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Travellers at Highbury and Islington station |
Arriving soon... the £260m trains set to transform ‘Cinderella’ line
Transport boss admits overcrowding ‘unacceptable’ as passengers threaten rail protest
A NEW £260million fleet of trains is due to be introduced on the overcrowded North London “Cinderella” overground line in June this year.
Currently being tested, the trains are to come into operation after Transport for London admitted that conditions for passengers using the line are “unacceptable”.
The new air-conditioned trains, longer than those currently operating on the line, will have more space and allow passengers to walk through from one end to the other.
By 2011, the trains will double in frequency from the current four an hour at peak times to eight.
TfL senior executive Julie Dixon explained the programme of major improvements when she was invited by the Tribune, on behalf of long-suffering passengers, to witness overcrowded conditions first hand at Highbury and Islington station on Monday evening.
Ms Dixon was responding to a recent Tribune article in which commuters fed up with overcrowding threatened civil disobedience, including preventing trains leaving the platform.
On Monday, Ms Dixon, TfL head of marketing and communications, observed heaving crowds of commuters waiting for trains.
Ms Dixon said: “I don’t think anyone at TfL is denying that this is a busy service. It was busy before we took over and it has become even busier. There are many reasons for this, including being on the Tube map, passengers being able to use Oyster cards on the system and, of course, the fact that there are a lot of new developments locally.
“This was once the forgotten line or the ‘Cinderella line’ but over the next two years we are introducing an expensive programme of improvements.”
Talking about the new fleet of trains, Ms Dixon said: “At the moment you have four trains an hour on the Richmond to Stratford service. This is obviously not enough at peak times.
“The current trains, built in the 1970s, are from a bygone age. The new stock will give a lot more room and improve the service. We are hoping to double the frequency by 2011, with up to eight trains an hour in the peak.
“We are also modernising platform passenger information boards so they provide immediate information. At the moment there is often a 20-minute delay before we can give out messages.
“We are also planning to improve platforms at 40 stations on the line.”
At the same time, extensions to the East London line will link Crystal Palace and West Croydon in the south with Highbury and Islington, via Shoreditch High Street, by 2011.
Meanwhile, TfL is carrying out infrastructure work, including new signalling and communications, and track improvements to allow longer and more frequent trains.
More than 68,000 journeys are made on the North London line each day and much of the system is out of date, with Victorian infrastructure having suffered decades of under-investment and neglect. Many stations are described as dirty, dingy and are said to feel unsafe.
Ms Dixon said that the ultimate aim would be to modernise stations, make walls graffiti-resistant and provide a service where passengers will, as on the Tube, simply turn up and go. |
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