"Inner suburban" services from Moorgate - presumably including those serving Palmers Green - are among a list of rail services which will be transferred to Transport for London (TfL) ownership and become part of the London Overground, if newly published proposals go ahead. However, this will not occur before 2021. It also appears that we will have to wait until then before seeing any serious attempt to smarten up the dismal stations along the tunnels between Moorgate and Highbury.
A "new approach"
The eventual transfer to London Overground of "inner suburban rail services that operate mostly or wholly within Greater London" forms part of an agreement between the Department for Transport (DfT) and TfL that was announced yesterday.
Information about the planned partnership has been published ina booklet, A New Approach to Rail Passenger Services in London and the South East. Guiding principles are:
- More frequent services, better interchanges and increased capacity
- Greater reliability for all passengers
- High standards of customer service.
London Overground services are contracted out to a commercial operator (currently National Express), but TfL is able to specify how they are run in great detail and to impose tough service standards. This is very different from the franchising model used for other rail services, where operators set fares and keep the proceeds.
Services will be transferred to London Overground only on expiry of current franchises. Unfortunately for users of the Great Northern lines, Govia's current franchises runs until 2021 and there is an option to extend it.
Timeline
The timetable for the next phase of new train operator contracts in London and the South East is as follows:
- 2017 Services across the South West of the region currently operating under the South Western franchise
- 2018 Services under the current South Eastern franchise from Victoria, Charing Cross, Blackfriars and Cannon Street
- 2021 (or later if the extension in the contract is exercised) Services to the south of London from Victoria and London Bridge, plus northern services from King’s Cross and Moorgate currently operating as part of the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise
London Suburban Metro
The agreement floats an ambitious goal of eventually creating a "London Suburban Metro". An appendix to the booklet has a table listing "possible improvements" in support of this concept for four different groups of suburbs: SW London, S Central London, SE London and "North (from Moorgate)". The possible improvements for North (from Moorgate" are listed as follows:
Possible improvements in support of a London Suburban Metro
Current service levels (excluding fast services)
- Up to 12 trains per hour (tph) in the peak
- 6tph offpeak
Short-term improvements
Planned improvements during current franchises
- Moorgate open seven days a week
- New rolling stock - 25 new 6-car trains
- Additional 3 trains in morning and evening peaks
Medium-term: What could be delivered
Potential improvements under new train operator contracts
- Reliability improvements
- All-day staffing, integrated fares, station deep cleans and refreshes, train refurbishments
- Off-peak service enhancements - 8 trains per hour
Long-term: What could be delivered
Potential further improvements
- Potential resignalling
- Potential Automatic Train Operation
Total end result - service/capacity enhancements
- Further increases in peak and off-peak services
Note: This article was amended in April 2023 to remove erroneous information about step-free access to platforms at Palmers Green station and to restore access to the document published jointly by TfL and the Department for Transport.
