London’s Tottenham Court Road Elizabeth line station has reached an important milestone with construction works sufficiently finished for final commissioning activities to start, Crossrail has confirmed.    

The station has reached the T-12 landmark, meaning the station is now considered to be just 12 weeks away from being ready for handover to Transport for London (TfL), who will operate the Elizabeth line.   

Work at the station will now primarily focus on the extensive testing and commissioning of systems ahead of the Elizabeth line opening. The railway is still on track to open in the first half of 2022.   

Reaching this important milestone enables Crossrail to commence the process of handing the station over to TfL. Custom House was the first of the new Elizabeth line stations to be handed over to TfL last year and Farringdon station also reached its own T-12 landmark just before Christmas and is expected to be handed over to TfL next month.  

The new station has been built by Laing O’Rourke and will have step-free access for passengers from street to train. The station’s main entrance is on Dean Street with the Elizabeth line station integrated with the expanded and upgraded London Underground station. Construction has started and continues to progress on commercial developments above and around the new station entrances, which will include new retail and office opportunities on Oxford Street. 

Crossrail will move into the next major stage of the project, with the start of Trial Running and intensive testing later this year.   

Mark Wild, Crossrail chief executive, said: “This is an incredibly important moment for the team at Tottenham Court Road station and for the Crossrail project as a whole and is another important step for us on the journey to opening the Elizabeth line. Everyone who has worked on this magnificent new station can be incredibly proud of the contribution they have made to the lives of Londoners and the look of the city. I hope our new station will continue to delight everyone using it for generations to come.” 

Declan Mcgeeney, director of UK infrastructure at Laing O’Rourke, said: “This is a significant achievement by our construction team and I thank them for their commitment and hard work. The station has created some interesting engineering challenges to solve, including constructing the line’s only curved platform for the routeway to avoid the foundations of Centre Point. We’ve worked in close partnership with Crossrail and London Underground to create a state-of-the-art station and are proud to be part of the team delivering a world-class piece of infrastructure that will improve the journeys of millions of people for many years to come.” 

Kim Kapur, London Underground’s head of station integration, said: “This is great news and follows on from Farringdon station, which reached the milestone at the end of last year. When the Elizabeth line opens, this large new station with two modern, spacious ticket halls will be a crucial gateway into central London providing a vital link with the Central and Northern lines.” 

During its redevelopment Tottenham Court Road has undergone a major transformation, which has radically improved both the experience for travelling passengers and the environment above ground.  

The sweeping 230-metre-long Elizabeth line platforms and ticket halls at either end support the new buildings at Dean Street in Soho and below St Giles Circus on Oxford Street. Both have drawn their look and feel from the night and daytime economies at the surface. Facilities for passengers have been vastly improved and include a new public plaza and station entrances outside Centre Point. 

When the Elizabeth line opens, Tottenham Court Road will be one of London’s busiest stations, offering an interchange between the Northern, Central and Elizabeth line services with thousands of passengers passing through every day.