Gospel Oak to Barking line
ALondon Overground Class 710Aventra departingCrouch Hill in 2019
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Network Rail [1]
Locale	Greater London
Termini	Gospel Oak Barking Riverside
Stations	13
Service
Type	Suburban rail andgoods
System	National Rail
Services	1
Operator(s)	London Overground
Rolling stock	Class 710 "Aventra"
Technical
Line length	13 miles 58 chains (22.1 km)
Number of tracks	2
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge
Electrification	Series 225 kV ACOHLE
Route map (Click to expand)

v t e Gospel Oak to Barking line
Legend
North London line toRichmond Midland Main Line viaLuton Gospel Oak North London line toStratford Highgate Road Low-level Highgate Road High-level Midland Main Line toSt Pancras Northern line Junction Road Archway Northern line Upper Holloway Hornsey Road Crouch Hill Edgware, Highgate & London Railway East Coast Main Line Manor House Piccadilly line Harringay Green Lanes Victoria line St Ann's Road Seven Sisters Lea Valley lines (7 Sisters branch) South Tottenham Tottenham Hale West Anglia Main Line River Lea Blackhorse Road Victoria line Walthamstow Central Chingford branch line Walthamstow Queen's Rd Leyton Midland Road A12 road Central line Leytonstone High Road Wanstead Park Forest Gate Great Eastern Main Line Woodgrange Park High Speed 1 London Tunnel 2 London, Tilbury & Southend line toFenchurch Street Hammersmith & City and District lines toAldgate East East Ham East Ham Depot North Circular Road River Roding Barking Station Junction Barking Barking sidings District line toUpminster LT&S toSouthend viaUpminster Barking Freight Terminal London, Tilbury & Southend line toSouthend viaRainham Castle Green (proposed) Barking Riverside River Thames
[2][3][4]

TheGospel Oak to Barking line,^[5] also shortened toGOBLIN,^[6] is arailway line in London. It is 13 miles 58 chains (22.1 km) in length and carries both throughgoods trains andLondon Overground passenger trains, connectingGospel Oak in north London andBarking Riverside in east London. The line is part ofNetwork Rail Strategic Route 6, and is classified as a London and South East Commuter line.^[7]

On 15 February 2024, Transport for London announced that the Overground service which runs on the line will be branded as theSuffragette line, with the new name coming into use in November 2024.^[8][9]

For much of its existence the line has played a minor role in London's transport system; however, in recent years it has received significant investment to increase its capacity, including full 25kV ACoverhead electrification, completed in 2018.^[10] At the eastern end of the line, the extension to theBarking Riverside regeneration site opened on 18 July 2022.^[11]

The line is mostly an amalgamation of lines built in the 19th century. The main section, between South Tottenham and Woodgrange Park, was built as theTottenham and Forest Gate Railway, a joint project between theMidland Railway and theLondon, Tilbury and Southend Railway. This opened on 9 July 1894, linking the Midland and Great Eastern joint line at South Tottenham and the Forest Gate and Barking line at Woodgrange Park. The section west of South Tottenham was built as theTottenham and Hampstead Junction Railway, which opened in 1868 but had not been commercially successful as a stand-alone railway.^{[citation needed]}

Although the route between Upper Holloway and Woodgrange Park has been constant, several stations have been the ends of the line.Kentish Town,St Pancras,Gospel Oak andMoorgate (via St Pancras) have all been the western termini.East Ham was an alternative eastern terminus for some time. Some trains were extended beyond Barking to destinations such asSouthend andTilbury. There was a regular boat train service between St Pancras and Tilbury.^{[citation needed]}

A connection to Gospel Oak was added in 1888, but the routes via Kentish Town remained the primary ones and the Gospel Oak branch was abandoned during 1926. The connection to East Ham was abandoned in 1958.^{[citation needed]}

TheTottenham and Hampstead Junction Railway section of the line had stations that were closed due to proximity to other stations or for other reasons. These includeHighgate Road (closed 1918),Junction Road (closed 1943),Hornsey Road (closed 1943) andSt Ann's Road (closed 1942).^[12]

The line was considered for closure to passengers in 1963 as part of theBeeching Axe,^[13] but local users protested and formed an action group to prevent closure. Beeching's proposals for London were not implemented for the most part, and the line remained open. Even so, it was allowed to fall into a poor state of repair and reliability,^[14] and by 1980 had been cut back to an hourly service between Kentish Town and Barking. The station canopies were gradually demolished, ticket offices closed and staff withdrawn from stations.^{[citation needed]}

During 1981, the situation began to improve when electrification and upgrades to the line out ofSt Pancras (later part ofThameslink) displaced the line from Kentish Town. A new link to Gospel Oak was built and the hourly service from Kentish Town was replaced by the current route from Gospel Oak with two trains per hour. The service remained relatively unreliable, largely due to the age of the rolling stock used, which were initially Class115 and108 units, replaced in the early 1990s by Class117 and121 units.^{[citation needed]}

Initially part ofBritish RailNetwork SouthEast, the line wasprivatised in 1994, the track being owned byRailtrack (subsequentlyNetwork Rail) with the passenger service provided by the North London Railways franchise. This passed toNational Express in 1997, which operated the line under the brand nameSilverlink until November 2007. Under Silverlink, theslam door trains were replaced byClass 150 units in 2000, which improved reliability significantly. There were minor improvements in station facilities (such as CCTV and information points) but no major investment to upgrade the line and boost capacity, and the stations remained unstaffed.

During the opening years of the twenty-first century, many lines within London were running at full capacity, and as a consequence the line took on a new strategic significance as a bypass, relieving load on other lines by allowing passengers to travel between north and east London directly.

TheRailways Act 2005 abolished the franchise and gave the operation of passenger services toTransport for London (TfL). During 2005, TfL started funding a small number of additional peak time and late evening services to relieve the worst overcrowding.^{[citation needed]}

In November 2007, TfL took full control of the line, after which it introduced improved late night and weekend services, and staff, ticket machines andOyster equipment at all stations. The frequency was increased to three trains per hour during morning and afternoon peaks and the line was included on theTube map for the first time.^{[citation needed]}

The line was closed throughout most of September 2008 for upgrade work carried out byNetwork Rail. Capacity was increased from six trains per hour to eight (four each for passenger and goods trains). By replacing the overbridges carrying Sussex Way and Albert Road, and lowering the track in some other locations, it was made possible forW10 loading gauge goods trains to operate.Electrification was not included.^[15]

In 2010, eight newClass 172Turbostar diesel trains replaced the Class 150 units, with two 23-metre coaches and the option to introduce a third coach.^[16][17] The service frequency was increased to four trains per hour in January 2011.^[18]

During 2008, electrification was ruled out by the Mayor of London on grounds of cost and difficulty of electrifying a line with so many viaducts and bridges,^[19] but the Network Route Utilisation Strategy published byNetwork Rail in October 2009 showed abenefit–cost ratio for the scheme of 2.4:1.^[20] During 2012, theMayor of London,Boris Johnson, indicated that funding was "a matter for theDepartment for Transport".^[20]

In 2011, Network Rail proposed electrification inControl Period 5 (CP5), however, in July 2012,Justine Greening, theSecretary of State for Transport, stated that electrification was not included in theHigh Level Output Specification for CP5, and that any funds would need to be provided by TfL.^[21] In August, the Mayor wrote to the Secretary of State for Transport to seek a way forward, and "she committed her officials to support work with TfL, Network Rail, train operators and other industry parties to see if a viable way can be found to bridge the funding gap."^[22]

During November 2012, the magazineModern Railways reported that the Department for Transport had ruled out the work on the basis of an estimated cost of£90 million, in contrast to an estimate of £40 million by TfL.^[23]

In June 2013, it was announced that £115 million of funding for electrification would be made available as part of upgrades to rail infrastructure included in the government's 2013 spending round.^[24] At the same time Transport for London announced that they had obtained a £90m commitment from theChancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for Transport.^[25]

In September 2015, Network Rail awarded the £56.9 million contract to electrify the line toJ. Murphy & Sons.^[26] There were part closures (at weekends and from South Tottenham to Barking) from June to late September 2016, followed by a full closure from October 2016 to February 2017. In February 2017, Network Rail announced that whilst the line would re-open as scheduled, they were not able to complete all the work planned due to "incorrect" designs and late delivery of materials.^[27] Further evening and weekend works until late June 2017 were already planned, followed by around four months of commissioning work before the electric wires could be turned on so thatClass 710 trains could run.^[28] Although the line was completely electrified by mid-January 2018,^[29] delays prevented the introduction of new electric trains until 2019.^[30][31]

The line was electrified using the NR Series 2 OLE (Overhead Line Equipment) range.^[32]

On account of the completion of electrification in 2018, new electricClass 710 trains were supposed to run from March 2018. However, the delivery of these trains was delayed by the manufacturer; at one point, officials were not even willing to divulge an anticipated service date for the Class 710 sets.^[33][34][35]

Due to the Class 172 units being needed byWest Midlands Trains, threeClass 378 units (378 206, 378 209 and 378 232) were moved from other parts of theLondon Overground and shortened down from five to four carriages to provide an interim service until the class 710 units entered service. However, six trains are needed to be able to run a full service, so from 15 March 2019 (the day the last Class 172 units left London Overground) the frequency on the line was halved to two trains per hour.^[34]

Increases in passenger numbers led to severe overcrowding at peak times, but it was not possible to increase peak frequencies without reducing the number of goods trains, as the line could accommodate only eight trains per hour in each direction. The two-coach Class 172 diesel trains in use between 2010 and 2019 were incapable of handling the increased number of passengers experienced after the incorporation into the London Overground. Between 2016 and 2018 the line was electrified by Network Rail; this work was delayed due to a number of design, track works and delivery problems. At the same time, platforms were lengthened to accommodate the new four-coach electric Class 710 trains. These trains were intended to be introduced in the spring of 2018, but the delivery was delayed by the manufacturer, the first two entering service on 23 May 2019,^[36] but the existing two trains per hour service was maintained until the full timetable was restored in June of that year.^[37] The full fleet entered service in August 2019.^[38] Because the delay caused timetable cutbacks and continued overcrowding, TfL offered a month's free travel, financed by the manufacturerBombardier, to compensate passengers for the months of disruption they experienced.

The line was extended southeast by 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) from the terminus atBarking to serve theBarking Riverside regeneration area, abrownfield site with permission for around 10,800 new homes.^[39] Proposed in the mid 2010s following cancellation of theDLR extension to Dagenham Dock, the extension was approved in 2017,^[40] leading to construction commencing during late 2018.^[41] Running partially alongside the existingLondon, Tilbury and Southend Railway line and then a new viaduct to theBarking Riverside station, the extension opened to passengers on Monday 18 July 2022^[42] at an estimated cost of £327m.^[43]

On 23 January 2020, a freight wagon derailed between Leyton Midland Road and Walthamstow Queen's Road stations, causing extensive damage to more than 2.5 miles (4 km) of track; the line was closed between Barking and South Tottenham stations while repair works took place, whereby 10,000 tonnes ofballast, 5,300concrete sleepers and 39 new pieces of rail were installed.^[44] The line re-opened on 19 February 2020.^[45]

v t e Suffragette line
Legend
London Overground service
Mildmay line toRichmond Gospel Oak Mildmay line toStratford Archway Northern line Upper Holloway Crouch Hill Harringay Great Northern route Harringay Green Lanes Victoria line Seven Sisters Weaver line South Tottenham Blackhorse Road Victoria line Walthamstow Central Weaver line Walthamstow Queen's Rd Leyton Midland Road Leytonstone High Road Wanstead Park Forest Gate Great Eastern Main Line Woodgrange Park LT&S toFenchurch Street District &H&C toAldgate E Barking District line toUpminster LT&S toSouthend Castle Green (proposed) Barking Riverside River Thames
[46][47]

The line has thirteen stations, eleven of which are managed byLondon Overground, one byc2c (Barking) and one byLondon Underground (Blackhorse Road).

• Gospel Oak
• Upper Holloway
• Crouch Hill
• Harringay Green Lanes
• South Tottenham
• Blackhorse Road
• Walthamstow Queen's Road
• Leyton Midland Road
• Leytonstone High Road
• Wanstead Park
• Woodgrange Park
• Barking
• Barking Riverside

Except at the interchange stations, station facilities are very basic. There are small shelters, information points with recorded service information, information screens and CCTV cameras. Typically, there are one or two staff members on duty. Where there are no station buildings they operate out of container-sized portable offices.

The line has some stations with step-free access, allowing wheelchairs/pushchairs etc. easy access from street level to the platforms, atGospel Oak,Upper Holloway,Harringay Green Lanes,South Tottenham,Walthamstow Queens Road,Barking^[48] andBarking Riverside.^[42]

As the trains do not align exactly with the platform height,wheelchair users require assistance from a member of staff to board or alight from trains. The only exception however is at the newest station on the line, Barking Riverside, built with level access.

The line carries both goods and passenger traffic. It is owned byNetwork Rail, with the exception of the Barking Riverside branch which is owned byTransport for London.

Passenger services on the line are operated byArriva Rail London as part of theLondon Overground network under contract to TfL. There are four trains per hour in each direction, running from around 06:30 to 23:30 on Monday to Saturday, and around 06:30 to 22:00 on Sundays.^[49][50][51] There is a single weekday morning service fromWoodgrange Park toWillesden Junction, calling at all intermediate stations except for Gospel Oak.

The line is heavily used by freight as it provides part of an orbital route around London, connecting with many radial routes and theNorth London Line at Gospel Oak. Freight services are operated byDB Cargo UK,GB Railfreight andFreightliner.^{[citation needed]}

Other services use parts of the line infrequently, or as a diversionary route, but do not stop at most stations:

• c2c operates a few services on the east end of the line throughWoodgrange Park
• London Overground runs a single Saturday service timetabled to connect Tottenham South Junction andSeven Sisters on Lea Valley routes passing through, but not calling at,South Tottenham station^[52]

The line has an active users' group, "The Barking–Gospel Oak Rail User Group".^[53]

In July 2023, Sadiq Khan, Head ofTfL and Mayor Of London announced that it would be giving each of the six Overground services unique names, relevant to the "historical contributions by minority groups" of the area the service passes through, by the end of the following year.^[54][55]

On 15 February 2024, it was confirmed that the service using the Gospel Oak to Barking line would be named theSuffragette line, to honour East London's major contribution to the Suffragette movement. Barking activistAnnie Huggett, who died in 1996 at the age of 104, was known as “The Last Suffragette” due to her great age.^[56] The line will be coloured green on the updated network map; green, along with white and purple, was one of the colours of the Suffragette movement.^[57]

Except at the interchange stations, staffed ticket offices were withdrawn by BR in the late 1980s. With operations transferred to London Overground, self-service ticket machines were introduced in November 2007. Oyster- and contactless-card validators (for touching in and out) are at all stations. The ticket machines can be used to load credit onto Oyster cards. Passengers are required to buy tickets, or touch in with their Oyster or contactless cards, or else face apenalty fare.

Owing to the lack of ticket barriers and the difficulty of ticket verification when trains are crowded, the line has historically had a high level offare avoidance. Under Silverlink most stations lacked any ticket purchasing facilities. In theory, passengers could purchase tickets from the conductors on the trains, but it was not always possible to do this. Following the introduction of the current ticketing arrangements, ticketless travel fell from an estimated peak of 40% under Silverlink, to 2% in March 2008.^[58]

The number of paying passengers has increased very significantly since London Overground assumed the line's management.

This is the passenger volume for the years beginning April 2002 to April 2023.^[59]

• The large increases in the year beginning April 2006 were partly due to travelcards for National Rail journeys being made from stations that have only a London Underground office and also using a different methodology to estimate likely journeys made from National Rail stations in Zone 1.
• The large increases in the year beginning April 2010 were partly due toOyster Cards being introduced in January 2010,^[60] and new rolling stock.
• Usage of the Gospel Oak to Barking line on the London Overground reduced as a result of engineering works throughout the year. Work included a full closure between October 2016 and February 2017.
• Barking Riverside opened in 2022.

Until 2010 London Overground operated sixClass 150 two-coach diesel units on the line. They were replaced by eightClass 172/0 two-coachdiesel multiple units (DMUs).

In 2017, all trains werediesel powered as the line was not fullyelectrified, with only two short sections havingoverhead electrification, at South Tottenham, to provide a link from Seven Sisters to Stratford, and from the junction with theGreat Eastern Main Line toBarking but excluding the bay platform which this service uses. These sections were used only by occasional electric trains on other routes or by goods trains.^{[citation needed]}

Electrification of the line was completed in 2018, but electric trains did not run at first as the delivery of the newClass 710 sets had been delayed.^[61] As the leases for the Class 172 came to an end in early 2019,London Overground temporarily shortened three of itsClass 378s to run on the line to substitute the Class 172s until the long-delayed Class 710s entered service on 23 May 2019.^[36] All of the Class 378s were replaced by Class 710s by August 2019.

The line has same-station interchanges with:

• theNorth London Line at Gospel Oak
• theVictoria line at Blackhorse Road
• theHammersmith & City line,District line andc2c at Barking

There are out-of-station interchanges at:^[62]

• Harringay Green Lanes toHarringay on theGreat Northern Route
• South Tottenham toSeven Sisters on the Seven Sisters Branch of theLea Valley Lines and theLondon Underground Victoria line. (Signposting in the street does not indicate the pedestrian/cycle route between the two stations through Stonebridge Road.)
• Walthamstow Queens Road toWalthamstow Central on the Chingford branch of theLea Valley Lines and theLondon Underground Victoria line. A footpath between the two stations, considerably shortening the foot journey between them, opened on 11 August 2014.^[63] While the footpath was first proposed in 1996, works had been delayed due to protracted legal battles over planning permission.^[64]
• Wanstead Park toForest Gate on theGreat Eastern Main Line
• Woodgrange Park toManor Park on theGreat Eastern Main Line

There are official TfL out-of-station-interchanges,^[65] whereby the passenger can continue an unbroken journey between:

• Upper Holloway andArchway on theNorthern line
• Leytonstone High Road andLeytonstone on theCentral line

Two other interchanges are walkable:

• Harringay Green Lanes andManor House on thePiccadilly line
• Crouch Hill andFinsbury Park on thePiccadilly line andVictoria line

Residents inWalthamstow complained in 2012 that vibrations from goods traffic on the line were causing damage to their houses.^[66]

As part of the extension toBarking Riverside, a station, called Castle Green, at Renwick Road on theLondon, Tilbury & Southend Railway was proposed.^[67] Although not built as part of the extension to Barking Riverside, the station site was safeguarded so that it can be built at a later stage.^[68]

Following the plan to extend the line toBarking Riverside, there were also proposals to extend the line further across the river toAbbey Wood viaThamesmead, to allow for easier Orbital journeys in East London, and provideThamesmead with a railway connection for the first time.^[69] This was outlined in theR25 orbital railway proposal in 2014,^[70] and the potential of a future extension was mentioned in the inspectors report of theTransport and Works Order authorising the extension to Barking Riverside.^[40]

However, in 2019Transport for London andCity Hall proposed anextension of the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) to serveThamesmead instead of an extension of theOverground, as part of the proposed Thamesmead and Abbey WoodOAPF (Opportunity Area Planning Framework).^[71] A DLR extension was chosen due to lower connectivity benefits of an Overground extension, the low frequency (four trains per hour) of the Gospel Oak to Barking line, and — most significantly — a construction cost twice as much as the DLR, as the gradients required to cross theRiver Thames would require large scale tunnelling works when compared to the DLR.^[72] Despite recommending an extension of the DLR toThamesmead, the consultation also noted that an extension of the Gospel Oak to Barking line could provide good orbital transport links in the long term.

Local residents and users of the line have proposed adding a station betweenLeytonstone High Road andWanstead Park to serve theCann Hall area. TheLeyton and Wanstead branch of theLabour Party has expressed an interest in the proposal.^[73] The line's user group and Islington Borough Council have been pressing for the reopening of the station atJunction Road, as its proximity toTufnell Park Underground station would allow interchange with theNorthern line.^[74]

• "London's forgotten railway".RAIL. No. 321. EMAP Apex Publications. 31 December 1997 – 13 January 1998. pp. 18–22.ISSN 0953-4563.OCLC 49953699.

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