Press Release

Light at end of the tunnel for London's forgotten railway
15-3-2006   160

Urgent improvements are needed to one of the capital’s key Olympic railway services, a London Assembly report says today¹.

The investigation into the North London Line Railway, which stops at Stratford, has branded the current service shabby, unreliable, unsafe and overcrowded. Upgrades to the Line and its stations are long overdue and many of the 63,000 daily passengers complain about the conditions and run down appearance.

The report by the Assembly’s Transport Committee acknowledges improvements to reliability made by the current operator Silverlink. However, most services and signals are still in poor condition and substantial freight use along the line has also hindered progress.

The North London Line runs from Richmond in west London to North Woolwich in east London - travelling through Richmond, Hounslow, Ealing, Brent, Camden, Islington, Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Newham. The Gospel Oak to Barking section also runs in Haringey, Waltham Forest and Barking. ²

There is hope for passengers with the Mayor taking over responsibility for the railway’s franchise from November 2007. Ken Livingstone has already announced plans to increase staff, improve safety and station facilities and install ticket barriers to accommodate Oyster cards.  But most of this work will not begin until the end of next year.

The Committee is seriously concerned about the timetable to modernise the North London Line by 2012. There is a tight turnaround to test and implement new rolling stock and signals, and upgrade tracks. The report makes a series of recommendations to boost current plans and improve the Line’s frequency and capacity, including:

• The Department of Transport securing funding from the freight industry and port developers for alternative freight routes
• Three door carriages for passengers to board and alight quicker
• Real time information screens similar to the Tube and Docklands Light Railway
• Transport for London (TfL) should electrify the Gospel Oak to Barking stretch of the line, which only runs diesel trains
• TfL and Network Rail to develop a timetable for step-free access to stations

Geoff Pope AM, Deputy Chair of the Transport Committee, who led the investigation, said: "The Olympics - with its core events in Stratford - make improvements to the North London Line necessary and urgent. The Mayor has been given a golden opportunity to change the quality of this line and set an example to rest of the UK for a smart, clean, frequent and reliable rail service."

Notes to Editors

1.  The report, ‘London’s forgotten railway’, is attached and also available on the website: www.london.gov.uk/assembly
2.  The North London Railway comprises three different lines: the North London Line, the West London Line and the Gospel Oak to Barking Line. It connects with Underground services at Richmond, Kew Gardens, Gunnersbury, Willesden Junction, West Hampstead, Highbury and Islington, Stratford, West Ham, and Canning Town. There are a total of 28 stations along the North London Line’s 22-mile route.
3.  As well as investigating issues that matter to Londoners, the London Assembly acts as a check and a balance on the Mayor

For media enquiries contact Denise Malcolm on 020 7983 4090, Kelly Flynn on 020 7983 4067 or Lisa Moore on 020 7983 4228. For out of hours media enquiries please call 0207 983 4000 and ask for the Assembly duty press officer. 

Non-media enquiries should be directed to the Public Liaison Unit, Greater London Authority, on 020 7983 4100.

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