Category Archives: General

London overground – five years old today

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London Overground celebrates its fifth birthday today just under a month before it completes its final extension across south London to bring a truly orbital rail service to the capital.

Since Transport for London (TfL) took over management of the railway in 2007, it has set new standards for rail travel in the capital with staffed stations, air-conditioned trains and fast, high-frequency services London-wide. In just five years passenger numbers have quadrupled, with more than 100 million journeys now being made each year on the London Overground and more than 300 million to date.

London Overground has appeared consistently in the top five of National Rail’s reliability tables and has also scored highly in passenger satisfaction surveys by watchdog, Passenger Focus. Early next month, a final link in the network from Clapham Junction to Surrey Quays will be completed, to make London Overground’s orbital network complete.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said:  “From its rebirth, London Overground has become a shining example of how railways should be run. Londoners have flocked to the capital’s new service, enjoying the improved standards and connections it provides. The network will soon orbit our city, bringing a fast and frequent metro like service to thousands and dramatically improving transport options in South East London.”

TfL’s Chief Operating Officer for London Rail, Howard Smith, said: “London Overground’s first five years have seen meteoric growth in both the railway network and passenger numbers.

“We’ve extended the Overground to West Croydon and Crystal Palace, we’ve linked Dalston Junction to Highbury & Islington and soon we’ll cross south London to the major rail gateway of Clapham Junction.

“We’ve bought a new fleet of 57 new air-conditioned trains, we’ve built new stations, refurbished old ones with 21st century passenger facilities and we’ve put staff at every station while the trains are running. In north London, we replaced a signalling system and tracks that had been in place since Victorian times.

“In short, London Overground is a perfect example of how – if you put passengers at the centre of everything you do – they will use the services you offer. Londoners want a safe, frequent and reliable service to get them around the capital and London Overground provides it.”

Steve Murphy, the Managing Director of London Overground Rail Operations Ltd (LOROL), the company which runs the service on behalf of TfL, said:  “LOROL’s challenge over the last five years has been to create a world-class transport system for London from one which had suffered significant neglect.

“We have met this challenge head-on and created a network that now provides London rail passengers with safe, reliable, welcoming and value for money services at all times. Passenger satisfaction has soared and punctuality is at an all time high which is exceptional for a metro style service with more than 370,000 passenger journeys are made every day.”

TGLP welcomes CBI call for growth in skills and employability

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The Thames Gateway London Partnership welcomes the publication of CBI’s briefing paper ‘Mapping the route to growth rebalancing employment.’

The paper which examines  the UK’s track record of labour market achievement and highlights the challenges for the future, supports a number of TGLP’s key objectives in particular the need for investment and growth in the employment and skills sector. TGLP welcomes the CBI’s call for change in order to avoid  ‘a polarisation of skills levels’ with more higher skills required in London. TGLP believes that it is essential  to invest in the long term and exploit the opportunities and talents available in the labour market.

TGLP Chief Executive Ros Dunn stated ‘TGLP welcomes the publication of CBI’s briefing paper which reinforces our concerns that the level of employment has unduly suffered during the economic downturn  and has affected the greater South East as much as the rest of the country. TGLP calls for greater investment in the skills sector and for the government to recognise that  the skills sector is one of the key drivers of employment growth.’

Notes to Editor:

  • TGLP is a cross river cross party organisation representing the 10 local authorities and 8 universities in the Thames Gateway area.
  • CBI’s ‘Mapping the route to growth rebalancing employment’ can be found here

Shadow Minister visits the Thames Gateway

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The Shadow Thames Gateway Minister Chris Williamson recently paid a visit (8.6.11) to London’s Thames Gateway, an area of great unexploited potential earmarked for significant housing and jobs growth due to the availability of brownfield land and the upcoming Olympic games.

Speaking of the visit the Shadow Minister Chris Williamson stated:

“The visit to Thames Gateway was very interesting.  The scale of the project is huge and I was impressed by the staff I met.  It is exciting to see such a massive scheme flourish which is vital to realising London’s full potential.

The jobs and regeneration the scheme is creating are essential in revitalising London’s economy.  The Government should undoubtedly be showing the scheme more support through these tough economic times and ensure our Capital is not left behind on the world stage.”

During the visit the Mr Williamson visited Newham’s viewing gallery meeting with Councillor Conor McAuley (Newham) discussing river crossings, employability and skills and the benefits of Olympics. The Shadow Minister also visited Barking Riverside meeting members from the Barking Riverside project and representatives from the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham’s regeneration team.

London must not be left behind

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The Thames Gateway London Partnership, a cross party cross river organisation representing the 10 local authorities and 8 universities in the Thames Gateway area, yesterday (08.06.011) gave evidence to the Communities and Local Government Select Committee enquiry into regeneration alongside the London Borough of Newham.

The enquiry held in response to the Government publication ‘Regeneration to enable growth: What growth is doing to support community led regeneration’ heard from TGLP’s Chief Executive Ros Dunn,  who argued that London should not be penalised by Government policies, pointing to the region’s exclusion from the National Insurance Holiday, noting that:

‘Rebalancing the economy must mean levelling up, not down. London is the engine of the UK economy and must not be held back or allowed to fall back.’

Dunn also called for strong national leadership and recognition from government that targeted investment and community led regeneration need to be properly linked up.

TGLP’s Chief Executive Ros Dunn stated ‘The Communities and Local Government select committee hearing, provided TGLP the platform to present London’s case to central government. We hope the committee listens to our points and recommends them to central government.’