Your journey by Elizabeth line

escalators at farringdon elizabeth line station

Changing trains to continue your journey

  • From Reading, customers can travel east all the way to Abbey Wood and vice versa without changing at Paddington National Rail station - services call at Paddington Elizabeth line station instead. In some cases, customers may need to change trains on the same platform at stations in the central section. Customers can also travel towards Shenfield by changing at Whitechapel, and towards Heathrow by changing at Hayes & Harlington
  • From Heathrow, customers can travel east all the way to both Abbey Wood and Shenfield. In some cases, customers may need to change trains on the same platform at stations in the central section for the fastest journey. For trains towards Reading, customers should change at Hayes & Harlington
  • From Shenfield, customers can travel west all the way to Paddington and Heathrow. For Heathrow, it may be quicker to take the first train and change at Whitechapel and/or Terminals 2 & 3. (Use our journey planning tools to find the quickest route.) For trains towards Abbey Wood or Reading, customers should change at Whitechapel

Because of its layout and capacity, we recommend changing at Whitechapel Elizabeth line station when customers travelling between west and east branches of the Elizabeth line need to change trains.

Number of trains

  • Between Paddington and Whitechapel: 20-24 trains an hour at the busiest times and 16 at quieter times
  • Between Shenfield and Heathrow Terminal 5: 2 trains an hour all day. This also means West Ealing, Ealing Broadway, Hayes & Harlington and Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 get 6 trains an hour all day
  • Between Gidea Park and Liverpool Street National Rail station: 2 trains an hour in peak hours. This service is in place in the peak direction only - it helps customers who work close to Liverpool Street station and would prefer to arrive at the National Rail platforms
  • Between Canary Wharf and Abbey Wood: 12 trains an hour in peak hours. This restores the previous frequency that we had to temporarily reduce to 10 trains an hour in November 2022 when we introduced through services
  • At Heathrow: 6 trains an hour all day. All 6 trains call at Terminals 2 & 3, with 2 of those continuing on to Terminal 5 and 4 continuing on to Terminal 4. There is a free inter-terminal transfer available between Terminals 2 & 3 to Terminal 4 and Terminal 5
  • Additional limited-stop services between Reading and Abbey Wood: 3 trains an hour during morning peak hours and 2 trains an hour during afternoon peak hours (peak direction only)

See the latest Elizabeth line timetable.

Service schedules

Services at Paddington/Liverpool Street

A small number of Elizabeth line services - mostly at the start and end of the day - still terminate at Paddington and Liverpool Street National Rail stations instead of running directly into the Elizabeth line tunnels. Some services run to or from Liverpool Street Network Rail station during morning and evening peak periods.

Check the destination of your train - you may need to change at Paddington or Liverpool Street National Rail stations and walk to the Elizabeth line stations. Customers travelling on westbound Elizabeth line trains terminating at Liverpool Street should change at Stratford and stay on the same platform for the next train towards Paddington or Heathrow.

Trains that start and finish at Liverpool Street National Rail station do not stop at Whitechapel. Customers travelling to Whitechapel should use the Liverpool Street Elizabeth line station.

Services to and from Iver

Elizabeth line services to and from Reading do not stop at Iver during quieter times and at weekends - the station is instead served by Elizabeth line services to and from Maidenhead.

There are no direct train services from Iver to Taplow, Twyford and Reading in the off peak and at weekends. Customers to/from Iver will need to change at Langley, Slough or Burnham for services to Taplow, and Maidenhead for service to Twyford and Reading. Customers at Iver will still benefit from more frequent services at the busiest times - up to 6 trains an hour.

onboard an elizabeth line train

Fares and ticketing

  • Contactless pay as you go is accepted throughout the Elizabeth line
  • Oyster pay as you go and valid Travelcards are accepted but not west of West Drayton
  • Customers using Oyster to pay as you go who want to travel to or from stations beyond West Drayton will need to use contactless instead or buy a paper ticket
  • TfL concessions are accepted
  • Customers with a Railcard discount set on their Oyster card benefit from 1/3 off off-peak pay as you go fares
  • Customers need to touch out at Paddington and Liverpool Street National Rail stations to change for trains towards Reading, Heathrow or Shenfield, although daily and weekly price capping applies

Using London Terminals tickets on the Elizabeth line

The Elizabeth line has two 'London Terminal' stations on its route - London Paddington National Rail station and London Liverpool Street National Rail station.

Tickets for National Rail services to/from London Terminals are not valid on the Elizabeth line between Paddington and Liverpool Street. Customers using these tickets must buy a separate ticket or use pay as you go to travel beyond Paddington (if travelling from the west) or Liverpool Street (if travelling from the east).

Accessibility

All 41 Elizabeth line stations are step free from street to platform. Stations from Paddington to Woolwich and at Heathrow are step free from street to train.

No boarding ramp is needed at these stations - there is level access from platform to trains:

  • Paddington
  • Bond Street
  • Tottenham Court Road
  • Farringdon
  • Liverpool Street
  • Whitechapel
  • Canary Wharf
  • Custom House (carriage 5 only)
  • Woolwich
  • Heathrow

Custom House station is step-free at carriage 5, but manual boarding ramps are available if customers want to use them.

At all other stations on the Elizabeth line, staff will deploy a manual boarding ramp between the platform and train.

See our advice on planning a step-free journey.

Find out more about the Elizabeth line's accessible travel policy.

Elizabeth line boarding point

Getting help

All Elizabeth line stations are staffed from the first to the last train, with a 'turn up and go' service offered to anyone needing assistance.

If you need step-free access at any station on the Elizabeth line, it's best to board at carriage 5 where there are dedicated wheelchair spaces, regardless of whether you need a manual boarding ramp or not. Carriage 5 generally stops at the middle of the platform.

You can find carriage 5 by looking for:

  • Blue wheelchair signs on the train doors
  • Blue wheelchair stickers on the floor of the platform, outside carriage 5
  • Blue wheelchair signs on station buildings on the platform wall

Step-free access is available to the:

  • Bakerloo line at Paddington - use Paddington's Elizabeth line ticket hall on Eastbourne Terrace
  • Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines (westbound services only) at Barbican - use Farringdon's Long Lane Elizabeth line ticket hall

In the station

  • All stations have Help Points so you can easily get in touch with staff or emergency services when you need to
  • Induction (hearing) loops are clearly marked with an induction loop sign. They are located in ticket halls and on platforms at every station in the central section. All help points also have induction loops built in
  • Accessible toilets, which can be accessed via a RADAR key, are at Abbey Wood, Custom House, Farringdon, Tottenham Court Road and Whitechapel in the central section, as well as all stations on the east and west sections

On the train

Elizabeth line trains have four dedicated wheelchair spaces in the fifth carriage, close to the doors to allow quick boarding. An emergency alarm button at every wheelchair space on the train can connect you to the driver in an emergency.

Ten multi-use spaces are on each train for those travelling with buggies, luggage and cycles. Wheelchair users can also use these spaces, but there is no specific emergency alarm button at a low level as in the dedicated wheelchair spaces.

Customers with buggies, luggage and cycles might find it easier to travel in the first four carriages of the train because some stations have shorter platforms.

Every carriage has dedicated priority seats in a different colour and with a priority sticker above them.

elizabeth line platform at woolwich station

Customer facilities

Toilets

The Elizabeth line is a metro-style service and there are no toilets on the trains. Toilets are available for free at some stations along the Elizabeth line, but these may only be inside the ticket gates.

Wi-Fi and 4G

Free Wi-Fi access is already available at most Elizabeth line stations - we're working to make on-train Wi-Fi available within the tunnels as well. Work has started that will allow customers on both trains and platforms to have access to 4G connectivity.

Cycles on public transport

Find out when and where you can take non-folded bikes on the Elizabeth line on the Cycles on public transport page.