North London Line promised more frequent services

A seven and a half year contract has been awarded to the German owned company Arriva to run London Underground services. This includes former Silverlink services such as the North London Line from Richmond to Stratford and the West London Line from Clapham Junction to Willesden Junction.

The company is currently part of joint venture LOROL with Hong Kong’s MTR to run the service but the partners bid separately for the new £1.5 billion concession which can be extended for a further two years. Other unsuccessful bidders were Metroline Rail and a joint venture between Go-Ahead Group and French company Keolis.

Arriva will take over from LOROL in November 2016 and TfL say under the new arrangement the North London Line will be the first to benefit from modernised stations and more frequent services.

Under the new concession, customers on some routes will benefit from extended operating hours, and new services will be introduced on some routes on Boxing Day. To try and ensure improved performance on the network incentives have been incorporated into the new contract including financially penalising Arriva should incidents caused by Network Rail, train and freight operators impact on London Overground services. Along with the tightening of the rail industry standard measurement for punctuality for commuter services to three minutes within the scheduled arrival time, these measures are being implemented to encourage closer working between Network Rail and Bombardier.

Gareth Powell, TfL’s chief operating officer for London Rail, said, “We have worked hard to deliver major improvements for our customers, taking a neglected part of the transport network and transforming it to support new homes, jobs and economic growth across the Capital. Arriva will build on this by extending operating hours, improving frequencies and introducing new trains. I would also like to thank the existing operator LOROL for their work that has helped make London Overground the huge success story it is today.”

March 18, 2016