Crossrail: It’s About Time

From the collection of

London’s Screen Archives

London’s Screen Archives is a network of over 50 organisations with a collective vision – to preserve and share London’s history on film. The network is managed by Film London and we work with our partners to digitise, preserve, and offer access to their moving image collections.

Crossrail: It’s About Time

In 1993 it was almost (but not quite) time for the Crossrail project shown here, featuring the history and proposed future of the line.

Whilst this film would have you believe that the original idea for the Crossrail project began with inconveniencing Queen Victoria on a train journey from Windsor to Sandringham, the project that became Crossrail actually has origins in an earlier 1905 proposal to connect the separate Victorian train company lines together that wasn’t taken up. The term "Crossrail" emerged in the 1974 London Rail Study Report. Although the idea was seen as imaginative, only a brief estimate of cost was given: £300 million. In 1991 a private bill was submitted to Parliament for a scheme including a new underground line from Paddington to Liverpool Street. The bill was promoted by London Underground and British Rail, and supported by the government. The film uses glossy computer animated models to show what the stations and service could look like, along with new designs for the trains. Unfortunately this scheme was eventually rejected by the Private Bill Committee in 1994 on the grounds that a case had not been made, though the government issued "Safeguarding Directions", protecting the route from any development that would jeopardise future schemes. The new Crossrail project was finally approved in 2007, and construction began in 2009 on the central section and connections to existing lines that will become part of the route, and it will eventually be branded the Elizabeth Line.

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From the collection

Keeping London Moving

Go behind the scenes of 50 years of London transport with this selection from the London Transport Museum's video collection.

London's transport, from the bright red Routemaster to the futuristic Docklands Light Railway, is some of the most iconic in the world. But what was actually happening behind the scenes to make sure the buses, tubes, and trains got us to where we wanted to go? This collection of highlights from the London Transport Museum's video collection, which spans the 1970s to the mid-2000s, offers a peek into the operation rooms, underground tunnels, and bus garages that were 'Keeping London Moving', as the slogan of Transport for London proudly proclaims. In this selection, you can witness the birth of the Jubilee Line, or experience the frenzy of Millennium Eve on the Underground. Many of the videos in this collection were made by the London Buses' in-house video department, and show that staff training videos definitely don’t have to be dull. How better to train London Underground staff on good customer service than a version of the Wizard of Oz set on the Tube?

33 videos in this collection

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Step Free Access On London Underground

  • 2001
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Modernising the Underground

  • 1998
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The Driverless Ghost Bus

  • Westminster
  • 1986
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London Underground Train Door Safety

  • 1995
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Implementing London's Congestion Charge

  • 2003
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London Transport: Routes Project

  • 1994
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London Buses: Low Floor Bus

  • 1995
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Chancery Lane Train Crash

  • Camden
  • 2003
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It’ll Never Happen

  • 1996
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New Years Eve 2000 on London Underground

  • Westminster
  • 2000
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London Buses: Clocking On with OPAL

  • 1984
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Royal Visit to Willesden Garage

  • Brent
  • 2002
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Starting on the Right Track

  • 1986
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Station Assistance Support on the London Underground

  • Westminster
  • 2002
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Making Tracks Without Footprints

  • 2000
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Simply the Best

  • Brent
  • 1994
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Saints and Sinners

  • 1999
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Putting You in the Picture

  • 1985
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Ticket Gates at Victoria Station

  • Westminster
  • 1990
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Jubilee Line: Destination East

  • 1990
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London Buses: Ticket To Ride

  • 1993
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42 Hours: Moving Customers Over the Millennium

  • 2000
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Crossrail: It’s About Time

  • 1993
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What's Your Handicap?

  • 1985
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Interview with Tom Eckersley

  • 1984
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District Line: Fit for the Future

  • 1980
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Farewell to Denis Tunnicliffe

  • Westminster
  • 2000
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Docklands Light Railway

  • 1992
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London Buses: Farecard Trial

  • Harrow
  • 1995
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Safely There and Back

  • 1999
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The Check Files

  • 1999
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Audrey White Retirement Party

  • 1984
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Above Us London: Northern Line Centenary

  • 1990
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