Sadiq Khan will get £19m makeover for sub-par Elizabeth Line | UK | News | EUROtoday

Sadiq Khan is giving the Elizabeth Line a £19million makeover to make it “just like Tokyo”.

Transport for London has confirmed {that a} contract has been awarded to the bosses of the Tokyo Metro to “bring the best parts of Tokyo and London to the Elizabeth Line”.

The consortium additionally contains Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo and UK rail and bus agency Go Ahead, which holds 65% of the group.

They beat out bids from earlier operator MTR, which runs transport in Hong Kong, in addition to Arriva UK Trains and a three way partnership between First Group and French operator Keolis.

Tokyo Metro mentioned it will use its “expertise in realising high-quality railway services with outstanding safety and punctuality” and “work to improve operations and increase the number of services”.

Public transport in Tokyo is world well-known for its punctuality, with 99% of companies arriving inside 5 minutes of their scheduled arrival in 2022.

In comparability, solely 83% of Elizabeth Line trains arrived inside one minute of their scheduled arrival between April and June of this 12 months.

The Elizabeth Line opened in 2022 and carried 700,000 folks a day on the route from Reading and Heathrow to Shenfield and Abbey Wood.

The operator may even implement additional companies to Old Oak Common when the brand new £1.7 billion station in Acton opens in 2030 to attach with High Speed 2 companies.

Michael Solomon Williams from the Campaign for Better Transport, advised MailOnline: “At a time when the railways are undergoing the most significant reforms in a generation, it is important that passenger experience remains the priority for all operators.

“The Elizabeth line’s outstanding success as Britain’s fastest growing railway shows the demand for reliable public transport, so we hope to see this success continue under the new operator.”

Claire Mann, TfL’s chief working officer, mentioned: “The Elizabeth line has had a transformational impact since opening in 2022 and has quickly become one of the most popular and reliable railways in the country.

“The railway has provided new, more direct journey options which has led to huge numbers of customers using our safe and accessible trains and stations.

“I am delighted that we have appointed GTS Rail Operations to continue to build on the success of the Elizabeth line and I look forward to working with them.”

A spokeswoman for Mr Khan mentioned: “In the context of this specific tendering process, which is needed to ensure we can continue to provide services from May 2025, TfL believe that the current approach continues to offer a high performing and cost-effective Elizabeth line operation.”