London Crossrail train design revealed

The massive Crossrail project, which is created to make travelling across London faster and easier, is just a few years from completion – and Transport for London has now revealed the trains that will be carrying commuters and tourists around the United Kingdom capital.

The so-called “Aventra” trains will feature regenerative braking, delivering electricity back into their power supply to use less energy, the local government body confirmed.

The new railway will include 100km of track and is due to open in phases, with a December 2019 date set for the project to be fully operational. At 200m long, the 90mph trains will be more than 50 per cent longer than the longest Tube train.

The new Bombardier designed trains will start to be introduced in May 2017 on the Liverpool Street to Shenfield stopping service. According to TfL, the interior design and colour palette has been selected to “provide an accessible and welcoming environment” and to match the stations for a “consistent customer experience”.

There will be four dedicated wheelchair spaces on each train, and all platforms and trains across the Crossrail network will have step-free access.

The trains will have wide interconnecting gangways and three double doors on each side of each carriage, providing high capacity and quick boarding and alighting times as well as real-time travel information on board.

The new rolling stock will be both wi-fi enabled and air-conditioned, London Boris Johnson said as he unveiled the design on Friday (November 20). “They’ll add vital capacity to our rail network and will help to ensure our economy continues its onward journey full-steam ahead”. All of the seven-car trains will be lengthened to nine cars by the end of 2019.

The first train should come off the production line in Derby next year.