Crossrail’s first visitor centre near Tottenham Court Road opens today.

The centre at 16-18 St Giles High Street, WC2H 8LN (opposite the junction with Denmark Street) will be a one-stop shop for information about the Crossrail project and London Underground’s redevelopment of Tottenham Court Road Tube station.

The visitor centre will enable local residents, businesses and anyone interested in the Crossrail project to get further information or have their queries answered by Crossrail staff. The Tottenham Court Road area has been chosen as the location for the first visitor centre as the works here are the furthest advanced and it is the most complex Crossrail worksite in central London. As construction progresses further centres will open along the route, helping to ensure that people are kept informed.

The largest addition to the public transport network in London for 50 years, Crossrail is a new railway that will run from Maidenhead and Heathrow in the west, under central London to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east. In the Tottenham Court Road area, a total £1bn investment is being made to build a new Crossrail station, upgrade the capacity of Tottenham Court Road Tube station, and create a new piazza outside Centrepoint.

The Visitor Centre will highlight the benefits these developments will bring for passengers as well as explain how it will be built and how people will be able to get future updates on the works.

The Centre will be open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from midday until 8pm. It will have site specific information for each of the main Crossrail stations in the central area and information about the Crossrail project. The visitor centre will include meeting facilities to be used for local community liaison panel meetings and other community engagement exercises.

Crossrail’s Corporate Affairs Director Clinton Leeks said:

“Now that Crossrail’s construction is underway, we are delighted to be able to open the first Crossrail Visitor Centre which will be a one-stop shop for information about the Crossrail project. The Visitor Centre will enable local residents, businesses and anyone interested in the Crossrail project to get further information or have their queries answered. Further centres will open in due course as construction gets underway at other sites along the Crossrail route to help us to ensure that people are kept informed.”