Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Funding for Electrification for Barking to Gospel Oak welcomed
Photo by Sunil060902 from Wikipedia
Adapted from a Joanne McCartney press release:
The Barking to Gospel Oak line will be electrified following today’s announcement of a borrowing guarantee of £90m.
Labour London Assembly Members wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne in May asking for funding to electrify the line in today’s Comprehensive Spending Review. Electrification is necessary to ease the current overcrowding and improve air quality, the London Assembly Members argued.
Local London Assembly Member Joanne McCartney said:
“I welcome today’s long-awaited decision for the essential electrification of the Gospel Oak to Barking line. This route is an anomaly in being the only line in the area dependent on diesel trains and electrification will make it connected with the rest of London’s transport.
Tags for Forum Posts: barking to gospel oak line, overground
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Glenn Wallis on
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The Barking - Gospel Oak Rail User Group is thrilled that its six year campaign has come to a successful conclusion. It issued the following interim statement late yesterday:
AT LONG LAST! SPARKS EFFECT FOR BARKING – GOSPEL OAK!
A full press release will be issued in the next few days, but it is still hard to believe that after six years campaigning, during which time it certainly felt at if we were banging our collective head against a brick wall, at least as far as Government were concerned, that the 10-mile ‘diesel island’ of the Barking – Gospel Oak Line is finally to be integrated with the rest of NE London’s electric railway.
- Passengers will benefit from quiet, pollution free electric trains with quicker acceleration and more coaches
- Along with electrification of the Great Western and Midland Lines, already authorised*, it should be possible to progressively change the majority of freight trains crossing North London by either the Barking – Gospel Oak or North London Lines from diesel to electric locomotives over the next 5 years, further reducing noise and pollution. *The West Coast, East Coast and Great Eastern Main Lines are already electrified.
The surprising thing about today’sInvesting in Britain’s future announcement by Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, is that the Government’s investment in Barking – Gospel Oak electrification is said to be £115m, way over the £45-50m estimated by the industry and campaigners. BGORUG is seeking to find out just how this £115m was arrived at:
- Is this a fixed sum, or a provisional allocation, subject to revision at the completion of Network Rail's GRIP 3 study?
- Does this global figure include:
- Wiring the connections to the Midland Main Line at Carlton Road?
- Wiring the connections to the East Coast Main Line at Harringay?
- Wiring from Thameshaven Junction into London Gateway?
- Wiring other freight sidings along the Tilbury Line?
- Does this global figure include any funding provision for TfL to source additional electric rolling stock for the Overground service?
- Does this global figure include the £25m already allocated by TfL toward electrification?
BGORUG offers its undying gratitude for all the help and support we have received from MPs Jeremy Corbyn, Stella Creasy and John Cryer and the London Assembly, especially Members Val Shawcross CBE, Caroline Pidgeon MBE, Jennette Arnold OBE, Joanne McCartney, John Biggs, Andrew Dismore, Roger Evans and Richard Tracey and their staffs. Thank you one and all!
Thanks are also due to our friends in railway industry and industry press, including Modern Railways and RAIL magazines. Also the SouthTottenham.org blog for setting up the e-petition on the Government web site.
Perhaps we can now look forward to a Mayoral visit to the line?
Glenn Wallis
Secretary
Barking - Gospel Oak Rail User Group
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Permalink Reply by Andy H on
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oh gawd...our house already shakes like a shivering cold puppy everytime the freight trains thunder past at 4.30am.
When we first moved in it was like we had a poltergeist as things kept hopping of the shelves overnight.
When David Lammy was angling to be elected as MP for this area he came round and listened with mock concern to the residents complaints abot the freight trains... he was then elected and did nothing about it until he was up for re-election, when he once again appeared on our doorstep looking concerned about our complaints and has once again failed to follow this matter up.
Personally i assume they will plough ahead with whatever suits big business and sod the local residents who are inconvenienced...we will just have to get used to it.... but then my enthusiasm for people power and faith in democracy went out of the window after 2 million of us marched against the Iraq war and were ignored!
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Stan & Andy H, the reason for the surprise over the £115m quoted by the Treasury is, as I've stated already is BGORUG and our industry contacts all agree that the electrification of the line won't cost more than £45-50m in total, so we wonder what all that other cash is for as detailed in the questions in my last post.
Lets be clear, the trains to/from London Gateway port were coming anyway, regardless of this decision. All it means is that the rail freight operating companies will now have the option of putting an electric locomotive on the front instead of a diesel. Admittedly not many would pass through Haringey, but are you really arguing for all those hundreds (in time potentially thousands) of containers to go by individual lorries?
The benefit for passngers is that electric trains with more than two carriages will be able to relieve the overcrowding from 2015-16 when the wires should be live. In the meantime we are asking for some seats to be taken out of the existing diesels and more handrails to be put in so there is more room for standing passengers.
Regards
Glenn Wallis
Secretary
Barking - Gospel Oak Rail User Group
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