Barking Riverside Extension (London Overground) Updates

[J-2739]

This could allow for new destinations from one of the most isolated areas of London, I support this.

I don't live in London, but I've been to Thamesmead many times, and you literally never thought of taking the train from Abbey Wood. Advertising the station more would help.

 

[J-2739]

Hey peoples, for somebody who is not familiar with the area, what is the best way to find maps and photos of the area?

Is there a local council website who likes to promote their area in this way?

Sorry for late reply:
http://barkingriverside.co.uk/
It's not really a local site as such, but gives you an insight of what's going on.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

This could allow for new destinations from one of the most isolated areas of London, I support this.

I don't live in London, but I've been to Thamesmead many times, and you literally never thought of taking the train from Abbey Wood. Advertising the station more would help.

I'm sure most people who live in Thamesmead know the station is there. The problem is getting to it! Hopefully that problem will be somewhat eased when Crossrail arrives, partly because it'll cause TfL to route more buses to the station, and partly because the new station will actually have it's entrance where all the bus stops for Thamesmead buses are.

I think the best thing for access though would've been to run the DLR right through to Abbey Wood - the current plans have it stopping in Thamesmead. I think the DLR would be better than the Overground for connecting to Abbey Wood because the Overground is only like to have one station in Thamesmead - the DLR would have several, thus serving more of the area - and be more frequent.

The benefit of the Overground is more the potential to allow more orbital journeys by public transport. Not as good (although still better than nothing) for giving local connections to rail at Abbey Wood.

 

[J-2739]

Yeah, I agree. This could be an opportunity for that area to be opened up and regenerated. Perhaps the DLR extenstion to Thamesmead could have future provision for a further extension to interchange with National Rail services at Abbey Wood.

 

[plcd1]

The Secretary of State for Transport has approved the TWAO for the Barking Riverside extension.

http://www.railjournal.com/index.php/commuter-rail/go-ahead-for-london-overground-barking-riverside-extension.html?channel=00

BRITAIN’s secretary of state for transport Mr Chris Grayling has approved a Transport and Works Act Order for the extension of London Overground’s Gospel Oak - Barking line to Barking Riverside.

The extension will use part of the existing London Fenchurch Street - Tilbury line east of Barking, diverging onto a new 1.6km electrified branch at Renwick Road to reach the two-platform Riverside terminus.

Barking Riverside is the largest brownfield housing development in east London, with planning permission for 10,800 homes as well as healthcare, retail, and leisure facilities.

The £263m extension is fully funded and the developers of the site, Barking Riverside Limited, will provide £172m towards the project with the remainder coming from Transport for London (TfL).

Balfour Beatty, Carillion, and Volker Fitzpatrick were shortlisted for a contract to build the extension in December 2016 and TfL expects to issue an invitation to tender to the three bidders in the autumn. Preliminary works will begin before the end of the year and the project is due to be completed in 2021.

The Gospel Oak - Barking line is currently being electrified and TfL has ordered a fleet of eight four-car Aventra EMUs from Bombardier to replace the class 172 DMUs currently used on the route.

Another area set to see a lot of change and more orange added to the London rail map. Also more class 710s will have to be ordered in due course.

EDIT

Some of the relevant paperwork from the DfT.

Decision Letter

Inspector's Report

 

[J-2739]

Bit rich that Chris G lets this go through, while electrification in the north is looking dead.

Oh well.

 

[telstarbox]

It's mostly funded by the developer, not really comparable.

 

[HSTEd]

If this carries on I am not sure the orange with white stripe line colour being shared by all of London Overground is going to be sustainable

The map is getting very crowded.

 

[J-2739]

It's mostly funded by the developer, not really comparable.

Ye, I guess so.

If this carries on I am not sure the orange with white stripe line colour being shared by all of London Overground is going to be sustainable

The map is getting very crowded.

Perhaps they need to do away with this circular railway idea. I mean, who actually utilizes that??

 

[telstarbox]

It doesn't run in a circle.

 

[J-2739]

I didn't say it was a circle, did you read my post? I said 'circular railway idea', which is kinda true seeing the original plan of the Overground.

 

[cle]

Good news - no comment on Abbey Wood or an interim station?

Could Fenchurch Street shuttles run? Potentially a waste of paths I guess, especially if short formed - and now that trains will all stop at most stations like West Ham.

 

[chris11256]

Good news - no comment on Abbey Wood or an interim station?

Could Fenchurch Street shuttles run? Potentially a waste of paths I guess, especially if short formed - and now that trains will all stop at most stations like West Ham.

Doubt it. Fenchurch Street is pretty much full during peaks currently. Besides at Barking itself most passengers use platform 4/5 for interchange between LU and c2c. I never see many waiting around 7/8.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

If this carries on I am not sure the orange with white stripe line colour being shared by all of London Overground is going to be sustainable

The map is getting very crowded.

While it's true that the map is already vey crowded, I'm not sure that a one-stop extension to an existing line is going to make any noticeable difference to that.

Good news - no comment on Abbey Wood or an interim station?

TfL don't have any immediate plans for an intermediate station, so that wouldn't have been part of the plans submitted by TfL. Ditto Abbey Wood. Sadiq Khan has expressed an intention for TfL to investigate extending to Abbey Wood, and the political desire does appear to be there, but there's no money on the table to do it yet.

 

[swt_passenger]

TfL don't have any immediate plans for an intermediate station, so that wouldn't have been part of the plans submitted by TfL. Ditto Abbey Wood. Sadiq Khan has expressed an intention for TfL to investigate extending to Abbey Wood, and the political desire does appear to be there, but there's no money on the table to do it yet.

I thought the earlier post by 'cle' meant 'interim' as in temporary.

But the inspector's report does address the point made by a consultation respondent that a surface station at 'Riverside' would be a waste of money, he agrees with TfL's belief that even if it only lasts a few years then it will have already paid for itself in encouraging the overall development.

I expect they looked at the precedent of Mudchute DLR?

 

[mr_jrt]

It does seem madness to waste so much money on a potentially temporary station and approach viaduct given that it's an unconstrained open site. All they need to do is excavate a station box deep enough for an eventual tunnel and oversized overrun tunnels under a open surface area (i.e. a plaza or road junction) outside the station suitable for assembling (or receiving!) a TBM in. Rather than building an approach viaduct they then excavate a ramp and some cut and cover tunnels instead. Building underground also makes the over-station development much easier.

 

[gc1982]

http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2018/12/21/196m-barking-rail-extension-awarded/


Finally

 

[Esker-pades]

The text from the above article reads as follows:

A joint venture between Morgan Sindall and VolkerFitzpatrick has secured the London Overground rail extension from Barking to the planned 10,000 homes Riverside scheme.

Transport for London negotiated the deal with the joint venture for a price of £196m, including a new Barking Riverside station.

Balfour Beatty was the other contender left in the race after Carillion’s collapse last year.

The joint venture contractors will construct the 4.5 km extension of the Gospel Oak to Barking line.

Works include the modification of the existing railway lines from Barking station over a stretch of 3km with a new 1.5km railway viaduct extension from Renwick Road overbridge to the new terminus station.

This will involve constructing an embankment ramp up to the new concrete viaduct supporting a 2-track railway extension into the heart of the new residential development at Barking Riverside.

The extension is fully funded, with £172m of the overall cost of the scheme being met by the developers, Barking Riverside Limited.

Works to prepare the site have already taken place, including the demolition of several redundant Network Rail buildings and a disused ramp where the new viaduct will land.

The deal paves the way now for main works to start in May.

 

[Geogregor]

What is the extent of modification of the existing tracks? Are they adding segregated tracks just for the Overground?

 

[Esker-pades]

What is the extent of modification of the existing tracks? Are they adding segregated tracks just for the Overground?

Part of that is sorting out the huge freight tangle that exists around there to try and minimise the amount of new land the railway has to aquire.

 

[ijmad]

What is the extent of modification of the existing tracks? Are they adding segregated tracks just for the Overground?

I can't speak to its accuracy, but carte.metro shows some detail in the area of the extension.

(link to excerpt since the img tags still don't seem to be working)

 

[mr_jarhead]

C2C release info about initial engineering work for the extension down to Barking Riverside

https://www.c2c-online.co.uk/media-centre/latest-news/restricted-tt-20-july-4-august/

https://www.c2c-online.co.uk/media-centre/latest-news/restricted-tt-questions/

 

[Cowley]

Thread reopened for @absolutelymilk to provide an update.

 

[absolutelymilk]

Thanks @Cowley - I can't provide much of an update but works seem to be on track for an Autumn 2022 opening.
Barking Riverside extension on track for autumn 2022 opening

London Overground’s £328 million extension to Barking Riverside remains on course to meet its revised opening date next autumn.

A personal assurance was given by Steve Balliston, Project Director for the joint venture - Morgan Sindall/VolkerFitzPatrick, who told RAIL that he was “110%” confident that there would be no further delays to its entry into service.

I wonder if any forum users have seen any progress on site or know of any upcoming blockades?

 

[OxtedL]

A few photos from back in June showing the viaduct and station well underway.

 

[Ivan Winters]

I live in the North of England so perhaps haven't been following this project in great detail.

Comment 48 from 2018 refers to a £198 million project.
Comment 54 from last week refers to a £328 million project
Thats a difference of £130 million or 65% of the original project cost in three years.
In the North & Midlands projects have been cancelled with this sort of percentage cost overrun but of course this is London so everything is still OK.
In fact compared with previous cost overruns on the Goblin project which also involved Barking this is probably an example of good financial management !!

What is happening on this project to cause such cost overruns ??

 

[OxtedL]

What is happening on this project to cause such cost overruns ??

There is a cost overrun, but it's a little less than you've calculated.

The £196m in the 2018 article was specifically for part of the construction.

The project was originally authorised at £263m - this TfL board paper from 2018 quotes that as being the quantity authorised in 2016:

https://content.tfl.gov.uk/pic-20180516-item07-barking-riverside.pdf

1.1 In February 2016, the Finance and Policy Committee (under delegated authority
from the Board) granted £263.2m of Financial Authority and Project Authority for
the Barking Riverside Extension (BRE) Project.

The full 2021 article from #54 above includes the following quote about cost overruns, due in part to covid delays

But that was before the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic in March 2020 forced all worksite activity to be abandoned for some 63 days, and a crucial signalling commissioning stage to be cancelled.

Meanwhile, the discovery of previously unidentified utilities also contributed to an announcement in December 2020 that the project was running several months late and would require an increase of almost £70m to its initial budget of £260m.

 

[LeeLivery]

I live in the North of England so perhaps haven't been following this project in great detail.

Comment 48 from 2018 refers to a £198 million project.
Comment 54 from last week refers to a £328 million project
Thats a difference of £130 million or 65% of the original project cost in three years.
In the North & Midlands projects have been cancelled with this sort of percentage cost overrun but of course this is London so everything is still OK.
In fact compared with previous cost overruns on the Goblin project which also involved Barking this is probably an example of good financial management !!

What is happening on this project to cause such cost overruns ??

If they cancelled it, that would've meant cancelling 6,500 homes during a housing crisis and scuppering regeneration of an opportunity zone. As for the London comment, pretty sure the Sheffield Tram-Train overran by a substantial bit...

 

[andreading]

Looks like a similar investment per housing unit as the Northern Line Extension at circa £40-45,000 per dwelling. There was a plan (now cancelled) at Grazeley, south west of Reading, for 15,000 new houses which had a rail investment cost of circa £1000 (one thousand) per dwelling for a replacement rail station on the Reading-Basingstoke line. That shows a clear need to get local authorities outside the M25 to raise Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) rates and make Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) bids

 

[fgwrich]

I wasn't sure whether to put these in this thread or the other Barking - Gospel Oak thread currently running, but I've just happen to stumble upon these photos on Flickr taken by Purley Phottr on a recent visit if anyone's interested.

Ready To Roll (nearly)

The station building of Barking Riverside is seen in what is currently a construction site, but in the not too distant future London Overground services will be operating to and from Gospel Oak. Little series of photos taken during an official visit to the new Barking Riverside site. The new...

www.flickr.com

End Of The Line

Looking towards the buffer stops at the new Barking Riverside station. Little series of photos taken during an official visit to the new Barking Riverside site. The new line, which diverges off the Barking to Grays route, is scheduled to open later this year. This will see the current London...

www.flickr.com

Work In Progress

Plenty of building work taking place in the Barking Riverside area, which can be seen from the platforms of the new station. This view will change for sure over the coming months and years as more construction work takes place. Little series of photos taken during an official visit to the new...

www.flickr.com

Check Point

The engineers are certainly doing what is says on the red signs that are clamped to the rails. This view was taken from just off the end of the island platform at Barking Riverside station during an official visit. Little series of photos taken during an official visit to the new Barking...

www.flickr.com

Nearing The End

Looking towards the terminus of Barking Riverside station. Construction work of the new extension is nearing completion, and in a few months time train services should be running. Little series of photos taken during an official visit to the new Barking Riverside site. The new line, which...

www.flickr.com

Solid Base

Concrete slab track all the way over the new viaduct and into Barking Riverside station. In the distance it's just about visible the new viaduct dips down in order for trains to pass under the power lines that run from the nearby power station. Little series of photos taken during an official...

www.flickr.com