line, in honour of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. From this week, the line from Paddington to Abbey Would run between Heathrow to Paddington and Shenfield to Liverpool Street stations, with changes between.
The rest of the line aims to be completed by May next year, with the next phase due by the end of this year.
Rail enthusiasts travel on the first eastbound train on London's new Elizabeth Line. Photo / Getty Images
Reece Martin, 25, a YouTuber from Canada travelled to be one of the first aboard.
"The Elizabeth line is a very powerful and impressive project. It could be transformational," he told the Mail.
Having ridden the tubes many times before, he was excited to ride the much delayed Crossrail tube project.
"It is disappointing that it was late but that is part of the course for a complex project. It will really help commenters, you can cross the city at speeds you just weren't able to before. I have been to London five or six times before and I am a big fan of the city."
Fellow passenger Paul Jubb, 64, had travelled from Birmingham to be there.
"I may not have slept well but I am still half awake to be on the 6.33am to Abbey Road which will be quite something. To be here for the first time riding a line which was opened by the Queen is really exciting," he said.
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Edward, Right, made a surprise visit to Paddington Station on Friday. Photo / Andrew Matthews, Getty Images
Last week Queen Elizabeth II made an unscheduled appearance to see the tube which is named in her honour.
On Friday the Queen made her first public appearance in weeks at Paddington Station in a Yellow dress, after a long period of absence from public engagement.
Buckingham Palace said that "organisers were informed of the possibility she may attend," but it was largely a surprise.
