Extra Carriages Introduced on Overground Trains
But West London lines will be last to benefit from extra space in 2015
Passengers on the London Overground network are set to have more comfortable journeys as the first five carriage trains, which will increase passenger capacity by 25%, are introduced are now being introduced.
London Overground trains to meet increasing demand for the highly popular rail service - providing more comfortable journeys and room for an extra 170 passengers per train.
Transport for London says the increase from four to five carriage trains means there is room for an extra 170 passengers per train on the popular service and this is part of its £320m programme to boost capacity on the network.
However the bad news for local users of the very busy West London line running through Hammersmith and Fulham and stopping at Imperial Wharf, West Brompton, Olympia and Shepherd's Bush as well as the North London line serving local stations at Gunnersbury, South Acton and Acton Central is that he rollout of the longer trains is starting on on the East London Line, with the North and West London lines following by the end of 2015.
London Overground will also be able to carry more passengers on the Gospel Oak to Barking route once the line is electrified, and its diesel trains are replaced with electric ones, by 2018. Passenger capacity on the Watford to Euston line will be increased when the power supply is upgraded.
In the meantime, TfL says stations have been brought up to modern standards, with CCTV, better security, a turn up and go service for disabled Londoners and staff present at every station at all times.
Overall customer satisfaction on the London Overground network has steadily increased, with the latest score reaching 91% and the Overground railway is consistently one of the most reliable in the country.
In September and October of this year 95.7% of London Overground trains arrived at their destination within five minutes of their scheduled time. The national average for that period was 90.1%.
TfL's Managing Director of London Rail, Mike Brown, says: "The ever-increasing popularity of the London Overground network has seen a huge rise in demand. As a result, we are now on course to carry 135 million passengers - nearly four times the number we carried when we took over this railway in 2007.
" To enable us to continue and maintain the high levels of safe, reliable and frequent travel that our customers have come to expect, it is vital that we deliver more capacity by lengthening our trains from four to five carriages. "
"To enable this trend to continue and maintain our high levels for safe, reliable and frequent travel, we need to deliver more capacity by adding more carriages."
November 17, 2014
