LONDON TRANSPORT OVERVIEW
“It’s unlikely we’re ever going to describe Crossrail as a part of London Overground, but there are parallels: it’s effectively doing the same job and largely the same people doing it. TfL is taking a greater and greater role in National Rail.”
Oyster
A recent example has been the award that TfL jointly won with ATOC and Cubic for the roll-out of Oyster services to national rail services in the capital (see page 47).
Smith told us: “That was a big success and shows how TfL is getting more involved in national rail, ranging from the input we had to the Southern re-franchise, at what you might call the ‘lighter end’, where we put a bit of money and resource into linking things up but it essentially stays branded as part of the national rail network, through to the physical expansion of Overground.
“That involved actually taking some more routes within London, and saying ‘right, these are now going to be run by us, branded by us, operated by us, on behalf of us’.
“I think there’s a genuinely long-term trend in TfL’s expansion. It’s not in an empire- building sense, but the history of London’s transport from about the 1920s and 30s onwards has been more and more elements being brought into the London Transport and TfL family. TfL took control of London Streets, which were previously separate, and with the Overground we began to get involved in National Rail operation.
“There’s almost nothing, other than Green Line buses, that went the other way. Historically, London works on integration between light routes, which suggests that TfL will only ever get more involved in national rail, not less.
“It’s sensible, because while other parts of the country have the rail journey and then completely separately you go in a car the next day, in London it is so integrated and so joined-up that it makes sense that the same party that runs the Underground, has control of parts of National Rail, has buses, and integrates fares, ticketing, and all the rest of it.”
Olympics
As well as the five-year plan, there has been an unavoidable deadline in place for many of the upgrade works TfL has been engaged in: July 2012 and the London Olympics.
Smith said: “Without tempting fate, the works for the Olympics are very largely done.
“The last big part of the jigsaw for the Olympics is the step-up in services on the North London line, at the end of May this year.
“That represents the almost-completion of the Olympic building projects. We have got some stuff out there, bits and pieces to do, but the vast majority of it is done.
“The really good thing is that we can now turn our attention 100% to operations:
it’s not that we’ve been ignoring it, but it’s very important for us to have a period of stability before the Games when we’re not concentrating week by week on opening things, we’re actually concentrating on getting the operations into absolutely tip- top shape ready for the Games.”
“This is an exciting time for us. For me, personally, too: I was brought up in London, I’ve lived in London, I’ve used all these railways almost throughout my life, and to actually have the opportunity to invest £3bn in improving them has been a huge privilege.
“Professionally, we’re looking forward and genuinely, and I mean genuinely, seeing a renaissance in public transport and rail in London and the South East.
“When I joined British Rail 25-odd years ago, demand was static, possibly slightly declining. Now, it’s the use of cars in London that is static and in fact declining, while the use of public transport is growing every year. The appetite for infrastructure development in London is more like, in some ways, that in an Asian city than it is in great parts of Europe and North America. It really is a truly exciting time to be working in public transport and in railways and in particular in London.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Visit
www.tfl.gov.uk/overground rail technology magazine Apr/May 11 | 45
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