The orbital to be "M25 of rail", says Boris Johnson

Date: 10/12/2012

The outer London rail orbital has now been opened to the public, offering a link between Surrey Quays in the south-east and Clapham Junction in the south of the capital.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson has dubbed the 6.75-mile long route the "M25 of rail", as it is designed to provide cheaper fares and help to cut down on congestion.

This latest addition to the London transport network is the first orbital rail route to be built in the city since the Circle Line was constructed on the Tube in 1884.

The Overground system now travels through 21 of the 32 boroughs which make up the capital with those onboard the orbital now able to alight at stations such as Willesden Junction, Clapham Junction, Highbury and Islington and Gospel Oak.

Mike Stubb, Director for London Overground said: "The mayor called it the M25 of rail, but we think we are better than that because we keep moving."

As many as 12.3 million people are expected to travel on the route each year, with four trains running every hour.

The orbital replaces services previously provided by Thameslink on the South London Line between London Bridge and Victoria via Denmark Hill and Peckham Rye.

Howard Smith, Chief Operating Officer for Transport for London, said: "It'll take tens of thousands of people out of the middle of London. The number of journeys on the Overground per day is more than 300,000, that's going to go up by about 25,000 every day."

As well as making use of the line which was already in operation, 1.3 kilometres of track dating back to 1913, which has been disused for some time, has been rebuilt as part of the new link.

Forty-eight new drivers will help to run the service and two new platforms have been built at Clapham Junction for it, with the new trains raising the number running on the Overground from 945 to 1,090.

Posted by Nick Anderson

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