Elizabeth Line has helped create 400k jobs in and around London
The area around the City of London’s Liverpool Street Station has been one of the biggest benefactors of the new Elizabeth Line research shows.
London’s most popular route has carried more than 0.5bn passengers since its inception.
Fresh figures from Transport for London (TFL) and Arup show Crossrail has helped create thousands of new jobs by providing faster connections between east and west London.
The data shows it has helped support new homes, too, allowing commuters to get into the City and central London quickly.
Elizabeth Line route
Elizabeth Line was opened by Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in May 2022, quickly becoming the UK’s busiest and most popular line.
It connects Heathrow Airport to the West End via Paddington, and to the east, it connects London’s banking district to Canary Wharf. The route extends west towards Reading and east to Essex.
More than 500m passenger journeys have been made in just two-and-a-half years, making it the single busiest railway service in the UK.
Reports by TFL and Arup outline how it led to job creation and regeneration along the route.
What does the data say?
The figures show that the £18.9bn railway has had an overwhelmingly positive impact.
It was found that 90 per cent of customers think it has been good for their area, as they welcomed better connectivity to the suburbs and Heathrow Airport.
It found that on the Abbey Wood branch, there had been an 11 per cent increase in access to employment, with better cross-river links.
This is in addition to a six per cent increase in job accessibility along the Heathrow terminals branch.
It claimed a 62 per cent positive response on employment opportunities overall and an increase in housing growth within 1km of any Elizabeth Line station.
According to the analysis, there had been a 14 per cent jump in housing starts in east London and eight per cent in the West, with Abbey Wood emerging as the biggest benefactor of regeneration.
TFL also found that in the period between 2015-22, during the construction phase, 378,000 jobs were created within a 1km of Elizabeth Line stations.
It also showed an overwhelmingly positive impact on the City.
In the run-up to its opening, the highest job growth in central London occurred around Liverpool Street station, in the heart of the Square Mile.
Liverpool Street has since seen significant regeneration.
Last year, funding was confirmed for 10 new trains to meet burgeoning demand.
“A game changer”
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “The Elizabeth Line has been a game-changer for the city, transforming travel in London and unlocking investment through the creation of new jobs and homes.”
With its growing popularity, the Elizabeth Line is proving itself to be essential to London and the UK’s transport network and helping to build a better, more prosperous London for everyone.
“The evidence from the success of the Elizabeth line is clear – when you invest in high-quality transport infrastructure it can provide huge benefits for increased jobs, growth and the new housing we need in London and across the country.”
Andy Lord, London’s Transport Commissioner, said: “The Elizabeth line has truly transformed life and travel in London and the South East by dramatically improving transport links, cutting journey times, providing additional capacity, and transforming accessibility.
“The findings from these reports confirm that the railway is powering important regeneration through new jobs and homes. As we look ahead to the next 500 million journeys, we will continue to focus on improving things for our customers, to ensure we remain London’s most popular railway.”