GOBLIN - Gospel Oak to Barking LINe

Good news for those who use this line, TfL are going to place an order for 4 carriage trains which will double the size of the existing trains.<br><br>"The Gospel Oak to Barking route, which is already part of London Overground, is being electrified by Network Rail and due to be completed in 2017. The new four carriage electric trains that will operate on this route will provide improved journey times and more capacity."<br><br>http://www.tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2014/april/tfl-begins-search-for-supplier-to-provide-new-trains-on-new-and-existing-london-overground-routes<br><br>So there is likely to be quite a lot of disruption in 2015-2017 but it's great this is being electrified.  Also, as the new trains will be electric and 4 carriage it will give opportunity for more through running from Gospel Oal towards Willesden Junction.<br><br><br>

Comments

  • Good stuff.<div><br></div><div>You work in railway planning, is that right?  Are you hearing rumours about supposed plans for the Northern Heights?  I've heard whispers from two different people now, but low on details.</div>
  • I love that the tiny stretch between Romford and Upminster is also going Overground.
  • Strategic Planning at TfL but my background is rail planning.  Haven't heard anything about Northern Heights recently but I'll keep my ear to the ground.<br>
  • Yeah, do! Supposedly TfL want to suggest reopening it as London Overground as part of a bid to take over the Northern City line. This seems unlikely to me for a whole load of reasons*, but there you go. Given your position, if you don’t know about it I guess it’s not true.<br><br>*Like, where would they send the trains? Moorgate will soon be full. Like, given that they presumably couldn’t restore the link at Finchley, would it really be worth just restoring the FP-Highgate bit, or even the FP-Ally Pally bit, even with Crossrail 2 on the cards? I would have thought that the Northern City Line + Hertford Loop would be a much better candidate for LOROL control.
  • Oh - and come on Friday!
  • TFL are taking over Anglia suburban services. Could trains go to liverpool street from crouch hill via south Tottenham loop
  • They could if you rebuilt the loop but why you would want to and whether it would have a business case is another question.<br><br>And yes, I'm planning to come Friday!<br>
  • TFL have done a fantastic job with joining up the overground especially in the South. It seems silly not to join up the Goblin line with Enfield Town, Stoke Newington Liverpool Street. How economically viable it is I am not sure but practically it would be great 
  • edited December 2017
  • edited December 2017
  • edited December 2017
  • I explained this in a previous thread:<br><br>"It's the spare train that is used as a "PIXC busting" service.  PIXC = Passengers In eXcess of Capacity.  <br><br>Basically, the train before (0815 from Crouch Hill) is so full around Blackhorse Road that they put on an extra service using the spare train to reduce the amount of people standing.  There isn't the same crowding issues in the evening so doesn't need an extra service.  It has to terminate at Hampstead Heath (and not stop at Gospel Oak) because there is only platform at Gospel Oak which is occupied by the earlier train.  Make sense?"<br><br>Because it uses the spare train it is often cancelled if any of the other trains have problems and the spare has to be brought into normal service.  Of course now it runs onto Willesden Junction rather than terminating at Hampstead Heath.<br>
  • Northern Heights   This will not happen as it  would just ingnite the biggest "Save the Parkland Walk"  campaing ever. Thatcher was seen off the last time when Peter Botomley tried to turn into a road  down to FP then along and above the rail line to a massive roundabout on Hollaway Road
  • @Ali - I suspect, and rather hope, that you're right.<div><br></div><div>@NorthNineteen - Some of the KX suburban platform capacity may continue to be used due to capacity constraints at Moorgate and the increased Hertford Loop service.  In addition, the Rail Utilisation Strategy notes that there will be further constraints at some point due to the need to resignal the KX station throat.  Ultimately, though, that is technically a possibility.</div>
  • The Parkland Walk is better as it is now than bringing back the railway, in my view.<br><br>Why would platforms be freed up at Kings Cross by Finsbury Park trains going through to London Bridge, surely they will still stop there?<br><br>Also, I got the First Crapital Connect from Finsbury Park to Oakleigh Park the other day, paid with Oyster and got stung for £5.30. Surely, this is not right? Nationalrail.co.uk tells me the fare is £3.40.<br><br>I got the tube from High Street Kensington to Finsbury Park, touched in at HSK and out at FP, tube then touched back in at FP station and out at Oakleigh Park.<br><br>So I actually paid £5.30 on top of my £2.80 tube fare.<br><br>Regular train and tube users, please tell me am I a complete mug?<br><br>What did I do wrong?<br>
  • <font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">I actively dislike FCC.</font><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">The KX platforms will be freed up because the trains will stop at St Pancras instead, on their way south via Farringdon, City Thameslink, Blackfriars, etc (though whether they will then go on via London Bridge or by Elephant & Castle may not have been decided yet).</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Some useful future route maps:</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><br></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">http://www.projectmapping.co.uk/Reviews/Resources/Thameslink RM 309.jpg&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">http://www.projectmapping.co.uk/Resources/Thameslink Rail mag.jpg&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  • edited April 2014
    <font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2" style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">They are currently laying track in the tunnel that will divert Thameslink trains down to St Pancras.  I managed to snap a photo at the weekend:</font><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">https://flic.kr/p/nikM3P</font></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2" style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">You can see the tunnel on Google maps here: </font><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5402076,-0.1232875,329m/data=!3m1!1e3</font></div>;
  • I'm guessing the trains will go into where the other line Thameslink trains do, which is bad news.<br><br>As a lovely building refurbishment, an evening destination or a place for dawdling before a leisurely trip to Paris, St Pancras is great.<br><br>As a main commuter line train station where most people connect onto the tube it is bloody awful.<br><br>I occasionally use the Thameslink line to go in or out to Hertfordshire to my mum's. You have to walk the entire way through the shopping and eating arcade, stumbling over tourists, avoiding groups of people standing round while someone plays a piano etc. then enter a bottleneck down the escalators, round a corner and onto an underground platform.<br><br>This makes me sound like a grumpy miserablist but it's a classic triumph of style over function.<br><br> It's overcrowded, badly designed and makes getting off or on the train and switching from train to tube an ordeal. It drives the regular commuters mad - they even campaigned to get the old Kings Cross Thameslink stop reopened to no avail. <br>
  • Keeps you fit !
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