I commute on London&#039s $25 billion railway line each individual 7 days. It fees me $3, gets me to work 20 minutes early, and has transformed my journey.

The Elizabeth line is a single of London&#039s most noteworthy modern sights. The 60-mile-extensive railway opened to the public on May perhaps 24 after using 23 several years to build and arrived with a cost tag of $25 billion.

Transport for London, the railways&#039 operator, claimed in November that pretty much 70 million journeys have been manufactured on the Elizabeth line considering that it opened six months in the past.

Resource: Transport for London

I determined to acquire the Elizabeth line to perform one particular early morning to see irrespective of whether it would make a big difference to my 50-moment commute from West to East London. I&#039ve in no way looked back again.

Commonly, I established off just following 7 a.m.. To get to the nearest Elizabeth line stop at Paddington, I have to just take the Bakerloo line, which is a lot more than 100 a long time outdated, for considerably less than 5 minutes. It&#039s typically noisy, cramped, and stuffy at this time of the morning.

Resource: London Transportation Museum

At Paddington station, I walked through a tunnel specifically created for travellers heading amongst the Elizabeth line and the Bakerloo line. It value £1 million, or $1.3 million, for every meter to construct this tunnel, Crossrail CEO Mark Wild formerly reported.

Supply: Insider

A whole lot of stations on the Elizabeth line have creative ceilings inside of. This a single in Paddington station is absolutely unique from other stops I&#039ve been to on the line, these as Canary Wharf and Liverpool Street stations.

The practice is usually currently waiting at the station when I arrive. If not, I have to hold out a utmost of four minutes.

There are announcements saying when the train is scheduled to depart, whilst staff in superior-visibility jackets are generally on hand to help travellers.

Even with it becoming rush hour, the platform is in no way overcrowded. Other stations I stopped at on my former commute have been rammed comprehensive of men and women as the tube is a single of the most popular techniques to vacation to do the job in London.

Much less than 15 minutes following leaving my flat, I&#039m now on the Elizabeth line teach. I journey on it for a few stops, passing Bond Avenue, Tottenham Court docket Highway, and Farringdon right until I achieve Liverpool Street, the other side of London.

My prior commute included using 3 tube lines, which includes the Bakerloo, Hammersmith and City, and Northern traces to access Aged Street station. This can take all around 45 to 50 minutes, and charges $3.26.

There are likely to be plenty of cost-free seats in the Elizabeth line coach, which was comfortable and thoroughly clean compared with the seating on the three tubes I used to take to function.

The journey is smooth, spacious, and quiet. It&#039s also quite amazing thanks to the air-conditioning onboard, which is refreshing for the duration of an early commute.

The prepare stops for around a person minute at each and every station, which tends to make boarding and disembarking strain-no cost.

There&#039s also WiFi readily available at each station for the duration of my commute, which makes it possible for me to scroll as a result of social media and the information in advance of my get the job done day starts.

I arrive at Liverpool Street in all around 10 minutes, but have to stroll about 11 minutes to get to the office — more time than the teach experience! The Elizabeth line didn&#039t drop me as shut to my office as my earlier commute, which was a two-moment stroll from Aged Road station to the workplace.

Soon after getting off the Elizabeth line practice, I have to action on a huge escalator …

… and then an additional just one to get to ground level. The tunnels for the new railway are up to 40 meters underground, Wild earlier claimed.

My commute to the other aspect of London cuts my vacation time by 20 minutes, reduces the quantity of tubes I have to take, and expenditures me the same as my former commute at $3.26. I prefer to take the Elizabeth line to function due to the fact it&#039s so brief and headache-absolutely free.