In May 2025, operation of the Elizabeth line will be taken over by GTS Rail Operations Limited, a joint venture between Go Ahead Group, Tokyo Metro and Sumitomo Corporation.
The operator has promised to 'bring the best parts of Tokyo and London to the Elizabeth line' — but what exactly are the best parts of Tokyo as far as transport is concerned? Londonist took a trip to find out.
1. Reliability
Though some of our list verges on the facetious, there's no doubt that the Elizabeth line will genuinely be looking to Tokyo to improve its reliability record. Around 87% of Elizabeth line services arrive within five minutes of their scheduled time — not bad going, but plenty of room for improvement, and Tokyo is the place to learn how: in 2022 almost 99% of Tokyo Metro's services arrived within five minutes of scheduled time. All that said, on our trip to Tokyo we weren't aware of any late running trains... until the very last one we caught which was backed up by about 25 minutes. Eek.
2. Queueing for trains
The Brits like to boast they're the world's best queuers, but this simply isn't true. They might be on their best behaviour at Wimbledon but public transport is messy a free-for-all, where playing dirty wins the day/seat. Queuing in a calm and orderly manner on the Tokyo Metro, however, is the only way it's done. Zero jostling or sneaking in at the sides. Just lining up along the platform — first come, first served. Get on with reading your book. Could the Elizabeth line's new operators inspire passengers to act similarly? Almost certainly not.
3. Vending machines
There's a vending machine for every 23 people in Japan, and many can be found on the concourses at Metro stations. How much more would you love the Elizabeth line if it was doling out (very affordable) cans of chilled coke, coffee... and hot crab bisque? Booze vending machines are now few and far between in Japan, although we reckon TfL could make an exception by running special G&T in a tin vending machines at the weekend. What could go wrong.
4. Station theme tunes
Did you know that the Tokyo Metro has its own composer? Former synth pop keyboardist Minoru Mukaiya has penned seven-second ditties for over 110 train stations (see the video above). Played as trains arrive into the station, the bite-sized compositions provide a subtle and comforting reminder to passengers where they are. The jingles are pretty cool too, some taking inspiration from existing songs (Ebisu station uses the theme to The Third Man, because the music was used in Japan on an advert for Ebisu beer). We've already made a start on the Elizabeth line's platform jingles — the retro Paddington Bear theme for Paddington station, and how about a take on You'll Never Walk Alone for Liverpool Street? Hope you're reading this TfL — this could genuinely work.
*Could also swear that Hiroshima station has a jingle very similar to the start of Do They Know It's Christmas? but maybe that's just us.
5. Platform screen doors
By March 2026, the plan is for the Tokyo Metro to have platform screen doors (PSDs) up at every one of its stations. Though they might not be the best looking things in the world, they do save lives. The Elizabeth line's made a good start with PSDs, every one of its underground stations fitted with them. But with the Tokyo Metro peeps running the show, maybe those PSDs could be rolled out at surface level too.
6. The ultimate Circle line
Now that Crossrail 2's firmly on ice, how about instead redrawing the plans to create a purple version of Tokyo's Yamanote line. This huge looping line — a kind of inner Superloop in train form — takes in all of the city's major stations; an Elizabeth line version of the Yamanote could visit London's 14 terminus stations, whisking you from one to the next in super fast time. Train nerds would see how many times they could go around in a day. TfL: take (Yama)note.
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