02.12.14
Gospel Oak to Barking to get four extra services a day
The Gospel Oak to Barking on the London Overground will have four extra services a day from 14 December, Transport for London has announced.
The permanent timetable changes will also extend four services on the East London Line so that they terminate at the interchange at Highbury & Islington, rather than at Dalston Junction as they do now.
The additional services are:
- 06.06 Barking to Gospel Oak;
- 17.18 South Tottenham to Gospel Oak;
- 17.37 Gospel Oak to Barking; and
- 18.58 Barking to Upper Holloway.
The improvements are being made in an attempt to relieve congestion. They are in addition to the increased capacity being delivered through the new five-carriage trains, which Transport for London (TfL) began to roll out earlier this month. The new carriages are being introduced on the East London and North London routes and have space for an extra 170 customers in each carriage, adding 25% extra capacity to the network.
Director of London Overground, Mike Stubbs, said: “Demand on the London Overground network is increasing all the time and we are pleased to be able to boost services to meet this demand.
“The extra services will help relieve congestion on the Gospel Oak to Barking line. In addition, earlier starting services and service extensions on the North London and East London routes will perfectly complement the fifth carriage that we are adding to our trains, boosting capacity by 25% and making life better for our customers.”
Consultations are also currently underway on extending London Overground to Old Oak Common in the west of London and Barking Riverside in the east and there are also plans to electrify the Gospel Oak to Barking route.
In the summer, TfL revealed its shortlist of four bidders to supply new rolling stock on London Overground routes out of Liverpool Street station and to replace current two-car diesel Class 172/0s on the Gospel Oak to Barking route: Siemens, Hitachi, CAF of Spain, and Bombardier Transportation. The successful bidder will be announced next spring. The eventual winner will be asked to supply 39 new four-car, electric, metro-style trains to operate high-frequency, high-capacity suburban services in and around London, with eight units allocated to Gospel Oak to Barking.
(Image: c. Spsmiler)
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