Four months of commuter misery on Overground line
Published: 18 February 2010
by PETER GRUNER
COMMUTERS beware – there will be no service on the Gospel Oak, Camden Road and Highbury and Islington to Stratford Overground line for almost four months to allow for a £326million upgrade.
From this Saturday, a rail replacement bus service will run between Stratford and Hampstead Heath every 20 minutes in both directions, six days a week. On Sundays, there will be two buses an hour.
The buses, however, will not stop at Caledonian Road and Barnsbury because of access restrictions to that station.
An additional stop has been set up outside Holloway Road Tube station, which passengers from Caledonian Road and Barnsbury may reach via the Piccadilly line from Caledonian Road, or the 153 bus from Hemingford Road.
The aim of the work, according to Transport for London, is to provide passengers with longer and more frequent trains.
TfL London Rail managing director Ian Brown apologised for the inconvenience, saying: “This was one of the most neglected railways in the UK when we took it over two years ago and these are essential works that will help us unlock the true potential of the London Overground network. We will offer a far more frequent Metro-style, turn-up- and-go service.”
Mr Brown said that restricting work to weekends would have meant disruption would have lasted much longer.
More than 200 signals, seven kilometres of track and 69 sets of points will be improved and 30 station platforms lengthened.
When the upgrade is finished in 2011, services from Richmond and Clapham Junction to Stratford will run four times an hour all day every day, with six trains an hour between Willesden Junction and Camden Road and eight trains an hour between Camden Road and Stratford.