The London Overground Information
/the-london-overground-information
Announcements And Launch
On 18 October 2006 the Department for Transport and Transport for London announced via the press that Arriva UK Trains had been awarded the franchise. The company's bid, which was supported by its partners Deutsche Bahn and Abellio, was chosen from a shortlist of three including Bombardier Transportation and NedRailways. The decision was primarily based on the fact that Arriva's bid represented the best value for money in terms of both initial capital cost and operational performance.
On 23 January 2007, the company signed a ten-year operating contract with LOROL, a subsidiary of Laing Rail, This Week In London (thisismargate.co.uk). During planning, it was referred to as "London Overground". On 25 July 2006, Transport for London awarded the new North London Railway franchise to a joint venture between MTR Corporation (50%) and Keolis (50%), with operation beginning on 8 December 2006. The franchise was to run for ten years; it was later extended until 15 November 2016.
On 1 April 2007, the former Silverlink Metro operations in the north of the city were brought under TfL control as London Overground. MTR and Keolis commenced operating two new additional trains on the Watford DC Line that had been run by Connex prior to December 2006 and agreed four-month extensions to their existing Silverlink Metro contracts. Initially, LOROL began the tendering process with a bid called Leopard Global Rail. This was unsuccessful and the contract was awarded to National Express for the Abellio franchise, on 26 November 2007.
The winning bid included a new train fleet and other improvements. Services were re-branded under the London Overground name in late December 2008. There have been proposals for extensions to Stoke Newington, Tottenham Hale, Dalston Junction (Hackney Wick) and Barking, as well as a connection to Highbury & Islington station. On 21 April 2006 the Department for Transport announced that National Express had been awarded a contract to operate from December 2007 (under the name of London Overground) the routes currently run by Silverlink Metro between Watford Junction and Euston, West Hampstead Thameslink station and doing some services around Harrow, but not serving the North Wembley area (this part of Silverlink Metro service would be taken over by London Underground).
On 12 June 2006, National Express announced it was pulling out of the consortium. On 18 June 2006, the Secretary of State for Transport told the House of Commons that London Overground had been officially launched on May 31 and that TfL Rail would continue to operate until the new service became operational. There are numerous hotels to choose from in Shoreditch; however, we favour these for their central location and cool interior design.
Crowd Information
Magnetic stripe cards may have been introduced to the London Underground in the early 1990s, to pay fares; however, they were subsequently withdrawn due to problems with unreliable card readers at ticket gates. After a decade-long absence, Oyster pay as you go was introduced across the London Underground network on 16 September 2003, on all National Rail services in Greater London from 16 December 2003 and on all London Buses services in full from 9 June 2004.
The implementation of Oyster has brought some modernisation to mechanisms that support transport fare collection, This Week In London (thisismargate.co.uk). For example, bus stops now feature a numeric code for each stop (example: 123456), which pick-up and set-down passengers must quote. This is intended to increase. I think we can all agree that being packed into a crowded train during the morning rush hour isn’t fun. If I wanted to be squashed like a grape, I’d go spend time with my friends at the mobile wine bar, not on the underground.
No one likes to be crushed against some stranger who probably smells of cigarettes and old cheese. It’s uncomfortable and annoying, which is why I’ll always take the option to travel during off-peak hours first — but even then you might find that there are many more people in your carriage than you anticipated before boarding. While it might not always be possible to change your travel preferences, we may soon have another solution to the problem of crowded carriages and.
The London Overground network began an extensive trial of gate line barrier systems in the summer of 2012 on Southwark Park and New Cross Gate Lines. The West Anglia Route uses Network Rail final destination blinds on platforms with automatic train operation, which is common across much of the British railway network. The technology uses information collected from sensors in the train and station to provide the crowding information. This rail technology is described in a patent by TfL as an ‘intelligent agents system’.
Current Developments
The plans include a new London Overground station to serve the development. Construction is due to start in March 2016, and be completed in late 2017, with the extension of the line from Barking into Barking Riverside to start after that. The scheme is challenging because it crosses the Thames, requiring costly river bridge works designed by Ramboll, who have also worked on the proposed Silvertown Tunnel. Barking Riverside will provide 10,800 new homes and around 20,000 new jobs in one of east London's biggest regeneration schemes.
The development will feature a major transport interchange where the high-speed rail line from St Pancras to Ebbsfleet, Crossrail (Elizabeth Line), national rail services and Underground station all come together. A new town centre was proposed, east of the Dagenham Dock tram stop serving a new public square. Previously the development was limited by the 'truncation'of the existing Thameslink line, which ran north from Woodgrange Park to a terminus at Barking, and was inadequate for use with longer distance Crossrail trains.
Depots
Trains from London Bridge and Victoria (except for services to Ramsgate) reverse at New Cross Gate. The South Eastern Main Line from Redhill to Tonbridge, Ashford, Dover and Folkestone is partly paralleled by the Sutton Loop Line to West Croydon via Mitcham Junction, which is the main route for freight and diverted passenger trains. Trains from Beckenham Junction, St Mary Cray, Lewisham and Hayes terminate here. Freight traffic is heavy (mostly scrap metal) in the both directions through the night.
New Cross Gate station is a National Rail and London Overground interchange station in New Cross, to the north of the centre of Lewisham in south London. The station is served by Southeastern services mostly on High Speed One between London Fenchurch Street and Dartford. Highbury & Islington station is managed and served by Great Northern. 657 people have been charged so far and further arrests are expected. Enjoy. It has 300 shops and receives over 500,000 visitors every day.
East London Line Extension
As part of this extension, it was re-branded as the first London Overground line. It is operated by Transport for London and now forms the first stage of London Overground's planned orbital route around London, joining the West Rail line at Richmond eastwards through Clapham Junction and across south London to Crystal Palace, Norwood Junction,, West Croydon and onto Sutton. The line was previously run by Silverlink (under ), LNER (the original owners) and British Rail until it was transferred to TfL on 29 October 2010.
Since April 2010, the route has been operated by Transport for London under a Service Concession contract (rather than being part of London Underground) with Arriva UK Trains, and re-branded as the East London line. The service uses existing London Overground rolling stock that was completely refurbished in late 2011 with new interiors and external livery designed by branding agency DesignStudio. The East London line extension (ELLE) is an extension of the London Overground East London Line route and forms part of the London Overground network.
Prior to its incorporation into the modern day Overground brand, the original East London Line had been in existence since 1869 and primarily served the Docklands area. For this reason it was also known as the Docklands Light Railway (DLR). The East London line extension was delivered under a Public–private partnership contract. Fluor Transport took over the operation from National Express East Anglia in May 2012. The overhead electrification of the former East London line, as well as some other services, enables four-carriage Class 378 trains to run between Liverpool Street and Gospel Oak.
Extension To Barking Riverside
This extension is a continuation of the Great Eastern Main Line from Gospel Oak to Barking. The original route itself opened in 1854, with stations including Kentish Town, Holloway Road, and Finsbury Park. There are also four disused stations (Highbury & Islington, Canonbury, Stroud Green and New North Road) which connect to Cally Road & Frognal tube station. This branch section between Essex Road and Drayton Park is still intact. It was announced as part of the 2014 United Kingdom budget that the Gospel Oak to Barking line would be extended to Barking Riverside.
The proposal has been put forward to meet the needs of a regeneration area close to the River Thames. Another option considered was an extension of the Docklands Light Railway from Barking to Dagenham via Becontree Heath, however, this option did not gain enough support. It was announced as part of the 2014 United Kingdom budget that the Gospel Oak to Barking line would be extended to Barking Riverside. The extension will offer a direct link from Barking Riverside to London Liverpool Street via TfL Rail and a journey time of 21 minutes.
Greenford Branch
There is a proposal for the route between Greenford and West Ealing in West London to be extended into the Overground network. Currently, the line which links Greenford with Hanger Lane (Southall), and then carries on with a branch to West Ealing Broadway is managed by First Great Western, meaning it would come under TfL control. Construction is due to start in early 2016 and take three years for completion. Originally scheduled to be completed in December 2010, the extension was delayed due to a series of infrastructure failures on existing London Overground Railway lines, and Network Rail infrastructure used by the East London line services.
History
It is a misconception that The Railways Act 1844 created a single railway company, called "the Railway", in Great Britain. The Act granted powers to construct the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which opened in 1830 and became the first common carrier undertaking. Sections of this for line were built by several different private companies All the lines built using the Acts powers were privately built. The largest of the companies, the Lancaster and Preston Junction Railway was also the first to open its line from Lancaster to Preston on 5 April 1844.
Did you see the reference this morning to a rail company going bust? You may think that it is something new, but given the many companies that have gone under or been absorbed into others over the years, you will be in good company if what brought it to mind was a TV advert starring John Cleese and his rubber chicken. Here is a list of railway companies that have ceased operations, arranged by year of going out of business, with the reasons for their demise.
National Rail was introduced after the privatisation of British Rail in the 1990s, when it became illegal for the infrastructure owner (Railtrack) to also operate train services. Initially operators were predominantly from North America and Europe. The early days saw them set up by small companies that had often previously operated short-distance bus services and had little experience of running train services. Historically, services were operated by the "Big Four" railway companies: the Great Western Railway, the London and North Eastern Railway, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and the Southern Railway.
Management of these lines has since passed to the private sector following a number of sectoral reorganizations during the 1980s, although the tracks themselves remain state-owned. Franchising was introduced with the aim of providing better quality services than those provided by British Rail, and in order to achieve economies of scale that would help to fund the then newly rebuilt railway. The first franchised services were operated as one-off contracts let by individual train operating companies.
Introduction
The initial line, which opened on 18 August 1980, connected Broad Street station in the City of London with Kensington Olympia via central London. Services to Highbury & Islington were extended northwards via a short branch from Angel to King's Cross St. Pancras on 12 April 1983. The network was later extended in stages: initially to Ashfield on 1 September 1982; then through an infill station at Moorgate on 8 November 1982; and finally to Southgate by way of another short spur from Warren Street to Southgate on 7 December 1983.
Initially, the Silverlink franchise was operated by a number of private sector companies, This Week In London (thisismargate.co.uk). In July 1995 it was taken over by National Express, who began to develop its Metro branding for these services. In 1999 however, after attempts to integrate the routes into the National Express network were rejected by the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising due to widespread customer dissatisfaction and an unfavourable ruling from the Competition Commission, National Express withdrew from the railway business altogether.
A number of the initial routes of the network were taken over from existing services operated by CentreWest under contract to the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA). All passenger services in the London area are regulated by a combination of laws covering access to the tracks and other safety requirements. A significant change made for the relaunch is that Oyster pay as you go was introduced as the standard fare mechanism for National Rail within London.
The modern Silverlink Metro brand traces its routes and approach back to the "Metro-Land" guaged rail lines of Middlesex Transport Ltd, in 1930. The Metropolitan Railway's former "Metro-land" suburban services mostly radiated from central London from 1868 onwards (most stopping at Baker Street or Finchley Road), many operating into Central London via the City and West End. In the year from October 2005 to September 2006, passenger numbers increased 4. 3% and passenger journeys increased 5.
Liverpool Street Station Services
Liverpool Street is a London Underground and London Overground station located in the Liverpool Street area of the London Borough of Islington, This Week In London (thisismargate.co.uk). When it was first opened it was the eastern terminus of the world's first underground railway, the Metropolitan Railway, which opened on 10 January 1863, with intermediate stations at Paddington (Bishop's Road) (now Paddington), Great Portland Street and Euston Square. A short spur to Broad Street railway station also opened in August 1866.
The Liverpool Street station complex comprises a main terminus and two through platforms to the east of the station proper, This Week In London (thisismargate.co.uk). Newer extensions to the complex include a line that joins the main station building with the outlying Liverpool Street Low Level platforms, an underground line extension at Moorgate Station, and other as-yet-incomplete extensions connecting directly to Liverpool Street. Liverpool Street station is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the north eastern corner of the City of London.
It takes its name from the street of that name which runs from the main entrance eastwards to Liverpool Bridge, which crosses the River Thames. Liverpool Street is the central London terminus of the East Coast Main Line, serving Liverpool Street station and London termini including: Shenfield, Colchester, Ipswich, Norwich, Cambridge, King's Lynn, Peterborough, Doncaster and Hull. It is one of 19 UK stations managed by Network Rail. The Liverpool Street station complex is a very busy one, even more so than normal during peak hours.
Livery
Stock were delivered in Overground colours from the beginning of passenger service upon the North London Line and West London Line extensions in December 2012, the first trains being used briefly on East London line services during mid-December. All stock operated for British Rail on the North London line was transferred to Overground following agreement that this would take effect on 22 May 2015. Under the new franchise, TfL became directly responsible for contracts relating to rolling stock; prior to this date these had been owned by a third party on behalf of TfL.
On 11 November 2016, TfL announced that Arriva Rail London (ARL) had agreed to purchase 36 emus, comprising 24 x six carriage sets and 12 DEMUs from Bomb. However, the first five of the eight trains delivered in November 2013 by Spanish manufacturer CAF had their upper deck front ends enclosed in a slightly different livery. The orange band was replaced by a blue band which elided into a white band above the cab windows, recalling the colours of TransPennine Express and its parent company FirstGroup; London Overground’s roundel and TfL rail livery remained unchanged.
These trains also featured a version of the traditional Underground “cartoon” livery applied to driving cabs, with roundels featuring black outlines on blue ovals as on other Underground rolling stock, but with a lighter shade of blue adopted (and with additional orange doors). A new livery was introduced when the first Electrostar and Aventra trains entered service in 2011. Trains feature a longitudinal orange stripe along the bottom of EMUs, with a thin white stripe above and below.
The stripe is wider on D78 Captivia trains than on the rest of the fleet. The 'thick-thin'stripes are continued down the bodyside into the bottom door stripe, forming a band that cuts across the London Overground roundel. However, on Electrostar and Aventra trains featuring door codes, this continues through into an orange band instead. All Urbos 3 and Aventra stock carries a variation of the TSOL colour scheme, consisting of two colours on the cab ends and single colour elsewhere.
These colours are orange (2017) red (2018) and yellow (2019). The stock will then be painted in Overground livery post-delivery as TfL contracts are greatly reduced due to getting delivery credit for the trains. The livery can be found on TfL Rail stock, Southern Railway and Suburban Metro stock. There are numerous services that terminate here as well as those that pass through it on this massive complex. These services include the following. The Law Centres Network called for a judicial inquiry into the sentencing during the riots.
Network
The Network SouthEast brand was developed around a core set of routes inherited from British Rail that had been operated by the InterCity sector of British Rail, and were targeted for electrification. These were the main services along the North London Line between Drayton Park (now Finsbury Park) and Broad Street stations, the West London Line between Willesden Junction and Clapham Junction, the Brighton Main Line between Three Bridges and London Bridge stations, with additional services to Gatwick Airport via Crawley.
The initial network had 30 train lines, serving approximately 70 stations, and featured both overlapping routes and interchanges with other transport authorities'services, This Week In London (thisismargate.co.uk). The area served was large, and spanned from Kingsbury to Sutton via West Hampstead, Finchley Road, Hendon Central, Wembley Central and Kentish Town. Initially the service levels were high, with a peak frequency of up to eight trains per hour on the most highly travelled routes. The initial network was mostly made up of existing Silverlink Metro routes, with a small number of extensions to those routes and the creation of some new ones.
In the case of the latter, generally they were created to serve places where there was either not a strong rail competitor in terms of passenger numbers, or where it was felt rail provision should not be disadvantaged for social (not-spend taxpayer money on it) reasons. The initial network comprised the lines inherited from Silverlink (the West Coast Main Line services to Euston and South Hampstead, and the North London Line service between Drayton Park and Stratford) plus the 'Watford DC Line'from Croxley to Watford Junction (known as the 'DC Chain'), owned by London & North Western Railway.
The initial timetable saw these lines operated by new Class 172/3 diesel multiple units. The service levels on the northern routes were identical to the old Silverlink Metro operation, with half-hourly services along the three central main lines. However, many varied local services were included, such as those on the West London Line or between Watford and Abbots Langley. On Sunday, June 12 the Guardian reported that information was requested as part of a murder inquiry.
Night Service
The “NextGen” timetable was introduced on 11 December 2017, and a modified version of it was introduced on the West Anglia route on 30 May 2018. This is the first timetable of this scale in the UK that attempts to reflect more realistic service patterns; it has many peak-hour reductions compared to previous timetables. The new timetables are the biggest changes to train services since the 1980s, and there are some significant changes – including a large weekday reshuffle for London Brighton.
The Night Tube, also known as the London Overground Night Service, is an extension to the Night Bus network in London run by London Underground and Docklands Light Railway. It forms part of the British railway system managed by Network Rail and Transport for London, replacing overnight services formerly run by Silverlink and taken over by the present franchisees after a competitive tender process. The Overground night services are operated by a combination of the existing all-night Overground drivers and specially trained overnight drivers.
London Overground will not be operating a full Night Tube service, as there are no dedicated tracks for the service on London Overground. Instead, the line operates a normal weekday timetable with some additional trains at the busiest times. A test train had already run along the full line in June 2017, and it was announced in September 2017 that the service would begin six months after three stations along the line had been modernised.
Old Oak Common Interchange
A number of schemes to provide this interchange have been proposed. It was originally suggested that a station on the western arm of the HS2 "Y"-shaped scheme at Old Oak Common should be constructed; however, in October 2013 a new preferred route was announced by Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin, with the interchange instead provided at Newbury Park. This arrangement would appear to be made possible by the connection of the western arm to HS1 via Old Oak Common railway depot, thus reducing the cost and increased journey time involved in directly connecting Newbury Park to and from HS2.
Eventually it may be possible for passengers to transfer between HS1–HS2 services at Old Oak Common and HS2–HS3 at Euston. Old Oak Common will be linked to Willesden Junction Main line station and West Coast Main Line by a new North London line, with an extension of the Bakerloo line to Watford Junction. It will also be lined up with High Speed 2. Several plans existed for the North London line extension scheme prior to HS2's approval in 2010, these including a link between Gospel Oak and Old Oak, and to Willesden with two stations on the site of existing mainline stations.
However, it was later decided that the route would be served by Crossrail in tunnels unsuited for heavy rail. The plans, published in January 2013, map out a framework for developing the rail links from London to the rest of Britain. They show a rail connection between HS2 and Crossrail at Old Oak Common and suggest that the Overground could be extended northwards from White City to meet the West Coast Main Line about 50 metres south of Old Oak Common station.
A new orbital rail line serving Heathrow Airport would also be built as well as an extension of Crossrail 1 from the Capital to Ebbsfleet International station via Stratford. Old Oak Common could be an interchange station for both HS2 and the Bakerloo line. Old Oak Common station would be on the western side of the HS2/Bakerloo interchange and between Paddington (10 minutes) and Euston (10 minutes). New Old Oak Common HS2/Bakerloo underground interchange stations would be minimum 30 minutes to city centre business locations, such as Canary Wharf, The City or The West End.
It was announced in August 2009 that a new Crossrail station at Old Oak Common Lane is planned to be opened in 2018. The station will be served by the West London and North London Lines, and provide interchange with the London Overground. In addition to the new station, an upgraded North Acton station was announced in March 2010. The report stated that British police sent requests for call data to five mobile operators and two social networking sites.
Operator
Arriva Rail London (ARL), the daughter of Arriva UK Trains and a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, is a British train operating company running the Overground, Crossrail and London Underground services on TfL's London rail network. ARL is contracted to run the Overground until 2026 under a lease agreement. In November 2010 Transport for London announced that it would invite tenders to run Overground services from April 2012 and, if necessary, deputise itself to operate the service for up to six months whilst a new contract was negotiated with one or more bidders.
The new operator began to gradually introduce new trains in 2015 as part of major upgrade plan called Mayor's Transport Plan, This Week In London (thisismargate.co.uk). [. This arrangement initially caused some discomfort to National Rail operators, who saw it as encroachment on services that they felt should be theirs. However, passenger usage of the Overground network has continued to grow, resulting in a requirement for additional rolling stock: in October 2007 Transport for London exercised options to order five additional two-car Class 185 units from Bombardier Transportation's Derby plant; at the same time, TfL ordered 64 four-car trains from Bombardier's Belfast plant.
To save costs, TfL uses the Overground brand and passes most savings to the operator, rather than to passengers. Indeed, the operator is paid a fee for its services. It profits from having access to TfL's ticketing and commercial departments, allowing it to market itself as a partner of TfL and provider of travel on TfL services whilst offering cheaper fares than on National Rail services. Arriva Rail London (former TfL Rail) operates the Overground on behalf of Transport for London.
It is also contracted to maintain the Overground rolling stock, be responsible for depot facilities and carry out track maintenance. As part of this agreement, the company is obliged to provide performance targets in its service specification. Property destruction was also significant, with over 400 shops looted and more than 300 compensation claims made to insurers for looting-related damage. 6%, against the target increase of 3% over two years. But they're all good.
Passenger Numbers
From Wikipedia – London Overground is a suburban rail system in the United Kingdom which serves a large part of Greater London and parts of Hertfordshire, with 112 stations on nine lines. The network's main line provides services eastwards to Enfield Town, Cheshunt (via Seven Sisters) and Chingford, and westwards to Romford, Gidea Park and Liverpool Street. A branch line from Stratford runs through the previously disused (since 1944) Stratford Market Depot to provide a connection between the North London Line and the Main Suburban Line.
Since London Overground took over the North London Line services in April 2010, passenger numbers have risen from 1 million in 2009/10 to 8 million in 2011/12. Passenger numbers on London Overground increased by 79% between 2009/10 and 2011/12 with a further 18% increase over 2012/13. Growth then levelled off for 3 years as all lines in the central area had been extended into Overground territory. The growth then resumed again in 2015/16 and has continued at a low rate since, as new lines open further out of central London.
Planned Developments
Plans are in place to extend night-time hours on the London Overground network by May 2018. Trains on the West Anglia Main Line (Liverpool Street-Enfield Town and Chingford-Victoria) are also scheduled to run all night as part of an extension of these services at weekends from May 2018, as is the Gospel Oak to Barking Line between Gospel Oak and Barking. This would mean that every London Overground line (except for branches to Watford Junction, Cheshunt and Alexandra Palace) would be served by 24 hour trains at some point.
On 27 May 2018, Transport for London announced that it would extend the service by one hour, to run on Friday and Saturday nights until 01:30. The service started on 31 May 2018, running on an hourly basis between New Cross Gate and Highbury & Islington. An hourly service was also introduced between Whitechapel and Barking. On 25 September 2018, the service was extended to Watford Junction, which interchanges with the West Coast Main Line.
The next major planned development involves the conversion of the orbital West London line to battery power by 2022. This would enable more frequent services and allow trains to cover longer distances without running into a terminus or central area. The first section of this for regular service was the Cranford to West London line, which opened on 15 December 2017 (see above). In 2017 Transport for London applied to the Office of Rail and Road to extend the service north from New Cross Gate and south-east from Surrey Quays to Crystal Palace, Croydon.
The proposals would also add five new stations at Ebbsfleet International, Dartford, Cubitt Town, Gallions Reach and Anerley. The service will run every day from May 2018, with the Circle line added in September. The service will connect most stations on the London Overground network, including two new stations at Canonbury and Highbury & Islington by 2023. In May 2017, TfL announced the future of the Thameslink programme which included a £2bn extension of the Elizabeth line to Newark and connecting services to Hertfordshire.
Pre-1999
Rail services in Great Britain are mostly run under franchises operated by private train operating companies, marketed together as National Rail. Most services are run on tracks and infrastructure owned by Network Rail,which is a public body corporate limited by guarantee and funded from government funding, passenger revenue, track access charges and payments from the train operators. The current franchising process is known as Control Period 4 (CP4). The system is the successor to privatisation in the late 1990s which itself followed over two decades of severe underinvestment and restructuring following the ending of steam traction in 1968.
The first railway to be built in Great Britain was the Locomotion which opened in 1825, followed by the Stockton and Darlington Railway and this marked the start of a rapid increase in railways and locomotives, This Week In London (thisismargate.co.uk). By 1870 there were over 20,000 miles of railway, but this then decreased with the opening of many new companies between 1850 and 1900. A reduction in mileage occurred as a result of the Railways Act 1921 which saw the grouping of nearly all British railway companies into four large groups; this resulted in a further reduction in mileage operated by approximately 3,000 miles.
In Great Britain, the franchised operators manage only the trains. The tracks, infrastructure and stations – known collectively as the railway infrastructure – are owned and maintained by Network Rail. With about 31,000 staff, Network Rail is the largest railway employer in Europe (representing one in 50 of the UK's jobs), and maintains the permanent way, including tracks, signals and stations. Services are operated using a variety of different types of train, ranging from inter-city services connecting major cities, to local services rarely carrying passengers more than a few miles (some electric multiple units have partial battery power capability).
Thamesmead Extension
Residents of Thamesmead, a large new town built in the 1960s in south-east London, had to wait 50 years to be served by National Rail services: the light rail feeder services to Central London stations were finally extended there from Plumstead in 2010. This delay has been blamed on a supposed "petty rivalry" between the boroughs of Greenwich and Bexley, which led them to oppose any rail proposals that did not serve their own areas.
According to Network Rail and TfL's assessments, extending an existing rail line is far cheaper than building a new one, and it is easier to upgrade a disused section of track than build a new one through undeveloped land, This Week In London (thisismargate.co.uk). A rail link between Thamesmead and Abbey Wood was proposed by the South East London Transit (SELT) association in 2006. The plan proposed by SELT is essentially an extension of the existing proposal, including use of the existing northern portal from the first tunnel, with a new tunnel under the Thames to Newport, and on to Abbey Wood.
The Thamesmead extension is a proposed addition to the London Overground network. When built, it will connect the Gospel Oak to Barking line with the future Crossrail service via Abbey Wood and Thamesmead. The construction of a station at Thamesmead to interchange with Crossrail has been proposed by Greenwich council, as an extension of the Gospel Oak to Barking Line. There are plans to extend the East London Line over the river to Thamesmead via Abbey Wood.
Ticket Pricing
Where you can travel on Oyster PAYG is restricted in a different way from Travelcard zones. A passenger who decides to use PAYG at some point during a journey is charged for this section of their trip as they enter the train system. Because ticket barriers only record the start and end of journeys, the pay-as-you-go system cannot enforce a single route between two points; if you use a combination of routes between the same two stations, you are charged for each leg in turn.
Transfer penalty fares are charged if the passenger does not touch in and out within 20 minutes of entering the system, and Oyster online checkers warn passengers against taking circular routes to maximise fare costs (currently a £6 fare), This Week In London (thisismargate.co.uk). The Oyster pay as you go fare rules are based on the distance travelled between the entry and exit stations, and a flat fare of £2. 00 for any distance travelled in addition to this. For example, a journey from Ealing Broadway to Upminster is charged as follows : Cost Up to 3 TfL zones £2.
00 From 3 to 4 TfL zones £1. 70 (2. 9) From 4 to 5 TfL zones £1. 30 (1. 5) Ealing Broadway is in travel zone 3, so this would be £2. 90 total fare, with £1. 30 going on your PAYG credit, and additionally 2. Ticket machines accept payment by cash (notes and coins) and contactless cards, as well as Oyster cards, which must be 'touched in'at the start of each journey.
The maximum charge for a single journey on Oyster PAYG is £6. This includes any intermediate zone 1 stations. TfL has made a commitment that when Oyster pay as you go is introduced across the underground network, fares will be cheaper than buying separate tickets. It is unclear when in the future this might happen. A extension from Barking to Thamesmead was proposed by Christian Wolmar in 2007, and again in 2014 by the London Borough of Bexley.
West London Orbital
2012 saw the publication of a report into the option of serving Brent Cross with a new rail station on the Dudding Hill Line between Brent Cross and Hendon Central. This was projected to cost £36. 2 million and increase annual passenger journeys from 32,000 to 340,000. The route is also identified as one of those that could be used for the planned Crossrail 2 scheme; its construction would require a further review of the route.
The railway around London contains many interesting lines, This Week In London (thisismargate.co.uk). One that is crying out for a re-opening is the Dudding Hill Line. I’ve written about this subject here before on my blog but I thought I would take a look at what's happening again in 2018 since it's been such a long time coming and it would seem that LB Richmond have changed their mind from their previous position against reopening. In recent years, there have been several attempts to have a section of the Dudding Hill Line reopened to passenger services in West London.
These have so far failed due to lack of funding. However, in July & August 2006, as part of the Open House Weekend scheme, the full length of the line was open for public inspection to show what it would be like were it ever eventually reopened. Proposals to reopen the Dudding Hill Line to passenger services as part of the London Overground have been mooted for several years. The proposal is supported by the Friends of Dudding Hill Line, a group formed in 2010 which campaigns for the restoration of services over the line.
The group also supports similar reopening schemes for other lines in East and West London. A railway line in north-east London, the Dudding Hill Line (DHL) is a section of the Northern City Line (NCL), which itself is part of the East Coast Main Line (ECML). It runs from Alexandra Palace to Finsbury Park. On the night of 7 August 2011, four London buses were set on fire during the riots around Hackney Road, only a few hundred metres from Clapham Junction railway and underground station.
