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London Overground
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London Overground (LO) is a commuter rail service in London, UK. The London Overground name is the brand applied by Transport for London (TfL) to the services which it manages on four railway lines in the London area: the Euston-Watford DC Line, the North London Line, the West London Line and the Gospel Oak to Barking Line.
The name has been used since 2007, when TfL took over part of the rail franchise from the Silverlink train operating company. In 2010, it is planned that the London Overground network will also encompass the East London Railway, a line formed from the East London Line (formerly part of London Underground) which is being extended to connect to the North London Line.
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Encyclopedia
London Overground (LO) is a commuter rail service in London, UK. The London Overground name is the brand applied by Transport for London (TfL) to the services which it manages on four railway lines in the London area: the Euston-Watford DC Line, the North London Line, the West London Line and the Gospel Oak to Barking Line.
The name has been used since 2007, when TfL took over part of the rail franchise from the Silverlink train operating company. In 2010, it is planned that the London Overground network will also encompass the East London Railway, a line formed from the East London Line (formerly part of London Underground) which is being extended to connect to the North London Line. This section is currently closed.
London Overground is part of the National Rail network, run as a rail franchise by the train operating company London Overground Rail Operations Ltd (LOROL), but the contracting authority is Transport for London (TfL) rather than central Government. This arrangement is similar to the model adopted for Merseyrail. The lines continue to be owned and maintained by Network Rail except for the Dalston-New Cross section of the East London Railway which will remain TfL property when it becomes an operational part of London Overground.
London Overground is best described as a commuter rail system, especially as many of the lines share traffic with freight services, although there is an intention to introduce metro-style frequencies eventually on all routes.
History
Background
Suburban rail services in London, as in the rest of Great Britain, are run on a system of rail franchises and operated by a number of private train operating companies, managed by National Rail. This rail system is a separate entity from London Underground, which is owned and run by Transport for London.
A pilot scheme was launched in 2003 to bring National Rail services operated by multiple companies under one branding umbrella within London. Using the Overground Network brand, Transport for London introduced consistent information displays, station signage and maps on selected routes in South London. Although this pilot was purely an exercise in branding, this was the first instance of TfL having a visible influence over National Rail services in London. The Overground Network pilot has since been withdrawn.
In January 2004 the Department for Transport announced a review of the rail industry in the United Kingdom. As part of that review, proposals were put forward by Transport for London for a "London Regional Rail Authority" to be established, which would give TfL regulatory powers over rail services in and around Greater London.
A result of this consultation was the transfer of part of the Silverlink rail franchise over to TfL control. This is to date the only agreed movement towards establishing a London-wide rail authority.
The Silverlink franchise originally had two areas of operation: Silverlink County (regional services from London Euston to Northampton, St Albans Abbey, Bletchley and Bedford); and Silverlink Metro (services mostly within the London urban area). When the franchise was split up in 2007, County services were taken over by the London Midland franchise, and the Metro services fell under TfL control.
Initial announcements
On 20 February 2006 the Department for Transport announced that TfL would take over management of services then provided by Silverlink Metro. Tenders were invited from potential contractors to operate the service under the provisional name of the North London Railway. On 5 September 2006 London Overground branding was announced, and it was confirmed that the extended East London Line would be included.
Launch
On 11 November 2007 TfL took over the franchise for the operation of trains on North London Railway routes formerly of Silverlink Metro.
The official launch ceremony was on 12 November 2007 at Hampstead Heath railway station by the then Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, with a later media event on the disused bay platform at Willesden Junction station.
The launch was accompanied by a marketing campaign entitled "London's new train set", with posters and leaflets carrying an image of a model railway retail package containing the new Overground trains, tracks and staff.
At the launch TfL undertook to revamp the routes by improving service frequencies, staffing all stations, improving station facilities, introducing new rolling stock and by allowing Oyster card pay as you go to be used throughout the network from the outset.
All stations were "deep-cleaned" following the TfL takeover, and the Silverlink branding was removed. Station signage is being gradually replaced with London Overground-branded signs using TfL's corporate New Johnston typeface. There are temporary adhesive signs at some stations, to be replaced with full-size enamel platform name signs using the orange and blue London Overground roundel as station refurbishment progresses.
Operator
London Overground is operated by a private company, London Overground Rail Operations Ltd (LOROL). Following a model similar to that already used for the Docklands Light Railway, TfL invited tenders for operation of the London Overground. Unlike National Rail franchisees, TfL would set fares, procure rolling stock and decide service levels. The operator would take an element of revenue risk: TfL take 90% of the revenue risk, 10% of revenue is retained by the operator, and the operator is responsible for revenue collection.
The tenderers were MTR Laing (a 50:50 joint venture between MTR Corporation and Laing Rail), Govia, National Express Group (the operator of Silverlink), and NedRailways. In December 2006, this was narrowed to Govia and MTR Laing, who were selected to submit their ‘best and final offers’, and on 19 June 2007 it was announced that MTR Laing had been selected.
The formal contract was signed on 2 July 2007. The contract is due to last seven years, with the option of a two-year extension. In preparation for the launch of London Overground, MTR Laing renamed itself as London Overground Rail Operations Ltd (LOROL).
In December 2007, Henderson Group, the parent company of John Laing plc announced the sale of the Laing Rail division, which comprises half of LOROL, Chiltern Railways and a stake in the Wrexham & Shropshire open-access railway operator. In April 2008, Laing Rail was bought by the German rail operator Deutsche Bahn, who now hold a 50% stake in LOROL. The price is said to be around €170 million.
Partial closure, autumn 2008
Various parts of the London Overground system were closed during autumn 2008 to allow major planned engineering in anticipation of later enhanced services. The central section of the North London Line (NLL) between Willesden Junction and Gospel Oak was closed from 1 September 2008 until 16 November 2008, and the section between Gospel Oak and Camden Road from 22-28 September 2008. The Gospel Oak to Barking line was closed from 1-28 September 2008.
Bus services provided a partial replacement during this period.
A further part of the replacement services involved a diversion of Watford DC Line away from Euston, to Camden Road and onwards to Stratford, thus providing an alternative route for journeys between stations west of Willesden Junction and stations east of Camden Road. Such a route has been mooted as a possible alteration in the long-term, once Bakerloo lines services are re-extended to Watford Junction.
Current system
Introduction
The initial network, service levels and timetables are a continuation of Silverlink Metro services. As the London Overground name implies, the vast majority of the network is above ground, mostly consisting of railway lines connecting areas outside Central London, with a considerable portion of the network in Zone 2. The network also uses Euston in central London, the southern terminus of the Watford DC Line .
Routes
London Overground consists of the following lines:
The present network interchanges with the Bakerloo, Central, District, Hammersmith & City, Jubilee, Northern and Victoria lines and also the Docklands Light Railway. The Overground lines now feature on the standard Tube maps issued by Transport for London, and a separate map of the system is also available.
The routes cover many areas of northern Greater London, and TfL may see direct control of the lines as attractive because:
- There is some concentration in the north-east, including services to Stratford, to support the 2012 Summer Olympics;
- They pass through less affluent areas, and are seen as contributing to the regeneration of these areas; and
- The North London and Gospel Oak to Barking lines have been considered by some to be neglected and not developed to their full potential.
Service frequencies
Services generally begin between about 5am (from Watford Junction) and 6.30am (from Barking), between about 8am and 9am on Sundays, and all services are scheduled to be completed by midnight.
The following are the general service frequencies on individual lines:
- North London Line - four trains per hour Monday to Saturday (three per hour after about 8pm), and two per hour on Sunday: Monday to Saturday off-peak trains are scheduled to leave Richmond at 11, 27, 41 and 57 minutes past the hour (15, 35, 55 after 8pm), and Stratford at 7, 22, 37 and 52 (12, 32, 52 after 8pm); slightly more services run at peak times Monday to Friday; Sunday services leave Richmond at 8 and 38, and Stratford at 19 and 49.
- West London Line - mainly two trains per hour, with extra trains at peak times, but one train per hour Sunday mornings. Monday to Saturday off-peak trains are scheduled to leave Clapham Junction at 5 and 35 minutes past the hour, and Willesden Junction at 8 and 38; slightly more services run at peak times Monday to Friday, and some trains run to and from Stratford; Sunday services leave Clapham Junction at 30 minutes past the hour between 8am and 3pm and 18 and 48 thereafter, and Willesden Junction at 6 minutes past the hour between 9am and 2.30pm and 21 and 51 thereafter.
- Gospel Oak to Barking Line - mainly two trains per hour, but three trains per hour at certain times of day: Sunday services are scheduled to leave Gospel Oak at 20 and 50 minutes past the hour, Monday to Saturday services mainly at 25 and 55 (0, 20 and 40 between 7.30am and 10am, and 15, 35 and 55 between 3.30pm and 7pm, with transitional services); Sunday services are scheduled to leave Barking at 5 and 35 minutes past the hour, Monday to Saturday services mainly at 8 and 38 (mostly 0, 20 and 40 between 7am and 11am, and 14, 34 and 54 between 3.30pm and 7pm, with transitional services).
- Watford DC Line - three trains per hour Monday to Saturday: trains are scheduled to leave Euston at 17, 37 and 57 minutes past the hour (17 and 47 Sunday); they leave Watford Junction mainly at 1, 21 and 41, with some variations (21 and 51 Sunday).
Stations
London Overground serves the following stations:
Ticketing
Ticketing on London Overground uses a mix of paper and the Oyster Card electronic smart card. As with all National Rail and TfL services in London, passengers may use a Travelcard (daily, three-day, seven-day, monthly or annual), and as on other National Rail Services in London, paper single, return and cheap day return tickets priced under the zonal fare scheme are available. In addition, TfL permits the use of Oyster "pay-as-you-go" (PAYG).
As part of an effort to improve safety and revenue protection, TfL has announced that it will introduce ticket barriers at a number of stations. The stations that did not have barriers when TfL took over the line have been fitted with standalone Oyster Card readers similar to those at ungated London Underground and DLR stations. (The validator at Blackhorse Road which previously was needed to enter / exit the Oyster card system when using the line is now disused.
The ticket stock for London Overground continues to be common National Rail stock, as London Overground services remain part of the National Rail network, but with a large TfL roundel in the centre and the repeated legend "Rail Settlement Plan" in a light green background.
Ticket pricing
Paper tickets are charged at the old Silverlink prices, which are generally lower than National Rail London zonal fares and London Underground fares. For example, the ticket above shows that the adult single fare between Harrow & Wealdstone (Zone 5) and Hatch End (Zone 6) is £1.50. This would be £1.90 under the National Rail zonal fare system and £3.00 under the London Underground fares.
Oyster PAYG is charged on the same zone-based rules as for the London Underground and Docklands Light Railway. Oyster is generally cheaper than paper tickets: for example, the fare between Harrow & Wealdstone and Hatch End is £1.00 with Oyster PAYG. Stations outside Greater London, except for Watford Junction, are included in the newly created Travelcard Zones 7-9, while Acton Central, Hampstead Heath and Willesden Junction were re-zoned on 2 January 2008 (from 2 to 3, 3 to 2 and 3 to 2/3 respectively), which will also reduce some zone-based fares..
Branding
The public presentation of London Overground is visually associated with existing TfL design standards, using similar graphic design elements to those used on London Underground publicity, signage and other elements, drawing on the design heritage of Frank Pick. These design standards will be applied to the new fleet of trains.
The routes are branded with a new version of the roundel, the iconic bar-and-circle symbol associated with transport services in London. The LO version consists of an orange ring with a blue bar. The roundel was adopted from an earlier design by the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933 and which has spawned many variations applied to succeeding operations. The current TfL versions use a hollow circle or ring rather than the original solid circle.
In common with other TfL services, London Overground is denoted by a designated sector colour, a vivid orange (Pantone 158C). Similarly to the presentation of the DLR, London Overground is shown on Tube maps as a double stripe rather than a solid line, to denote its status as a service which is not a London Underground line.
Corporate signage, stationery and literature use the New Johnston typeface in common with other TfL services.
Performance
Although branded as a TfL service, LO remains as, and is monitored for performance as part of the National Rail network, unlike London Underground services. The most recent figures released by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR), for July to September 2008, showed that it had achieved 93.4% of the Public Performance Measure (PPM) target for punctuality and reliability set by the ORR. This was 0.4% better than the average PPM for all London and the South East railway companies. TfL, in conjunction with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have investigated the use of data from the Oyster smartcard ticketing system to measure the performance of the Overground explicitly from the passenger perspective.
Rolling stock
On all routes except the East London line, services began using Class 313 EMUs, Class 508 EMUs and Class 150 DMUs inherited from Silverlink. However, TfL committed to introducing brand new rolling stock to the service, including the East London Line, over three to five years. From 2009 the electrified lines will be operated by Class 378 Capitalstars to be built by Bombardier Transportation. The East London Railway will initially have 20 four-car units and the North London Railway 24 three-car units. In 2011, the North London Railway fleet will be extended to four cars and the East London Railway will gain three extra trains. The three Class 508 units were withdrawn in late 2008.
The Class 378 stock will not be able to operate over the Gospel Oak to Barking Line (GOBLIN) as the line is not electrified. While electrification is advocated by Transport for London, local boroughs and passenger groups, it has not been included as part of Network Rail's Route Utilisation Strategy for the Cross London Route. TfL has indicated that it intends to use new two-car Class 172 Turbostar diesel trains from 2009. MTR/Laing will lease 8 two-car units from a ROSCO, rather than their being purchased by TfL, as was planned with the Class 378 units. The 8 Class 172/0 units were ordered by Angel Trains on behalf of TfL in November 2007. In February 2008, TfL announced that it would lease rather than purchase its Class 378 EMUs. This will be done through a newly formed ROSCO named QW Rail Leasing, with the lease running until 2027. TfL took this option to free up the £250 million capital cost of purchase, combined with reducing the risk of making a loss through any future sell-on of the fleet.
If the plan to replace the Watford DC Line with a Bakerloo line service to Watford Junction goes ahead, the 1972 Stock fleet on the Bakerloo line could be augmented by newly-retired Victoria line 1967 Stock trains, although these would need modification.
Current fleet
Future fleet
- Class 378/0 will become 378/2 when a 4th car is added to them
Livery
All London Overground trains remain in Silverlink's purple and lime green livery with yellow doors. Silverlink logos have been removed and London Overground banners have been added to most units. It is not expected that any more cosmetic changes will be made to the livery and interiors until the delivery of the new rolling stock.
TfL's artist impressions of the future stock show them in a new livery, similar to London Underground's, which has blue and white coaches with orange doors and yellow fronts.
Future developments
The expansion of the London Overground network has been widely publicised by TfL as part of its transport strategy. It is proposed to add two new lines to the network, which would link to form a ring around London. The East London Railway is already under construction, but addition of the South London Line is still at the proposal stage. Prospective 2010 Tube maps were released to the press illustrating the potential full extent of the planned network.
East London Railway
The East London Railway will become part of the network when the Phase 1 extensions to the East London Line to the new southern termini at Crystal Palace and West Croydon and the northern extension (mostly along the Broad Street viaduct) to the re-opened Dalston Junction are completed in 2010. When the East London line is added to the network, this will add substantial sections of line that are in tunnels (including the Thames Tunnel) (the oldest tunnel under the Thames or, indeed any other navigable river in the world), and will create the anomaly that the London Overground line will be below the London Underground part of Whitechapel tube station.
The line was closed on 22 December 2007 in preparation for its extension and incorporation into the London Overground. As of June 2008, work is due for completion ahead of schedule on 19 October 2009.
In the original Phase 1 plans, the East London Railway terminated just south of the North London Line, at Dalston Junction. The former Mayor, Ken Livingstone, has since stated that Phase 1 of the East London Railway project would be extended to Highbury & Islington, in order to make a connection with the North London Railway, the Victoria line and First Capital Connect services. This is not planned to open until 2011.
Watford DC Line
TfL has proposed re-extending the Bakerloo line to Watford Junction. It has been suggested that most or all of the line from Queen's Park to Watford Junction would be used exclusively by London Underground, and London Overground services would be withdrawn from this line.
As part of this change, London Overground services would instead be diverted at Primrose Hill Junction away from Euston, via the currently freight-only route through Primrose Hill station (closed since 1992) to Camden Road, providing a new service running between Queen's Park and Stratford. As a result of this service change, Kilburn High Road and South Hampstead would no longer have direct services to central London, and London Overground would lose its only Zone 1 station.
However, the Watford line is still shown as part of London Overground on prospective Tube maps issued by TfL, so this proposal appears uncertain.
South London Line
The Phase 2 plans of the East London Line extension incorporate an extension from Surrey Quays along the South London Line to Clapham Junction. This would then create an orbital network around Central London, fulfilling the Orbirail concept.
The route would follow the line currently served by National Rail from Queens Road Peckham as far as Wandsworth Road, then branch off at Heathbrook Park, passing through Battersea towards Clapham Junction. This route crosses over Loughborough Junction and Brixton stations, and the plans have been criticised for missing opportunities to create new interchange stations with Thameslink services and the London Underground Victoria line respectively. Under current proposals, no stations are planned at these locations as the line is on high railway arches, making the cost of any station construction prohibitive.
Powers to build the extension have already been granted, but it is currently unfunded. A £30 million shortfall in funding was reported in November 2008. An application for additional funding from central government by Mayor Boris Johnson was unsuccessful, and the future of this part of the project has been put into doubt. Reports as of February 2009 indicate the line has been given the go ahead with plans for completion before the 2012 Olympics.
Transport for London had previously suggested it should be funded as part of the Thameslink Programme, due to capacity constraints at London Bridge station once the Thameslink upgrade has taken place. Network Rail's South London Route Utilisation Strategy has also very strongly emphasised the need for this extension to the ELL, particularly in respect of the even more restricted capacity during the reconstruction of London Bridge.
In the March edition of the Londoner newspaper, TfL had announced an intention to take over more routes in South London when Southern's franchise runs out in 2009. However, this plan was not included in the franchise tender documents, nor in the 2008 ten-year plan.
The South London Line has now received all the funding to get the project started. £64 million has been received from the DfT and £15 million from TfL. The route is scheduled to open in May 2012.
See also
External links
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