London’s most delayed train is about to arrive roughly four years behind schedule, but the city’s transport chief Andy Byford believes it will be “the envy of the world” when passengers eventually get on board.
The Elizabeth line, a 100-kilometre east-to-west railway first dreamt up when the queen after whom it is named was a young princess, will open its central tunnels this month as a £19 billion ($23bn) project whirrs into life at last.
Its sleek fleet of trains will take commuters from the financial centres of the City of London and Canary Wharf to the Victorian surroundings of Paddington and, when the line’s western arm is linked up in the autumn, to Heathrow Airport.
Empty nine-car trains already glide through its stations at five-minute intervals after 15 months of testing, their drivers ready to replace their lonely vigils with what insiders expect to be 200 million passengers a year.
The nine-minute, air-conditioned ride through the centre is likely to be a relief from the overheated conditions on a slower east-west artery, the Central line, while the journey from the City to Heathrow will take less than 40 minutes.
And the 21st-century feel of the line, with its TV displays and automated doors, is meant as an upgrade to London’s 159-year-old rapid transit network – although pulling off the digital wizardry was what held it up for so long.
While the tunnelling was complete and the stations largely built by the time the current queen was meant to open the line in 2018, Mr Byford said his predecessors at Transport for London had underestimated the task of getting its software ready.
“This has been a labour of love,” he said in the cavernous Elizabeth line annexe of Paddington, where The National boarded for a preview ride on Wednesday. “There’s been myriad challenges but we’ve stared them down”.
Long road to opening
London has about a dozen railway terminuses handling trains from all over Britain, but only two lines make a complete north-south crossing and until now there has been no east-west line.
An idea similar to Crossrail, as the Elizabeth line is also known, surfaced in the 1940s in a vision for post-war reconstruction but came to nothing. Another proposal in the 1990s ran into economic problems and was rejected by MPs.
The idea was revived after the turn of the millennium and finally received parliamentary approval in 2008, beginning 42 kilometres of tunnelling that required three paths to be beaten under the River Thames.
The name was chosen in 2016 and London Mayor Sadiq Khan has described its opening date as a landmark moment in the year Britain celebrates the queen’s platinum jubilee.
All the new stations in the city centre are 10 storeys deep and London’s tallest building, the 310-metre Shard, could have lain on its side in the empty Paddington cavern after it was hollowed out, said Crossrail chief executive Mark Wild.
The platforms are 250 metres long and one station, Liverpool Street, is so large that it effectively merges with nearby Moorgate — an idea “shamelessly stolen” from a Paris rail network that insiders regard as a model, Mr Wild said.
Another unusual element is a diagonal lift at Liverpool Street, timed to move at the same speed as adjacent escalators and built because it proved too difficult to construct a vertical lift shaft.
The excavations required at Liverpool Street were so extensive that 3,000 skeletons were unearthed at the site, including the remains of City of London parishioners who died in the medieval Black Death.
“I think people will be blown away when they see the scale of these stations, the length of the platforms,” said Mr Byford, who took over as boss of Transport for London in 2020 and made finishing the Elizabeth line a priority.
The 2018 opening date slipped back several times before Crossrail chiefs eventually committed to unveiling the line in the first half of this year, last week announcing May 24 as the opening date.
One of the software challenges was integrating the new tunnels and signals with the existing tracks of London on either side, which give the Elizabeth line its full length, from Reading in the west to Shenfield in the east.
The line will initially be in three parts – from Shenfield into Liverpool Street, the central stretch to Paddington and the final section to Heathrow and Reading – before it is joined up in what insiders say will be a few months.
This is absolutely spectacular, what we’re about to unveil to Londoners
Andy Byford
It will not open on Sundays until that work is complete and Bond Street station near London’s upmarket shopping district is not yet ready for passengers. There will initially be 12 trains an hour, eventually doubling to 24.
A longer-term goal is to link Heathrow to the north of England with a connection to the High Speed 2 railway line, but that is many years from completion and has been partly scaled back by ministers.
While pedants argue over whether Crossrail is a new London Tube line or part of the National Rail network, Mr Wild believes it is “a bit of both”, combining rapid urban transit with the comforts of a longer-distance train.
Mr Byford is proud of what he calls the modern, uncluttered and temperature-controlled environment on the platforms, believing commuters will feel welcome as they resume normal travel schedules after the pandemic.
The fleet of air-conditioned trains known as Class 345s were built especially for Crossrail and are intended to run for decades.
But designers also dropped in nods to London’s heritage, with brickwork in the Paddington ticket hall evoking the station’s Victorian design and a ceiling at Liverpool Street meant to depict the pinstripe suits of City bankers.
At Paddington, Mr Wild said it was an honour to open London’s newest train line in the same place that the Tube was born in 1863, when a stretch from Paddington to Farringdon became the world’s first underground railway.
Meanwhile, at Liverpool Street, the curving tunnels stand ready with posters advertising the reduced journey times, while signs to the Elizabeth line are on proud display after premature ones were sheepishly covered up in 2018.
“This is absolutely spectacular, what we’re about to unveil to Londoners, to the UK and also to the world,” said Mr Byford, who compared the new line to Japan’s famously punctual bullet trains. “This is our pride and joy.”
Bareilly Ki Barfi
Directed by: Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Starring: Kriti Sanon, Ayushmann Khurrana, Rajkummar Rao
Three and a half stars
THE SPECS
Engine: six-litre W12 twin-turbo
Transmission: eight-speed dual clutch auto
Power: 626bhp
Torque: 900Nm
Price: Dh940,160 (plus VAT)
On sale: Q1 2020
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Polarised public
31% in UK say BBC is biased to left-wing views
19% in UK say BBC is biased to right-wing views
19% in UK say BBC is not biased at all
Source: YouGov
Most wanted allegations
- Benjamin Macann, 32: involvement in cocaine smuggling gang.
- Jack Mayle, 30: sold drugs from a phone line called the Flavour Quest.
- Callum Halpin, 27: over the 2018 murder of a rival drug dealer.
- Asim Naveed, 29: accused of being the leader of a gang that imported cocaine.
- Calvin Parris, 32: accused of buying cocaine from Naveed and selling it on.
- John James Jones, 31: allegedly stabbed two people causing serious injuries.
- Callum Michael Allan, 23: alleged drug dealing and assaulting an emergency worker.
- Dean Garforth, 29: part of a crime gang that sold drugs and guns.
- Joshua Dillon Hendry, 30: accused of trafficking heroin and crack cocain.
- Mark Francis Roberts, 28: grievous bodily harm after a bungled attempt to steal a £60,000 watch.
- James ‘Jamie’ Stevenson, 56: for arson and over the seizure of a tonne of cocaine.
- Nana Oppong, 41: shot a man eight times in a suspected gangland reprisal attack.
Super Bowl LIII schedule
What Super Bowl LIII
Who is playing New England Patriots v Los Angeles Rams
Where Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, United States
When Sunday (start time is 3.30am on Monday UAE time)
Yahya Al Ghassani's bio
Date of birth: April 18, 1998
Playing position: Winger
Clubs: 2015-2017 – Al Ahli Dubai; March-June 2018 – Paris FC; August – Al Wahda
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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TECH%20SPECS%3A%20APPLE%20WATCH%20SERIES%209
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'O'
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THE BIO
Bio Box
Role Model: Sheikh Zayed, God bless his soul
Favorite book: Zayed Biography of the leader
Favorite quote: To be or not to be, that is the question, from William Shakespeare's Hamlet
Favorite food: seafood
Favorite place to travel: Lebanon
Favorite movie: Braveheart
Frankenstein in Baghdad
Ahmed Saadawi
Penguin Press
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
Turkish Ladies
Various artists, Sony Music Turkey
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: BorrowMe (BorrowMe.com)
Date started: August 2021
Founder: Nour Sabri
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: E-commerce / Marketplace
Size: Two employees
Funding stage: Seed investment
Initial investment: $200,000
Investors: Amr Manaa (director, PwC Middle East)
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Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
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Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
NYBL PROFILE
Company name: Nybl
Date started: November 2018
Founder: Noor Alnahhas, Michael LeTan, Hafsa Yazdni, Sufyaan Abdul Haseeb, Waleed Rifaat, Mohammed Shono
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Software Technology / Artificial Intelligence
Initial investment: $500,000
Funding round: Series B (raising $5m)
Partners/Incubators: Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 4, Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 6, AI Venture Labs Cohort 1, Microsoft Scale-up
Zodi%20%26%20Tehu%3A%20Princes%20Of%20The%20Desert
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EEric%20Barbier%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EYoussef%20Hajdi%2C%20Nadia%20Benzakour%2C%20Yasser%20Drief%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
'Panga'
Directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Starring Kangana Ranaut, Richa Chadha, Jassie Gill, Yagya Bhasin, Neena Gupta
Rating: 3.5/5
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
The Book of Collateral Damage
Sinan Antoon
(Yale University Press)
The specs: 2018 Chevrolet Trailblazer
Price, base / as tested Dh99,000 / Dh132,000
Engine 3.6L V6
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power 275hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 350Nm @ 3,700rpm
Fuel economy combined 12.2L / 100km
