The Launch of the Elizabeth Line

The launch of the Elizabeth Line

This week, trains on the long-anticipated Elizabeth Line will officially open to the public.

At 6.30 am, the first train will leave Abbey Wood, southeast London. It will arrive at its destination, Paddington, in 29 minutes – a journey that previously would have taken 58 minutes and involved 3 changes.

This is now the new world for anyone needing to cross London – Crossrail, as it’s also known, runs east to west through key stations in central London. The two eastern branches terminate at Abbey Wood and Shenfield, in Essex, and the two western branches terminate at Reading and Heathrow Airport.

Named for the Queen and unexpectedly opened by her on 17th May, the Elizabeth Line has been a long time coming. Work started in 2009 and was initially due to finish in 2018.

The effect on the property market

Since Crossrail was announced, we have seen house prices rise in areas benefitting from the line as people made the move in anticipation of today’s launch.

At Douglas & Gordon, we’re excited to see the knock-on effects for areas just outside London now that we are so well connected. Locations such as Slough are already starting to see huge investment into regeneration projects that will see the town centre completely transformed. Glassdoor has ranked it number 1 in their ’25 Best UK Towns & Cities to Work In’ study 3 times in a row and we can see why… Slough residents have exceptional job opportunities, Windsor on their doorstep and a quick train journey into London, all whilst paying a significant amount less in monthly rent!!

Home to some of the country’s biggest companies and with the highest concentration of corporate headquarters outside of London, Slough, and its real estate, is only going one way. Some estimates say that capital growth in the area will be as much as 50% in the next 5 years.

The savviest property investors bought in places like Slough years ago, but there is still time to take advantage of the capital growth we are about to see.

Elizabeth Line in numbers

From the minutes shaved off commuting times, to the billions of pounds spent, below is the Elizabeth Line in numbers: