I’m writing following our email earlier this month about the ongoing disruption and inconvenience to customers using the Gospel Oak to Barking line.
We are sorry about the continuing delays to the introduction of the new trains. We, along with the Mayor and Deputy Mayor, are continuing to press the manufacturer, Bombardier Transportation, to do all they can to bring them into service.
Unfortunately, Bombardier has still not been able to fix the software problems that are causing the delays. We do not yet have a date for when the new trains will be ready for driver training to start, so we are implementing contingency plans to maintain a service on the line.
As you may know, we have twice extended the lease on the current diesel trains to cover the delay to the new trains. At the end of this week, one of the six remaining diesel trains will be released for use elsewhere in the country. A further two will leave in mid-February, with the final three following in mid-March.
What this means for your service
To ensure continuity of service while we continue to wait for the new trains to arrive, we have decided to modify three of our existing electric trains used elsewhere on the Overground network for temporary use on the Gospel Oak to Barking Line, meaning customers should continue to see a full timetable on the line at this point. These trains are currently used as spare trains. While we will still be able to provide a full timetabled service elsewhere on the Overground, we will have fewer spare trains to restore the service if there are any travel disruptions.
These modified electric trains will have four walk-through carriages, offering around double the capacity of the diesel trains. In the same way as they have been doing for the current diesel trains, Bombardier will deliver an enhanced maintenance programme for the modified electric trains to ensure maximum reliability in this interim period.
Looking ahead
If Bombardier does not have the new trains ready for passenger service before the last diesel trains have been released in mid-March, we will unfortunately need to reduce the weekday service on the Gospel Oak to Barking Line to two trains per hour – though given the modified electric trains can carry twice as many passengers as the existing trains, there should be adequate capacity for anyone wishing to travel along this route.
We will also need to look at further reducing the weekend service to carry out essential maintenance on these trains, but we will work hard to minimise the impact of this. We may also offer a supplementary bus service if it is needed and will keep customers informed via local and social media, posters, station announcements and journey planner.
We are sorry for the inconvenience this likely reduction in frequency will cause and apologise for the disruption and uncertainty customers on the Gospel Oak to Barking line have experienced due to the delay in the new trains becoming available.
The Mayor has spoken directly with Bombardier and asked them to fund a month’s free travel to customers on the Gospel Oak to Barking line when the new trains are fully introduced, however, we recognise that this is no substitute for a fully-functioning service. We will provide more detail on how this will work closer to the time.
We will keep you and our customers updated, but in the meantime, please do get in contact if you have any questions. Please be assured that we will continue to do all we can to minimise disruption for our customers.