Class 378s allay Gospel Oak route fears… until March
Three four-car Class 378s are now in use on the Gospel Oak-Barking route.
However, with two Class 172s having returned to West Midlands Trains, London Overground still has just six trains for six duties on the route.
The shortage of trains has been caused by the continued delay to the introduction of Bombardier Class 710s - they should have been introduced on the route from March 2018 to replace the two-car ‘172’ diesel fleet that is moving to West Midlands Trains ( RAIL 871, 872).
LO spokesman David Edwards told RAIL that with the three ‘378s’ now in traffic, it means passengers are benefiting from an increase in capacity on the route. And he said LO and Transport for London were continuing to press Bombardier to do all it could to deliver a new ‘710’ as soon as possible.
However, Edwards warned: “If the new trains are not available when the remaining three diesels leave, then we would need to reduce the frequency of the services. We will know more detail nearer the time, and will ensure customers are provided with as much notice about any potential changes as possible.”
The latest ‘172s’ (172005/008) left LO over the weekend of February 16/17. This leaves the operator with 172001/004/007 until mid-March, before they also transfer to WMT.
In a bulletin released on February 8, Barking Gospel Oak Rail User Group Secretary Glenn Wallis said: “BGORUG has been urging TfL to do something to head off this situation for nearly a year.
“We believe there are plenty of off-lease electric trains that could have been hired in and staff trained to operate them, had TfL moved six months ago.
“All TfL has managed to do is kick the can down the road to mid-March, when passengers will find completely unacceptable levels of service and overcrowding every bit as bad as usual, with no end in sight. We have no idea when these new trains will be fit for public service.”
No one at Bombardier was available for comment. Sources have suggested there is no date for the first ‘710’ to be ready, and that this will have an impact on delivery of future Bombardier trains, including Class 720s for Greater Anglia.