East London Line opens today

After a few false starts with a soft launch, a section of the new East London Line will be opening to the public today. Boris Johnson will cut the ribbons, or whatever, in an opening ceremony at Dalston Junction station and travel on a special service this morning. Then commuters can travel between Dalston Junction and New Cross from 12.05.


Busy Platform by Martin Deutsch
The line cost £1 billion but opened ahead of schedule. I'm sure lots of people will be heading over to the East End today to be the first travel on the shiny new trains and visit the brand new stations: Shoreditch High Street, Hoxton, Haggerston & Dalston Junction.


Shoreditch High Street Station by Bryon Manley
For now trains will be running between New Cross Gate and Dalston Junction, Mondays - Fridays only. There will be no early morning or late night services, with a 7am - 8pm pattern. The full service is due to open on May 23rd. Once it's fully up & running, Transport for London estimate that around 100,000 people to use the service daily.


Starting to get crowded by IanVisits
Look out for blog posts from IanVisits (pictures here), London Reconnections, Londonist and Lewminesce who I'm sure will be some of the first travelling on the trains today. I might even try to make a short journey myself, it'll be change from travelling on the London Underground.

UPDATE - Londonist have pictures of the opening at Dalston with a group of Labour protesters, Bollywood dancers & Boris in the first train:

"The only people scoring political points were a cabal of Ken Livingstone acolytes grouped outside on Dalston Lane, clutching banners that hailed the East London line as a project completed through Labour investment. It's a fair point, and Boris' performance for the cameras conceals the fact that London Overground is a project that Ken pushed through."

UPDATE: Martin Deutsch was on the first public East London Line train and took some pictures of the crowded line, along with the first dog & first bicycle to travel on it!


The East London Line's first dog meets the East London Line's first bicycle by Martin Deutsch