Is this the beginning of London's RER?

"Crossrail" is no less ambiguous than Thameslink, Central, Metropolitan, Overground, First Capital Connect, C2C (capital to coast), or Silverlink.

I think of Thameslink as "Crossrail 0"

By the way, Crossrail will cross the Thames at more places than Thameslink does.

I do hope it does become an extensive network like the RER. We could really do with all that extra capacity to relieve the overcrowding.

Naming of the lines is a minor thing in relation to getting them built. Many cities just attribute a number or letter to their lines which makes it easier for first time users or people unfamiliar with the language. However, its not the way we tend to do things here.

I think there is a chance Crossrail will become the name of the network (ie like RER, Underground) as its already a highly recognisable brand. Future lines may start off as numbers but I expect that they will end up being called something functional or after a historical figure or event.

With tfl selling naming rights for the Cable Car to Emirates, might this open the possibility that the Crossrail line may be named after a sponsor?

Crossrail is worth much more than the Emirates Sky Line. Emirates paid 36 million pounds for the sponsorship. I doubt that any company would pay hundreds of millions of pounds to sponsorship Crossrail. The other issue is that when the sponsorship ends the line's name will have to change and that may confuse tourists.

I think that Crossrail should take over some suburban branches to help relieve or add extra services where needed.

Capacity constraints, in places, i.e. already running 30tph into the terminus.

Judging by the lines on the proposed HS2 diagram, the LOROL service will no longer run into Euston, that's for sure. It was a useful backup to the London Midland - it won't affect me so much as I can still use the Bakerloo as E&C is near my workplace, but it will affect some of the SAs I know at Euston who use the WCML to get into work.