As West Anglia routes are taken over by TfL Mayor
hails transformed commuter services and calls for a better integrated
London rail network.
• TfL’s London Overground services extended to West Anglia routes
out of Liverpool Street and between Romford and Upminster
•
Liverpool Street to Shenfield stopping services become part of TfL Rail
•
Customer service on the routes to be transformed, with fully staffed cleaned up stations, better trains and lower fares
•
Overground success shows how a more integrated railway London wide could deliver improved services in the long term
The Mayor of London and
Transport for London (TfL) has hailed the transformation of the West
Anglia suburban rail routes from Liverpool Street to north-east London
as they became
part of the TfL network, with a range of benefits for passengers
including lower fares.
Citing the award of
this part of the franchise to TfL and with London’s population set to
grow to 10 million by 2030, the Mayor today renewed his call for better
integrated rail
services across the Capital.
The Mayor believes that
action is needed now to ensure our rail network can continue to support
the region’s economy and that it needs to be enhanced and expanded to
deliver a
seamless and integrated service for passengers with joined up real-time
travel information and more convenient and transparent ticketing.
Speaking on a visit to
Enfield Town, the Mayor of London Boris Johnson MP said: “Since TfL took
over under-used rail lines and created London Overground there have
been massive
improvements – with delays down and passengers giving the network their
vote of confidence in huge numbers.
“Now, with London’s population growing at a phenomenal rate, it is the perfect time for these new routes to pass to TfL so that they can be brought up to the same high standard. Beyond this important addition to London’s integrated transport network, I will be urging government colleagues to look at how the Southeastern services could operate when the franchise ends in 2018.
“At the same time we need to work collaboratively across both the public and private sectors to develop and improve our railways. We will need to be creative in how we fund new schemes, bringing in third-party funding and capturing the value they generate as we have for Crossrail and the Northern line extension. Bold thinking and broad partnerships are what we need to ensure rail can continue to grow in support of London’s new homes, jobs and economic growth.”
“Now, with London’s population growing at a phenomenal rate, it is the perfect time for these new routes to pass to TfL so that they can be brought up to the same high standard. Beyond this important addition to London’s integrated transport network, I will be urging government colleagues to look at how the Southeastern services could operate when the franchise ends in 2018.
“At the same time we need to work collaboratively across both the public and private sectors to develop and improve our railways. We will need to be creative in how we fund new schemes, bringing in third-party funding and capturing the value they generate as we have for Crossrail and the Northern line extension. Bold thinking and broad partnerships are what we need to ensure rail can continue to grow in support of London’s new homes, jobs and economic growth.”
Mike Brown, Managing
Director of London Rail, said: “The integration of these rail routes
with the rest of our network means that thousands of Londoners will now
have staffed stations,
more comfortable journeys and a better, safer more reliable service.
Many customers will also get significantly cheaper fares.
“Further improvements
will follow over the next few years as we refurbish stations and
introduce new trains. This demonstrates what can be achieved with
suburban rail with the
right investment, the right accountability and a system that
incentivises train operating companies to focus on reliable services and
excellent customer service every day.”
Colin
Stanbridge, Chief Executive, London Chamber of Commerce, said: “Almost
half of our businesses have named poor reliability and punctuality of
commuter train services
into the Capital as one of the top three issues affecting their
business, so rail services are beginning to have a major impact on
London’s productivity. The improvements that TfL have made on the London
Overground show what is possible when the management
and operation of rail services is rationalised in London. The extension
of the London Overground is a positive step and we renew our call for
the Government to consider devolving responsibility for more commuter
trail lines to Transport for London, as mainline
franchises come up for renewal.”
London
Overground has delivered significant improvements and shows what can be
achieved. Delays have fallen by more than half and the number of people
using the service has more
than tripled. The transfer of the West Anglia services to TfL today
represents another step towards a fully integrated network.
The
move sees services currently operated by Abellio Greater Anglia between
Liverpool Street station and Enfield Town, Cheshunt (via Seven Sisters)
and Chingford, along with services
between Romford and Upminster, becoming part of the highly successful
London Overground network. In addition, the stopping services between
Liverpool Street and Shenfield will now be run as TfL Rail in
preparation for the introduction of Crossrail services
in 2017.
Under
TfL customers will immediately see stations staffed at all times that
services are running – improving safety and ensuring a ‘turn up and go’
service for customers with reduced
mobility. The new routes will be integrated with TfL’s real-time
information and Journey Planning and all of the stations will be
thoroughly cleaned and repaired over the coming months, with new
benches, signage, CCTV, gate lines and modern ticket machines
installed. TfL’s real-time open data feeds, which enable developers to
produce travel apps, will also include these services.
New
trains will start to be introduced on the new London Overground routes
in 2018, bringing greater capacity, walk-through carriages,
air-conditioning, real-time information and
other modern features. Until then, the current trains will be smartened
up inside and out over the next 12 months to provide passengers with
more comfortable journeys. Trains on the Liverpool Street to Shenfield
stopping services are also being improved for
customers ahead of the new Crossrail trains, with the first Crossrail
services as far as Liverpool Street being introduced in 2017.
These
routes have, until now, operated with National Rail pay as you go
fares, which are generally higher than TfL fares. Now that the services
have transferred to TfL, over 80
per cent of current rail journeys will reduce in price and all TfL
concessions will apply, giving many customers substantial savings. The
remaining 20 per cent of fares remain unchanged.
Some fares will fall by as much as 40 per cent, with examples of customer savings including:
•
Peak
Zones 1-6 pay as you go fare from Romford to Oxford Circus has fallen
from £7.60 to £5.10 (a 30 per cent reduction) with the off-peak fare
falling
from £5.20 to £3.10 (a 40 per cent reduction)
•
Peak
Zones 1-6 pay as you go fare from Cheshunt to Zone 1 has fallen from
£8.20 to £6.90 (a 15 per cent reduction) with the off-peak fare falling
from £6.20 to £4.00 (a 35 per cent reduction)
The announcement demonstrates the potential benefits for passengers of
integrating London’s fares and the Mayor is again calling on the
Government to enable a single set of
fares for London, regardless of train operator. The current situation
where fares from neighbouring stations can differ significantly must
change with the different fare scales collapsed into one so all
passengers are charged at the lower level set by the
Mayor.
As
London’s success continues to drive population growth TfL is continuing
to increase capacity on the London Overground network as part of one of
the world’s largest programmes
of public transport investment, unlocking jobs and supporting new
economic growth.
London’s rail network
as a whole has the potential to carry twice as many people and to act as
a second Underground. This would particularly benefit south London
passengers and
a key opportunity will come as the big south London rail franchises are
renewed – the first being Southeastern in 2018. This would be an
important step towards a new metro service operating fast, frequent and
integrated services across south London.
In
the longer term, a more ambitious approach for rail in London and the
South East would help push ahead the brand new rail lines that will be
needed to create better connections
and unlock new areas for development. The Mayor’s 2050 Infrastructure
Plan recently set out London’s overall infrastructure needs; for rail,
key long-term infrastructure schemes could include:
- Crossrail 2 – this is the Mayor’s top priority for new rail infrastructure and would deliver a high-frequency north-east, south-west service and enable 100,000 new trips into Central London.
- 4-tracking of the West Anglia main line – to enable faster services to destinations like Cambridge and Stansted and more frequent services at local stations in London.
- An outer orbital railway – to better connect outer London town centres, provide additional orbital capacity and relieve pressure on central area.
- Improved interchange stations – new or improved stations (e.g. East Croydon, Brockley and Streatham) to provide better connections.
- Extension of the Bakerloo Line – tunnelling and new stations beyond Elephant & Castle towards Lewisham.
- Extension of Tramlink – A new connection across Sutton and Merton to support new homes and boost the local economy.
-
Extension
of the Northern Line to Clapham Junction – Building on the Northern
Line extension to Battersea, a further new link to relieve congestion at
Clapham Junction and improve
access to Central London.
