CURRENTLY OPERATING from Whitechapel to New Cross and New Cross Gate south of the Thames, the East London Line is due to close on December 22 this year for a major programme of works to replace track, signalling, telecommunications and electrification. The 7·4 km will get new equipment to Network Rail rather than London Underground standards.

Transport for London expects the East London Line reconstruction to act as a catalyst for £10bn of regeneration, while forming a key component of public transport provision for the Olympic Games in 2012. The work is being funded through TfL's five-year investment programme, which is being financed via a series of bond issues worth up to £10bn.

The conversion is to be undertaken by a joint venture of Balfour Beatty and Carillion under a £363m main works contract awarded by TfL on October 23 2006. Execution was due to commence on January 23. The contractors will also lay 3·6 km of track north from Whitechapel as far as Dalston Junction, mainly on a viaduct which has been disused since the former Broad Street terminus was closed by British Rail in 1986. Enabling works along this route, including the replacement of 22 bridge spans, have been undertaken by Taylor Woodrow Construction for £30m.

New stations at Shoreditch High Street, Hoxton, Haggerston and Dalston Junction are to be built under the main works contract, as well as a major bow-string span across Shoreditch High Street, connecting the viaduct with the northern end of the East London Line.

The main works contract also includes a grade-separated junction with Network Rail tracks at New Cross Gate, which will enable trains to reach Crystal Palace and West Croydon, at present served only by commuter trains operated by Southern.

Branded as London Overground, TfL's services will be operated under a concession that will first take over the Richmond - Stratford, Euston - Watford Junction, Clapham Junction - Willesden Junction and Gospel Oak - Barking routes from Silverlink in November. TfL has shortlisted MTR Laing and Govia for the London Rail concession, which it expects to award this summer.

On the East London Line, 12 trains/h will run between Dalston Junction and Surrey Quays, with four trains/h operating to each of New Cross, Crystal Palace and West Croydon. TfL London Rail Managing Director Ian Brown says the London Overground network will provide 'frequent, metro-style train services with new trains, staffed stations and Oyster ticketing'. In three years 10 million Oyster smart cards have been issued, and TfL is keen to see the system, and especially its 'pay-as-you-go' stored-value facility, used by more rail passengers in the capital (RG 1.07 p30).

New trains for a new route

TfL has awarded Bombardier Transportation a £223m contract to supply and maintain from 2009 a total of 44 trains for its London Rail concession, based on the inner-suburban Class 376 variant of the Electrostar EMU. Deliveries will start in 2009 with 24 three-car sets for the ex-Silverlink routes, followed by 20 four-car trains for the extended East London Line. The contract includes options for up to 196 additional vehicles. A rolling stock maintenance depot for the combined fleet is to be built near New Cross Gate as part of the ELL main works contract.

At the route's north end, the connection to the North London Line at Dalston Western Junction is to be reinstated so that ELL services can be extended to Highbury & Islington, where interchange will be provided with LU's Victoria Line and First Capital Connect suburban services. This short connection was not included in the main works contract, but TfL has begun negotiations to include it in this agreement to ensure that it will be complete by February 2011, in time for the Olympics. The Dalston link will also provide a route for the North London Line Electrostars to reach the depot at New Cross Gate.

South of the Thames, Phase 2 of the extension programme would see the reinstatement of a link from Surrey Quays to Network Rail's South London Line, but this has yet to secure funding. This would allow East London Line services to reach Peckham Rye and Clapham Junction. With London Overground services reaching the same point via the West London Line, completion of Phase 2 would complete the orbital rail link that has long formed part of TfL's vision for enhanced heavy rail services. Brown sees the completion of Orbirail as a way of improving suburb-to-suburb commuting and reducing the pressure on key interchanges in the centre of London, but the introduction of enhanced suburban services is dependent on resolving conflicts with heavy freight traffic currently using the routes to get through the London area.

• CAPTION: East London Line services connect with Southern trains to Croydon at New Cross Gate from 2010 the route will be served by through trains
• CAPTION: Although not yet funded, the second phase of the East London Line project would create TfL's long-planned orbital rail ring
• CAPTION: Reconstruction of bridge spans along Kingsland Viaduct has been completed ahead of the main works contract this is Pearson Street near the future Hoxton station
• CAPTION: Reinstatement of this curve at Dalston Junction will reconnect the East London Line with the North London Line currently operated by Silverlink Metro

A long and complex history

ALTHOUGH the Thames Tunnel was completed by Sir Marc Brunel in 1843, the first tunnel in the world to be dug under a river for public traffic, it did not enter railway use until 1876 when the East London Railway was opened between New Cross and Shoreditch. Its metals were used by a variety of main line steam railways until electrification in 1913 when the Metropolitan Railway took over.

The Metropolitan became part of London Transport when this was formed in 1933, and when Britain's main line railways were nationalised in 1948 ownership of the infrastructure accordingly passed to LT. The route became part of the London Underground network, and connections to the national network were subsequently severed.

LT's successor Transport for London is now rebuilding it to once again link the national network north and south of the Thames. Between Shoreditch and Dalston the extended East London Line will follow the alignment of the North London Railway's Broad Street extension, opened in 1865 and closed in 1986.