A NEW Tube map has been released to mark one year until the Elizabeth line is launched.

The inclusion of the purple line is one of the most significant updates to the London map in decades.

In December 2018 the line will operate in three sections from Heathrow Airport in the west to Abbey Wood and Shenfield in the east.

This will involve 15 trains per hour running through new tunnels built under the capital in the £14.8 billion Crossrail project, funded by the Department for Transport and Transport for London (TfL).

Direct services will run from Reading and Heath- row Airport to Abbey Wood and Shenfield when the line fully opens in December 2019. The line will serve 200 million passengers each year and boost rail capacity in the centre of the city by 10 per cent, according to TfL.

London mayor Sadiq Khan, said: “It’s truly exciting that in only a year London will see the opening of one of the biggest new transport projects in a generation.”