The Department for Transport should devolve control of the capital’s suburban services to Transport for London as existing franchises expire, says the London Assembly Transport Committee.
The process would start with Southeastern from 2018, then Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern in 2021, and South Western at a date to be confirmed. The recommendation forms the key point in the committee’s Devolving Rail Services to London report released on October 16.
Buoyed by the success of London Overground, which operates on a concession basis rather than the franchises used elsewhere in England, the report says: “The long-term ambition for the Mayor and TfL should be to use those powers to establish a genuine metro-style rail service in South London and beyond, one that is comparable in its capacity and reliability to the London Underground.”
- For more on this, read RAIL 786, published on October 28.
Andrewjgwilt1989 - 25/10/2015 20:02
London Overground could extend from New Cross to Hayes and Bromley North and West Ealing-Greenford service could also be taken over by London Overground with a new bay platform as a terminus for West Ealing-Greenford trains. Plus London Overground could also operate the Stratford-Watford Junction service if plans to reopen Primrose Hill station in North London.