FINAL WORK DATES ANNOUNCED FOR LONDON OVERGROUND UPGRADE

Monday 20 Dec 2010

FINAL WORK DATES ANNOUNCED FOR LONDON OVERGROUND UPGRADE

Region & Route:: | North West & Central

Transport for London (TfL) and Network Rail today announced the dates for a week of re-signalling work early in 2011 on the London Overground network.

The work is part of a multi-million pound upgrade project to further increase capacity on London Overground services from spring 2011.

The closure - in addition to those during the festive season - will be:

From Saturday 19 February until Saturday 26 February 2011 (inclusive) services will be suspended between: Richmond and Camden Road, Euston and South Hampstead, Gospel Oak and Upper Holloway, Shepherd's Bush and Willesden Junction
On Sunday 20 and 27 February trains will run to Euston. However, there will be no service between Richmond and Stratford, Gospel Oak and Upper Holloway and Shepherd's Bush and Willesden Junction
Details regarding train and bus provision as well as alternative travel arrangements will be available closer to the time.

More frequent services
The upgrade work involves the final commissioning of the signalling equipment that was installed through 2010, the installation of further signalling equipment and completing the refurbishment of several stations.

When the upgrade is finished in spring 2011, London Overground will be running more frequent services with longer trains providing greater capacity. Services from Richmond and Clapham Junction to Stratford will run four times per hour all day with at least six trains per hour all day between Willesden Junction and Stratford.

Howard Smith, chief operating officer for TfL London Rail, said: 'We have nearly completed the planned improvements.

'These essential works will help unlock the true potential of the London Overground network, which is to offer better, more frequent and higher capacity metro-style service.

'We are doing all we can to minimise the disruption caused and are looking forward to finishing all the works, on schedule by spring 2011.'

Supporting the economy
Andrew Munden, Network Rail route director, said: 'London relies on rail to get more than a million people to and from work every day, which is why investment in projects like the London Overground upgrade is so important to the capital's economy.

'This project will provide vital additional capacity in time for the Olympic Games and help meet growing demand on this busy commuter line, supporting economic growth across vast swathes of London.'

The improvement work is part of an upgrade that will see more than 200 signals, seven kilometres of track and 69 sets of points improved and 30 station platforms lengthened.

A reminder that during the festive break, there will be the following suspensions between:

Gospel Oak and Stratford from 18:30 on the evening of 18 December until 24 December 2010
Richmond and Stratford, Shepherd's Bush and Willesden Junction from 27 December until the 3 January 2011
fter that, only work requiring weekend closures will carry on until mid 2011. Once the work is completed, there will be eight peak trains per hour between Willesden Junction and Stratford stations.

To minimise inconvenience during these times TfL will provide a rail replacement service on the closed sections of the network. Passengers will also be able to travel at no extra cost by Tube or national rail services through zone 1, providing they travel from a Tube or national rail station near their usual London Overground station (conditions apply).

Notes to editors

Passengers who are considering buying a ticket valid during periods of network closure should speak to a member of staff or contact LOROL's customer services team for travel advice Work to date has already delivered 1102 metres of extra station platform at 17 stations on the North London Line; a new bridge deck at Camley Street rail bridge; over 6km of track renewed between Camden Road and Dalston Kingsland stations during the closure earlier this year, 11 new sets of switches and over 100km of new signalling cable installed

Much work in support of this has also been undertaken including the replacement of Victorian drainage systems, retaining walls and the removal of large amounts of soil

There will be no service on the whole London Overground network on Christmas and Boxing Day, 25, 26 December 2010

TfL Customer Advice teams have been holding a series of information sessions at most stations on the London Overground network from October to provide information and travel advice about the planned closures

Further information sessions will take place in January, ahead of the February closure

During the closure periods, NR will be replacing signalling equipment that was installed almost 30 years ago, and moving control of the signals from four old signal boxes to a new control centre

Contact information

Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41

Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries

Journalists
Network Rail press office - South East route
020 3357 7969
southeastroutecomms@networkrail.co.uk

About Network Rail

We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.

Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.

Media centre