06.01.16
TfL finishes Overground five-car extension programme
Transport for London (TfL) has finished rolling out five-car trains across London Overground routes as part of its year-long £320m investment to increase capacity in the capital.
Started in 2014, the programme has extended the fleet from four to five-car running, boosting capacity by 25% on the East London, West London, North London and Euston to Watford routes.
Previously underused parts of the network were brought back into full use, and new train stabling facilities were built at Silwood, south-east London and in Wembley.
The transport body also had to reconfigure the existing maintenance depots at New Cross Gate and Willesden to accommodate the larger trains.
The longer fleet will provide room for an extra 170 passenger per train.
TfL’s director for London Overground, Mike Stubbs, said: “Over the whole network, we now carry 176m passengers a year, which is six times the number we carried when we took over this railway in 2007.
“The extra carriages that we have now introduced are enabling us to continue to provide our customers with the high quality of safe, reliable and frequent services that they need and expect.”
RTM spoke to Stubbs last year about the completion of the Silwood sidings facility, which will provide overnight siding for 10 five-car trains.
The Overground service will be expanded further once the Gospel Oak to Barking line is electrified and its diesel trains replaced with electric ones in 2018.
The final consultation on the proposed new Gospel Oak to Barking Riverside 4km rail link was launched last month and is due to close on 24 January. If successful, it will be used to seek permission from the transport secretary to start construction.
TfL has also recently secured funding from the European Commission to help build two new Overground stations at Old Oak Common.
(Top image c. TfL)