London Overground

[JGG]

The East and North London lines will be branded as the London Overground going forward, using the traditional Roundel. I think that is good news because it represents an integrated network.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/press-cent...t.asp?prID=886

Introducing 'London Overground' - a new era for London Rail
London's rail passengers will soon be able to board the 'London Overground', under plans announced by Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London. The new brand, complete with its own TfL 'Roundel', was unveiled at London's City Hall today.

From November 2007, 'London Overground' train services will operate on the North London Railway under the management of Transport for London (TfL), when it assumes responsibility for the line from the Department for Transport.

Operating under a new TfL London Rail Concession, 'London Overground' services will also run on the East London Railway when it opens in 2010, following TfL's £1bn extension of the existing East London Line.

The contract to run 'London Overground' services on both these lines will be awarded by TfL to a single train operator, under strict conditions to meet TfL's requirements for safety, security, staffing, ticketing and train frequency.

Launching his vision for the 'London Overground', the Mayor Ken Livingstone said:'For decades, national rail services in London have been neglected and in many cases under-utilised.


Revitalisation

'The transfer of responsibilities to Transport for London and the dawn of 'London Overground' will start the much needed revitalisation of London rail services, bringing the standards of service up to the levels of the Tube and the buses.'

The Mayor signalled his commitment to deliver a rail link at Dalston Junction to connect the North and East London Railways by 2010, ahead of the London 2012 Olympics.

This will allow 'London Overground' passengers to travel between Richmond and West Croydon via Dalston Junction and is the first step towards an orbital rail link for London.

The Mayor continued: 'By joining together the North and East London Railways ahead of the London 2012 Olympics, we will create a new rail artery around the city, serving 20 London boroughs.

'This will create new opportunities for Londoners and encourage inclusion across our diverse economic and cultural centres.

'It will also be a vital means of increasing capacity on public transport as London's population grows over the next twenty years.'


Improvements

From November 2007, 'London Overground' passengers will benefit from a programme of improvements to stations and services on the North London Railway, funded by TfL's £10bn Investment Programme.

These include:

More staff at stations to provide assistance and reassurance
Oyster ticketing at all stations and more ticket gates to improve security and reduce fare evasion
A phased programme of station upgrades, delivering more help points, CCTV, better lighting and customer information systems
A fleet of new trains from 2009 that are more comfortable, more accessible, have greater capacity and the latest security features
The provision for longer trains and more frequent services in the future, subject to infrastructure improvements which are outside the remit of TfL
Ian Brown, Managing Director, TfL London Rail added: 'TfL's policy is to put passengers first and we look forward to putting this into practice on London's rail network from November next year.

'Over the next few years we hope to develop the 'London Overground' to its full potential, using TfL's values to raise security and standards for rail passengers, as we have for other transport modes in London.

'TfL's vision for the 'London Overground' is a safe and secure railway with frequent, Metro-style train services. Passengers will benefit from a better quality of service with new, reliable trains, staffed stations and Oyster ticketing to ensure consistent fares.

'We want the 'London Overground' to be as comfortable and familiar to Londoners and visitors to the capital as the London Underground. We're entering a new era for London Rail and this is just the beginning.'

The 'London Overground' brand will join the TfL family as a new orange roundel, featuring on trains, stations and maps, including TfL's world-famous Tube map.

[JGG]

Orbitrail is also coming a step closer - even ahead of the olympics!:

The Mayor signalled his commitment to deliver a rail link at Dalston Junction to connect the North and East London Railways by 2010, ahead of the London 2012 Olympics.

This will allow 'London Overground' passengers to travel between Richmond and West Croydon via Dalston Junction and is the first step towards an orbital rail link for London.

[JGG]

And the new trains for both North and East London lines have just eben ordered... fortunately they are new trains and not leased older stock as was contemplated once:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/press-cent...t.asp?prID=882

TfL awards £223m new trains contract

Transport for London (TfL) today announced that a £223m contract to build and maintain more than 44 new trains has been awarded to Bombardier. The trains will be built in the UK at Bombardier's Derby plant.

Funded by TfL's £10 billion Investment Programme, the new trains will operate on the North London Railway, which TfL will manage from November next year, and the extended East London Line.

The trains are expected to enter service in 2009.

The rolling stock contract will deliver a fleet of new trains, modelled on Bombardier's Class 376 Electrostar, designed specifically to cater for the high volumes of passengers on busy commuter routes.

The order will be delivered as follows:

Twenty-four dual-voltage three-car trains for the North London Railway
Twenty, four-car trains for the extended East London Line when it opens in 2010.
The contract also includes further options for extra carriages for the North London Railway and more trains for the extended East London Line.

Passengers first

Howard Smith, Chief Operating Officer, TfL London Rail said: "I'm delighted to confirm this order for 44 new trains for the North London Railway and extended East London Line.

"They will significantly improve the comfort, reliability and overall quality of train services for passengers on these TfL rail routes.

"TfL's priority is to put passengers first.

"When we assume responsibility for the North London Railway in November next year, our first priority is to improve safety and security on the route.

"But we also want to revitalise London's rail services, addressing issues of capacity and train performance.

"The award of a contract for these trains is a significant step towards achieving TfL's vision for rail services in London."


Shortlist

In June this year, TfL announced a shortlist of bidders to operate train services on the North London Railway and the extended East London Line, under the TfL London Rail Concession.

The successful bidder is likely to be announced next summer.


Ends

[sweek]

The new map looks pretty exciting to me, I'm glad to see those overground services that are in TFL's hands on the map. I do not like all the wheelchair icons all over the map though; I think it makes the map look quite horrible. It's a great thing that more and more stations are getting wheelchair access I suppose (although I have never seen a wheelchair on the tube so far), but why not just publish special maps, just like the map that shows you where you can take your bike along?

I'm surprised they do not indicate an interchange between the Hammersmith and City and Central line Shepherd's Bush stations. The former has also been named Wood Lane, and what is now Shepherd's Bush on the H&C becomes "Shepherd's Bush Bush Market".

[JDRS]

Great idea to see a new these services under a new umbrella name and good to see lots of investment. I like the new trains, and the idea of train stations being more than that with cafes and shops as Ken wants on the revamped stations on this new line. TfL seems to be far more competent than the government on transport so I expect a good job will be done. Will the East London Line not have different rolling stock to this line though?

[JGG]

Yeah - the map actually tells us quite a few things:

- The Croxley extension on the Metropolitan line which was due for 2010 will not be delivered by then
- The DLR Dagenham Dock extension will also not be delivered by then, but in all fairness that was only expected form 2015 in any case.
- The DLR Stratford International Extension is delivered by 2010 as per the original plan, which is very good news.
- The Bakerloo line is not extended to Watford Junction

I am equally suprised by the lack of interchange at the White City development and also by the actual location fot he stations on the map.

I like the Overground being shown on the Tube map, however the real success will depend on the frequency of trains and the upgrading of those stations.

Some nice pictures:

London Overground train interior: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/press-cent...d-interior.jpg

London Overground train exterior: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/press-cent...d-exterior.jpg

London Overground totem: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/press-cent...ound-totem.jpg

London Overgound geographical map: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/press-cent...ground-map.jpg

London Overground station improvements: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/press-cent...provements.jpg

[JGG]

Originally Posted by JDRS

Great idea to see a new these services under a new umbrella name and good to see lots of investment. I like the new trains, and the idea of train stations being more than that with cafes and shops as Ken wants on the revamped stations on this new line. TfL seems to be far more competent than the government on transport so I expect a good job will be done. Will the East London Line not have different rolling stock to this line though?

It is the same rolling stock, with the only difference that the ELL will accomodate four-car trains and the NLL only accomodates three-car trains. I guess that the NLL will be upgraded to take four-car trains at some point, depending on the success of the metro-style service. In the meantime, there is no problem for NLL three-car trains to use the ELL.

[Republica]

great, like a german s-bahn for london.

[CharlieP]

Originally Posted by JGG

London Overgound geographical map: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/press-cent...ground-map.jpg

Well, it looks like a geographically accurate map, until you notice where they've put Clapham Junction...

[Jake_the_Peg]

Clapham Junction looks to be in the right place to me, but the adjoining track to the west of it arcs the wrong way. A minor point, I think.

[DarJoLe]

Langdon Park is in the wrong place on the Tube map for some reason.

[Englishman]

Why do they put so few seats in?

[Accura4Matalan]

God... couldnt they come up with something more origional than that?

[sweek]

Originally Posted by Accura

God... couldnt they come up with something more origional than that?

They want to integrate the different modes of transport. By choosing a name and logo that are very familiar yet slightly different it will look and feel like a more integrated and "one" system.

[Justme]

I wonder what this means for the ON (Overground Network) south of the Thames. Wasn't this sort of a similar idea, rebranding various different companies lines and increasing the frequencies? Will they be rebranded to Overground above at some stage?

[lasdun]

regards seats:

Go on the Silverlink between highbury and Islington and Hackney Central at any rush hour or shoulder time and you would wish there were no seats at all. This is a heavily overcrowded service, worse than any tube line I've used. When there is a train every 15 minutes people are not willing to catch the next one and they fight there way on.

The long term plans (allways touch out has a good page on it) are to have 16 6 and 4 car trains per hour on this section, the demand is certainly there.

Few people are actualy going to use the overground from straford to richmond or anything like that, but will go a few stops to connect with a radial service, they really don't need to sit for that.

Regards south london:

The mayor is still lobbying for the greater london rail authority, under his control, which would control suburban routes. I would imagen that these route will be 'overgrounded' if he gets his way (lets hope so)

[JGG]

Originally Posted by lasdun

Regards south london:

The mayor is still lobbying for the greater london rail authority, under his control, which would control suburban routes. I would imagen that these route will be 'overgrounded' if he gets his way (lets hope so)

I agree - I think the NLL and ELL are tests. Note that for the NLL the London Mayor is responsible for running the service, not the track. The track remains part of Network Rail. So it is not so difficult to move the service when the franchise comes up for renewal again.

Furthermore, Network Rail, as part of their £8 bio expansion plan for 2009 - 2014 they have applied for £200 mio of funding to upgrade the NLL. It is nice to see that the London Mayor and Network Rail seem to be pulling in the same direction. The pity is that the NR side of the bargain is stuck at the Department of Transport, like pretty much every other transport project in this country. They are talking now about a broad capacity review in the Summer of 2007 after which decisions will be taken. Where have we heard that before? Notice how in the coming weeks they will start to play down the prospects of a HSL to the North. Anyway, the biggest joke remains Thameslink. After the xth public enquiry last Autumn a decision would be taken in early 2006. We are still waiting.

Final thought: Ken seems to be the only Labour politician that remains popular. That should give him quite some bargaining power as Brown & Co will need him to get reelected!

[JGG]

Originally Posted by Accura

God... couldnt they come up with something more origional than that?

I love it ... it is all about presenting an integrated transport system to the public. Signage is very important in that respect. London Underground signage is very good and should be rolled out in all NLL stations. Also, for any foreigner arriving in London the term "overground" is self-explanatory. Much better than the arconyms most other cities have come up with.

[CharlieP]

Originally Posted by Jake_the_Peg

Clapham Junction looks to be in the right place to me, but the adjoining track to the west of it arcs the wrong way. A minor point, I think.

Sorry, that's what I was trying to get at - trains from Clapham Junction to Imperial Wharf travel North-East then turn to the North-West. When the Surrey Quays to Clapham Junction section becomes operational, trains will reverse at Clapham Junction.

[potto]

yes agreed. I also think that copying the Underground philospophy of having a staff presence in all stations even the smaller ones is a vital one to see the rebirth of the forgotten and disregarded overground routes