What the Overground disruption is for

As I've posted about before, most of the London Overground network is going to be disrupted this autumn for engineering work. If you haven't seen it, the official leaflet about the replacement buses and changes to service is online.

But I wanted to go over what work they're doing and why, and how it will benefit passenger services. Basically, the problem is freight traffic, particularly container traffic from the ports around the coast of Essex and Suffolk. A lot of this traffic ends up going north on West Coast Main Line, and the only real way to get there is along the most congested part of the North London Line. Here's a diagram:

The current main freight route is in dark blue. Freight from the LT&S Line has to run across both pairs of tracks of the Great Eastern Main Line. Freight from both directions has to pass along the two track section of the North London Line from Stratford to Dalston Kingsland, which is also one of the busiest passenger sections.

It should be obvious from the diagram that it'd be much better to send freight from the LT&S Line along the Gospel Oak to Barking Line (shown in light blue), and that's exactly what they're trying to do. The problem that needs fixing first is that bridges and tunnels along the route aren't tall enough to allow modern containers through. During the closure three bridges over the Gospel Oak to Barking Line will be demolished, and the track in Hampstead Tunnel will be lowered.

Similar upgrades to other rail routes are planned to reduce the importance of the London Overground network to freight. Work to allow larger containers on the Felixstowe-Ely-Peterbrough-Leicester-Nuneaton will provide an alternative to the North London Line, while Southampton-Basingstoke-Reading-Oxford will provide an alternative to the West London Line.

The frequency increases on the London Overground network can only happen if freight traffic is properly managed, and these various upgrades are an important part of that.

Homerton station improvements: 404 Not Found

This weird item popped up in TfL's press release RSS feed on Friday night. It had no title and the page it links to doesn't exist. But if it did, it'd be trumpeting the completion of the "second phase of improvements at Homerton station".

A mistake, right? Or is Homerton station wonderful enough to be worthy of a press release? Let's have a look.

Hmmm.

London Overground train order number crunching

TfL have put out a short press release announcing a second expansion of the order for new trains for London Overground, a move mooted a month ago. As expected, the order is for 7 additional 4-car trains.

I'd like to say what the new total is, but the numbers don't add up. Previous indications were that the final fleet would be 54 trains, but the press release mentions the 7 as being in addition to the "44 trains" of the original order. They seem to have forgotten about the 3 extra trains they ordered last July.

The documentation for the North London Line upgrade sums up the delivery schedule thus:

• The original order, which was 24 3-car trains for the North London Line, West London Line and Watford DC Line, plus 20 4-car trains for the East London Line
• Tranche 1: Extending the 24 NLL et al trains to 4 cars.
• Tranche 2: 3 extra trains to cover ELL services from Dalston Junction to Highbury & Islington, and 3 trains for the Stratford to Camden Road shuttle, plus a maintenance spare.

Today's order corresponds to Tranche 2. Again, the 3 trains from last July have disappeared. It might just be that they mentioned in this document due to being specifically for the ELL, and additionally whoever prepared today's press release simply forgot about them, but it's all very strange.

On a related note, I've also just spotted that the draft timetable assumes the new diesel trains on the Gospel Oak to Barking Line will be 3-car, which gives some hope they'll be given third cars within the next few years. 

It also mentions  that six trains from the East London Line fleet will be stabled in Stratford overnight, which would mean some or all of the ELL fleet will be dual voltage, as the ELL is entirely third rail and the route to Stratford is AC overhead only. Previously it was thought the ELL would be built without overhead capabilities.

Going back to today's press release, it  notes that the new trains will have the "look and feel of Tube trains" and there will be "six passenger information displays inside" (per train? per carriage?), as well as previously known information about the carriage connections being walk-through (think bendy bus) and the trains having air conditioning.

The North London Line upgrade

Thanks to an anonymous commenter for pointing out that a whole load of info about the future of the North London Line has turned up on the Office of Rail Regulation website.


For one thing, they've chosen a service pattern, which I've illustrated above (the big numbers are frequency in tph, or trains per hour). The service on the North London Line are:

• 4 tph Stratford - Camden Road - Gospel Oak - Willesden Junction - Richmond (the current North London Line service)
• 2 tph Stratford - Camden Road - Gospel Oak - Willesden Junction - Clapham Junction
• 2 tph Stratford - Camden Road

That's a train every 7.5 minutes east of Camden Road. There are no trains via Primrose Hill to Queen's Park, as was once planned.

The 2 tph West London Line shuttle will continue, giving a train every 15 minutes between Clapham Junction and Willesden Junction. The Gospel Oak to Barking line stays self contained, with a 4 tph service, apparently due to the high cost of through platforms at Gospel Oak. The connections at Gospel Oak in the draft timetable don't look good. No upgrade to the Euston-Watford service is included yet.

There'll also be 8 trains per hour beyond Dalston Junction to Highbury & Islington. The diagram in the application form names them as the Crystal Palace and New Cross services, meaning the third service - from West Croydon - will only go as far as Dalston Junction.

There's a detailed diagram of the new track layout between Camden Road and Dalston, which confirms the plans for the East London Line to have a segregated route to Highbury & Islington, with little possibility of ELL trains continuing beyond there (forget about circular services). Highbury & Islington will end up with 3 eastbound platforms, each on a separate island.

Another document gives details of how stations will be refurbished, with improved CCTV, lighting, help points and PA systems. Stairs, flooring, walls, canopies and platform services will brought up to higher standards. LED next train indicators will be installed.

Construction work to rebuild the North London Line track begins this September, with the new timetable due in December 2010.

Board Papers time again

The notes from this month's TfL board meeting have been published. A few things of note:

• TfL have started ordering Oyster equipment for the roll out to the whole National Rail network in 2009
• London Bridge may not have capacity for South London Line trains when it's rebuilt for Thameslink (there'll be fewer terminus platforms). TfL suggest the East London Line phase 2 should go ahead ASAP to solve this problem.
• Major DLR works will happen at Stratford during the Christmas closure on Liverpool St (this probably actually means the new North London Line platforms).
• An "Oyster Control Centre" has been setup, whose main job seems to be reprogramming the gatelines to fix unresolved journeys after station evacuations and other events.
• The first new Piccadilly Line train is due in 2011, with the upgrade progamme finsihed by 2014
• TfL are having doubts about how feasible it is to extend Circle Line stations for 7 car trains, and are investigating other options.
• TfL are still deciding whether to go with the "Harmony" or SLC2k service patterns for the North London Line upgrade. No idea what either of these are.
• The future of the Cross River Tram and Crystal Palace Tramlink extension looks very murky
• "The review of a number of projects in the Planning directorate continued this quarter, including tram and bus transit schemes. The outputs of these reviews are expected to be made available at the end of the year."
• The East London Transit project (Ilford-Barking-Dagenham) appears to be progressing, but isn't due to start in October 2009.
• Greenwich Waterfront Transit is still in public consultation, and will take even longer.
• A TWA application for the DLR Dagenham Dock extension will be made early next year, but the project has no funding after that.

The last few bits are from the appendices.

Update: The document has been updated with a load of extra bits tacked on, including enormous tables of Travelcard and London Overground prices.

London Overground branding details confirmed

Design Week has confirmed some of the previously discussed details about how the London Overground brand will be rolled out. There are a few glaring errors, but a few interesting bits too:

The Overground identity - including an orange and blue version of the familiar roundel - will only be fully introduced as each of a total of 60 stations is refurbished or built, and new rolling stock introduced. At first, you will just notice the absence of Silverlink branding, and a single new roundel, plus - from 9 November - the orange tramlines on the map.

As for the principal brand colour - orange - this finds its way into everything. 'It is a happy colour for us to use, has high visibility and can be applied consistently across all applications,' says Ferguson.

To avoid confusion, the various branches of the Overground system will not have subsidiary colours and line names in the way of the Tube - the idea is to have a destination-based system, like the DLR.

The 2025 map referenced at the end of the article is this one.

(thanks to Jason for sending this in)

A beginner's guide to London Overground

Hello random Googlers! You've seen this ad around town and are now wondering what the hell it's on about. Here are some answers.

What is London Overground? From November 11th, Transport for London (TfL) will be given direct control of the local trains services currently operated by Silverlink. These are:

• North London Line (Richmond to Stratford via North London)
• West London Line (Clapham Junction to Willesden Junction via Kensington Olympia)
• Gospel Oak to Barking Line (edge of Hampstead Heath to East London via Walthamstow)
• Watford DC Line (Euston to Watford Junction, partly shared with the north end of the Bakerloo)

Here's a map

What happens on November 11th? Very little. Same timetable, same trains, but you'll be able to use Oyster Pay As You Go across the network, and the lines will be added to the standard tube map. TfL plan to put staff on all stations at all times they're open, though some may just be security guards. Branding in the early days will be minimal.

When can I expect improvements to the service? From December 9th, the timetables will improve slightly, with longer operating hours and the odd extra train. The next major improvement comes in December 2009, when the Gospel Oak to Barking service doubles to every 15 minutes. The North London Line service frequency is due to double on some sections by 2011, when trains will be extended to four cars. Some improvements are due in the intervening years, but details are hazy.

Are we getting new trains? Yes. All trains will be replaced with brand new ones in the next couple of years. The first will be delivered around a year from now. They'll have seating along the sides, like tube trains, to give more space to stand. The new trains on the Gospel Oak to Barking Line will still be diesel.

Are the stations being upgraded? Yes. This will start with a "deep clean" within the next six months, followed by a fairly ambitious program of rebuilding and upgrading over the next 4 years. Several stations will have ticket barriers installed.

Are any new stations planned? A new station has been built at Shepherd's Bush, but it's opening date has been postponed indefinitely by a construction cockup. Another new station at Imperial Wharf in Chelsea was once a certainty, but due to spiralling costs is looking increasingly doubtful. The disused Primrose Hill station may one day be reopened. That's it.

Will Overground be part of the tube? No. It'll appear on the tube map, but will still be an ordinary timetabled train service. Think of it as a train company run by Transport for London, which it more or less is.

What about the East London Line? The tube's East London Line will close just before Christmas. When it reopens in 2010 it'll be part of Overground, and will have been extended north along a disused viaduct, with new stations at Shoreditch High Street, Haggerston, Hoxton and Dalston Junction. Trains will also continue further south than New Cross, using the existing railway lines to reach Crystal Palace and West Croydon. Here's a brochure with more details.

For more info check the blog archives and the Wikipedia page. Don't bother with the TfL page.

TfL October board meeting notes

Transport for London held a board meeting on Wednesday, and today they published the stack of documents (5 MB PDF) produced for it. A skim through the 286 pages reveals:

Oyster

• On October 7, TfL began replacing the now-redundant push-button Few Fare Machines with Advanced Fare Machines, which do Oyster, but don't do change. 100 are planned by January, and the full 350 by April.
• TfL's rollout of Oyster to Overground faced problems at Clapham Junction, because South West Trains are meant to be selling ITSO rather than Oyster cards. TfL ticket machines will be installed at each entrance.
• Barclaycard expect to issue 75,000 OnePulse Oyster cards by the end of the year.
• Cash fares are down to 3.5% of tube journeys and 2.3% of bus journeys.
• All the train companies have finally signed an agreement for Oyster PAYG use, which includes details of how fares money will be distributed. The Financial Services Authority have confirmed the scheme doesn't fall under e-money regulations.
• It's stated "C2C, ‘one’ and First Capital Connect" will be expanding PAYG from this January, but I think they mean Chiltern rather than FCC (see this blog's sidebar).

London Overground

• The upgrade plans for the North London Line are due to be agreed with Network Rail this month, for delivery in 2010-11. This presumably includes resignalling, 3 and 4 tracking in places and platform extensions for 4 car trains. The associated improvement in service is called "SLC2k" and is due in January 2011.
• The superstructure design for the "bridge at Liverpool Street" has been approved. I'm not sure if refers to the one over the Liverpool Street tracks by Brick Lane, or the one nearer Liverpool Street station over Shoreditch High Street.
• The 3 extra Overground trains ordered in July are said to be dual voltage and intended for the North London Line, rather than for the East London Line as stated at the time. I'm not sure which is correct.
• Stations on the Gospel Oak to Barking line will get shelters by March 2008, and initial repairs at all Overground stations will be completed by May. The full upgrade programme will run until November 2011, however.

Tube, DLR, Rail and Trams

• Approval has been given to apply for the Victoria and Archway station upgrade Transport & Works orders.
• Automatic Train Operation on the Jubilee Line is due by the end of 2009, and on the Northern by the end of 2011.
• The first new Victoria Line train is due in service by January 2009.
• Southfields, Baker Street (SSL only) and Green Park will be made step-free in time for the Olympics.
• The DLR City Airport extension is carrying 48% of the airport's passengers.
• The first new design DLR car is scheduled to be delivered on 14 December this year, a bit behind schedule. It's already running on a test track in Germany.
• Train and platform lengthening are planned for many London National Rail lines (details are in the minutes).
• TfL has now officially disbanded the West London Tram team, and appear not to be leaving open the possibility of restarting the scheme.
• Funding for the Crystal Palace Tramlink extension appears hazy.

London Overground branding info

This message board post reports back on a London Overground talk given last night at the London Transport Museum. Highlights include:

• Shepherd's Bush station won't open until November 11
• Existing stations are to be completely rebuilt. Before then, no obvious Overground branding. Afterwards, full tube-style roundels
• Similarly, the existing trains won't receive the Overground livery.
• The new Electrostars will have some sort of walk-through connections between carriages, though details are hazy

In related news, the first Electrostar went into production this week.

TfL expands London Overground rolling stock order

TfL have announced that all trains on the North London Line will be lengthened to 4 carriages in early 2011. They've also ordered 3 extra trains for the East London Line fleet, to be delivered at the same time, possibly corresponding to the extension from Dalston Junction to Highbury & Islington.

The new total is 188 cars, which still leaves us short of the 256 previously discussed. Also no mention of the new Goblin stock, which may also be built by Bombardier.

Custom House to North Woolwich reused

The closed eastern extremity of the North London Line has been rebranded the Royal Docks Heritage Railway. The line will also be run as a rail training school, and a fancy diesel thingy is being transferred there from Swindon for this purpose. There's even talk of redoubling the tracks, using one for heritage trains and one for driver training.

The whole project has a wonderful air of doomedness, since if Crossrail goes ahead it will all be obliterated.

North London Line getting 4-car trains (maybe)

I noticed this snippet in the 2007 Network Rail Business Plan:

On the North London Line platforms are to be extended to allow 4 car operation.

It's been suggested before in the Cross London Route Utilisation Strategy and various other places, but I'm fairly sure this is the first time it's been publicly discussed as anything more than a good idea. The timetable at the back mentions a date of 2010 for completion.

Oddly, the new trains ordered for the line will only be 3 car, and are due to be delivered by July 2009, which doesn't seem worth it if they're going to need extending straight away. Something else that doesn't add up is this from the TfL business plan:

256 new build vehicles in three-car and four-car formations. North London Railway (NLR) vehicles to be dual voltage, East London Railway (ELR) vehicles to be DC, with provision for future conversion to dual voltage use.

All other public statements have said 152 cars total with the possibility of 200 more. Evidently they've ordered 104 more without telling anyone. Even more weirdly they still seem to be promising 6 car trains to the Olympics people (see page 80).

Stratford Station upgrade

Last week, TfL announced major plans to rebuild Stratford station, mainly because the current station faces the wrong way for the Olympic site, Stratford City and Stratford International. Works include:

• A new entrance and ticket hall will be built facing north, allowing access to the various developments.
• The disused eastern subway will be reopened. Some of the existing platforms will be extended east to meet it.
• An apparently massive footbridge will be constructed on the east edge of the station, stretching from the northern ticket hall to the south side of the A11 road, connecting the station to Stratford Shopping Centre.
• The mezzanine level of the existing building will be extended east to connect to the bridge, with a new ticket barrier line.
  
• Fourteen new lifts will be installed, allowing step-free access throughout.
• Two new platforms will be built on the north edge of the station for North London Line services.
• The existing North London Line platforms (1 and 2) will be converted for use by the new DLR service between Canning Town and Stratford International.
• A second platform will be built on the south side of the westbound Central Line track, which should ease overcrowding on the existing platform, especially during the Olympics.

The new North London Line platforms are the first phase of the DLR to Stratford International scheme, and will need to open before construction of the northern part of the line can begin.