The Big Rail Diversity Challenge
In July 2014, MTR Elizabeth line—a 100% owned subsidiary of MTR Corporation—was awarded the concession to operate the new Elizabeth line, which connects the East and West of London through a new central tunnel.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II opened the Central Operating Section (COS) on Tuesday, 24 May 2022.
The Elizabeth line is the most significant addition to London’s transport network in a generation, providing new journey options, reducing travel times, and supporting regeneration across the capital.
Customers can travel directly—from Reading/Heathrow to Abbey Wood and from Shenfield to Heathrow via Paddington—in record journey times, with up to 24 trains per hour running within Central London.
With around 4.1 million journeys made each week, MTR Elizabeth line is incredibly proud to be part of this transformative new railway, providing world-class customer service and performance.
MTR Elizabeth line seeks to set a new transport standard for the UK by moving people and connecting communities better than anyone else. It is delivering train and passenger services, including:
Providing excellence in customer service across 41 Elizabeth line stations.
Offering over 700 timetabled services per weekday.
Operating a peak timetable frequency of 24 trains per hour in Central London, introduced in May 2023.
Facilitating 4.1 million journeys every week.
Ensuring fully accessible travel at every station along the 100 km route.
MTR Elizabeth line strives to ensure that its workforce reflects the communities it serves. This commitment has included employing over 530 drivers. Additionally, over 650 new and existing colleagues have undertaken apprenticeships since 2015, providing them with the opportunity to gain new knowledge, skills, and behaviours to support their professional development.
Our aspiration is for MTR Elizabeth line to continuously deliver a world-class passenger experience and to achieve internationally recognised high standards of safety, reliability, quality, and customer service.
At MTR Elizabeth line, we know that the people are our biggest asset and creating a positive, inclusive culture free of any bias or discrimination is integral to ensuring we provide a good place to work. MTR Elizabeth line is an organisation that values its workforce, offering career progression and providing the platform for people to grow and develop.
As an equal opportunities employer, we promote fairness and equality in the workplace. Diversity is fundamental to our employees and to the way in which we deliver our services. We aim to promote diversity, providing services equitably that meet the needs of all groups within the community. We are committed to equality or opportunity in all areas of employment, which includes recruitment, development and promotion.
As an example, our most recent train driver figures show that 12.6% of MTR Elizabeth drivers are female with the industry standard currently at just under 7%. We have also rolled out a training course on the importance of Equality and Diversity in the workplace, which is received positively by all colleagues.
MTR Elizabeth line is proud to support the promotion of gender diversity and raising awareness of Women in Rail through entering the Big Rail Diversity Challenge. It is a great way to promote these initiatives and network with different companies to share best practice.
