[外鐵] 伊莉莎白線如何改變倫敦交通

原始標題 Here’s How Crossrail Will Transform London Travel

新聞網址 https://reurl.cc/7D4NWd

發表日期 2022/05/24

全文完整內容

Today London launches the biggest extension of its public transport system this century. Dubbed the Elizabeth Line—and launched to coincide with celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II’s 70th year on the throne—the long-awaited ꌱ8.9 bi
llion link is much more than just a new railway line.

First approved in 2008, the heavy rail line will dramatically improve public transport coverage of the city, says Transport for London (TfL), slashing journey times, providing substantial extra capacity and making the city more altogether more accessible. By extending the transport system to areas that were previously much slower to access and creating new central hubs for transfers to the Tube, the line could also reshape the way people navigate the city. Here are five of the key changes the Elizabeth Line should deliver:

Quicker Journeys
Running along an east-west axis, the new link should make many London journeys altogether speedier. Travel times from Southeast London’s Abbey Wood to the
major western rail terminus of Paddington, for example, will be cut by almosthalf to 29 minutes. Journeys from southeastern Woolwich—currently one of London’s worst-served areas for train connections—to London’s main eastern rail
terminus at Liverpool Street will be halved to 15 minutes, while connectionsbetween Farringdon, in London’s financial district, and the newer dockland business hub of Canary Wharf will be slashed from 24 minutes to just ten. Whileall Londoners stand to benefit from these connections, business travelers will be particularly well-served, with connections from Heathrow Airport to Canary Wharf soon to be possible in 44 minutes.

Easier Commute
An additional 1.5 million people will be within a 45-minute commuting distance from the capital’s major commercial and business centers of the West End, the City and Canary Wharf, up from 5 million currently according to Crossrail.

Despite lying outside the boundaries of Greater London, services to Heathrow Airport and the towns of Reading and Shenfield are already running under TfL Rail, the city transport authority lying under the control of London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan. The lines will initially operate as three separate railways, to be fully connected by Autumn.

Before the pandemic, many London-area commuters were obliged to take crammed Tube carriages for parts of their journey. Riders from eastern Essex or western Berkshire, for example, had to get a suburban train to a rail terminus, thengo down into the Tube to continue to their final destinations. With the Elizabeth Line connecting outer suburbs directly to a string of new stations in central London, many of those commuters should be able to go straight from their home stations to one within easy walking distance of their offices, without needing to transfer to the Tube. That stands to make towns like Slough, Romford and others more convenient for London-bound workers.

The Elizabeth Line will also redraw the map of London’s central transport hubs.

To take an example: Farringdon Station—the central London terminus of the world’s first underground railway, which opened in January 1863—was, before the
Elizabeth Line’s opening a busy but not necessarily pivotal station in London’s transport network. Thanks to the Elizabeth Line, it will now be a key interchange station, connecting the line not just to the Tube but with high frequency trains to London’s northern and southern suburban hinterland that are routed through the station. Farringdon will also now have direct links to St. Pancras International for Eurostar connections and to three major airports: Gatwick, Heathrow and Luton. Combined with the station’s existing Tube links, Farringdon will eventually be served by over 140 trains per hour at the busiest times.

Accessibility
London’s Tube system has never been an easy place to navigate for people with limited mobility. While around a third of Underground stations (and all stations on the Docklands Light Railway) currently have step-free access, many stations are accessed by long escalators and short stairways. The Elizabeth Line by contrast, will provide step-free access that could open up many routes intocentral London for people with disabilities. The 10 new stations in the central section of the line—as well as Heathrow—will have level access from platfo
rm to trains, and step-free access from street to train at nearly all other stations. The changes in speed and ease will be drastic for some. Given London’s population over 65 years old is expected to be 62% higher by 2040, the needfor accessible stations is only going to grow.

Previously, for example, a wheelchair user using public transport could only travel the two miles (3.2 km) from Paddington to Tottenham Court Road by taking two buses, with a journey time of 25 minutes. On the Elizabeth Line, this should be a five-minute journey.

Less Congestion
Before the pandemic, the Tube at rush hour could be packed even at a rate of two trains per minute, with alternative Overground and commuter rail services often equally busy. Building a new link was one of the only ways for the city to increase capacity.

Elizabeth Line capacity will be greater than all others, with 200 metre long trains, accommodating up to 1,500 passengers. The Northern Line, by comparison, has a per train capacity of just 800. Twenty-four trains an hour will run onthe line’s busiest section. That means a train every 2.5 minutes—a high volu
me but still less than the 34 trains per hour at peak times running on London’s busiest Tube link, the Victoria Line. Overall, the line is projected to accommodate 200 million passengers annually, increasing the capacity of London’s train network by 10%.

It is still unclear how much the pandemic will affect demand for the new line, as at least some former commuters will likely continue the habit of working partly from home into the near future. But with TfL’s daily ridership having recently recovered to 73% of pre-pandemic levels, the need for an increase of the transport system’s extent and capacity remains persuasive.

Faster Heathrow Access
For visitors to London, getting into town from Heathrow airport by train has long involved a choice between either traveling slowly or paying a lot for speed. While the airport is connected to the Tube, journeys into central London on the Underground can take up to an hour. Meanwhile, the Heathrow Express, a non-stop train service that connects Heathrow to Paddington Station in an impressive 15 minutes, costs ꌲ5 ($31) one way (or ꌱ8 if tickets are bought a month in advance), an especially high price given that Paddington Station has a not-especially convenient location on the edge of central London. With the Elizabeth Line’s inauguration, however, air passengers will need just 30 minutes and ꌵ.50 to reach central London, and can disembark at a greater number of more convenient stations. People living in East London will also get a faster, transfer-free train service straight to Heathrow.

Coming after a challenging few years, the Elizabeth Line is also delivering another less tangible asset to London: something to be optimistic about. By streamlining travel across the city, the line will “turbo charge our recovery from the pandemic,” said Mayor Sadiq Khan, while TfL commissioner Andy Byford said it was a “game changer, not just for London but for the whole of the UK”.
The Elizabeth Line may not solve all of the city’s transport issues at once, but despite the project’s delays and cost overruns, its arrival shows that London still has the ability to think big.

鐵路板首發，請多多指教～～～

這篇文章大概講了伊莉莎白線對倫敦交通的影響，他提到這條線可以在既有的地鐵網上並創造新的樞紐，提升部分地區的公共運輸可近度。文章細論了幾點：

1.通勤時間縮短
這部分有點瑣碎，就不翻了

2.通勤更方便
離West end 的商業與金融中心的45分鐘通勤圈內人口從500萬提升至650萬
過往市郊的居民抵達市中心後還需換乘地鐵抵達目的地，伊莉莎白線新開通的車站或許可以節省轉乘的麻煩。
Farringfon站伊莉莎白線的開通也大大的提升他的重要性，因為此站有開往南北市郊的列車，也有開到St.Pancras國際車站以及Heathrow, Gatwick,Luton三座機場的車

3.無障礙化（應該是這樣翻譯吧
字面意思，車站有無障礙化

4.減少交通阻塞
在尖峰時段，倫敦地鐵部分路線每半分鐘可發出一班車，然而車廂依舊壅塞。伊莉莎白線列車車長200公尺，每列可載1500人，尖峰時段每2.5分鐘一班，預計每年可載運2億名乘客，整體可以為倫敦都會區提升10%運力。

5.更快來往希斯羅機場的方式
總之過往軌道方面市區機場之間要不搭Piccadilly line （便宜、慢），要不搭Heathrow express（快、貴）。伊莉莎白線提供了又便宜又快的新選擇。

心得：車站滿美的，空間簡潔明亮，看起來滿有未來感的，但去過倫敦就會發現月台牆壁圓弧面的設計和過去所建的地鐵站立體造型滿像的，有種新舊融合的感覺。

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