A new era of rail travel for the Capital began today as the Mayor of London and Chair of TfL, Boris Johnson, opened the first section of London Overground’s new £1 billion East London route, delivered early and on budget.

The railway, which builds on and extends the old East London Line, will give Londoners fast and reliable cross-river rail journeys in a fleet of new air-conditioned trains running from Dalston Junction in the north via the City and Docklands to New Cross, Crystal Palace and West Croydon in the south. It will support the regeneration of some of London’s poorest boroughs and provide access to jobs, education and leisure opportunities to many who were not previously well connected to the city’s transport network.

The line will open at first under "Preview Running" status which will offer a limited service of eight trains per hour from 7am till 8pm, Monday to Friday from Dalston Junction to New Cross Gate stations. On 23 May, a full service will start operating from Dalston Junction to West Croydon. Every station will be staffed while the trains are running.


The new London Overground line delivers:

• A brand new fleet of 20 walk-through and air-conditioned Class 378 Electrostar trains with a capacity of 494 each, carrying some 100,000 passengers a day in year one. Each has driver-monitored CCTV, wider doors and gangways, and wheelchair spaces. A further 13 trains will join the fleet by 2012
• Four new bright, modern and fully accessible stations for Hackney, which also feature state-of-the-art audio-visual customer communications and CCTV. The stations at Dalston Junction, Haggerston, Hoxton, and Shoreditch High Street put the borough on the Tube map for the first time
• 14 refurbished stations with upgraded CCTV, passenger information systems and lighting, with staff on duty at all times when trains are running
• A key component of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games transport network, delivered early and on budget.

Mr Johnson, said: "This new railway will bring jobs and opportunities to communities up and down the line, massively improving access for hundreds of thousands of people.

"In this £1 billion upgrade, the old has been fused with the best of the new - the Victorian genius of Brunel's tunnel under the Thames now comprises part of a network of almost space-age stations, which will soon form an orbital railway around the Capital.

"This type of investment is essential if London, throwing off the shackles of recession, is to emerge with the ability to grow, prosper, and secure its position at the summit of world cities, to the benefit of all Londoners."

(CD)