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Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse
But of course the NYC subway has both local and express service so it has a lot of that already built into it. Paris metro has short distances between stops and no express so needed the RER more (so not surprising it got it first) and London underground has longer stop spacing so they needed it less, so no surprise it is only now it's getting Crossrail.
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Crossrail is about providing substantial capacity relief by diverting commuter trains (under and across London) which currently terminate at Liverpool Street and Paddington. Crossrail would provide an unofficial ‘fast’ service for the Central Line on a 21 station stretch between Ealing Broadway and Stratford, but this is behind the more pertinent benefits (beyond the above mentioned capacity growth) of freeing up terminating platforms for other services, underground interchange relief at these and other stations, increased cross-city connectivity, and unlocking the redevelopment potential of various parts of the capital.
Interestingly the original purpose of the Metropolitan Railway (the first underground line in the world) was not for ‘metro’ services, but longer-distance Crossrail-like trains to run through and across Central London. London has technically also had a Crossrail-like route since the Snow Hill Tunnel opened in 1866, but it won’t be until the Thameslink Programme (allowing for 24 commuter trains per hour in each direction) is complete in 2018 that it is broadly comparable to what Crossrail will deliver.
A New York equivalent of Crossrail would be commuter trains running from Princeton Junction to Oyster Bay.