Site of Crossrail Entry Tunnel (London)

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Crossrail is a project to build major new railway connections under central London. The name is also used to refer to the first route proposed by the project, which is based around an east-west tunnel from Paddington to Liverpool Street station, and more formally known as Crossrail Line 1.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown officially greenlighted the project (Crossrail Line 1) on 5 October 2007, after a funding deal covering the first line was worked out with various public and private sources, though this is not yet finalised. The project still requires the passing of a bill in parliament to provide permissions to build the line. Though unlikely to meet much resistance, this is not expected to happen until some time in 2008. When Royal Assent is received in 2008 Transport for London will become the owner of Crossrail promoter Cross London Rail Links Ltd, currently a joint venture between TfL and the Department for Transport.

The first trains are to due to run in 2017. Trains would run at metro-style high frequencies, complementing the existing north-south Thameslink route. Crossrail ticketing is intended to be integrated with the other London transport systems, with Travelcards being valid within Greater London and Oyster cards will be valid on the entire line (except for the Heathrow branch which will continue to be subject to special fares). Crossrail has often been compared to Paris's RER system due to the length of the central tunnel. Crossrail will be integrated with the tube network - it is expected that Crossrail will appear on the standard tube map.