A Step Back or a Step Forward?

The London Overground has come a long way since TfL took over services from National Express and the Silverlink Metro. One of the lines which was involved in the initial take over was the Gospel Oak to Barking Line, known locally as the GOBLIN.

At the time of takeover this was a diesel only route, so when London Overground placed an order for new trains in the form of Class 378s, separate units had to be ordered to run on the Goblin. These were chosen to be Class 172s, which were part of Bombardier's Turbostar family - which is effectively the diesel equivalent of the Electostar family which was made up out of electric trains. 

172004 seen at Barking Station
© EastLondoner

Being one of the few diesel metro lines left in London it's no surprise that talk of electrifying the line has come up more than once. Initially it was mentioned in 2008 that there was no case for the line to be electrified, and later on Mayor Boris Johnson said TfL weren't too interested in footing the bill themselves and that the money should be provided by the DfT, November 2012 saw a further set back where it was claimed electrification would cost far more money than originally estimated, but against all those odds the chancellor announced in the 2013 budget that £115 Million would be made available to convert the line to electric operation.

172001 seen at Upper Holloway
© EastLondoner

This opportunity was also taken to introduce 4 car trains to the line, as since London Overground had taken over the line popularity on the line had soared, this is despite capacity on the line had been doubled from 2 trains an hour to 4 trains an hour. The contract for new the trains was awarded to Bombardier and the trains were to be part of the Aventra family, and were given the designation of Class 710. These were intended to enter service during 2018 but come March 2019 this still hasn't happened due to various software issues that the new trains are facing, not helped that this is among the first versions of a type that is expected to become mainstream over the coming years. Initially this may seem not to be a huge issues - after all many types of trains have had late introductions, however the Class 172s had been promised to West Midland's Railway in order to boost some of their services. 

Despite this being known, continued optimism saw no attempt arrange cover for the Class 172s despite the time of their lease expiry with London Overground was rapidly declining with seemingly no progress with the Class 710s gaining approval from the office of rail and road to carry passengers in service. London Overground were allowed to extend the lease of 7 of the class 172s by a few months until the end of 2018, but December eventually arrived and the lack of progress saw the lease extended for one last time, on the condition that the trains would depart for West Midlands Railway in stages at a time, with the last batch departing on March the 15th. At this point the race was now on to either get the 710s into service or arrange cover for them to prevent a full closure of the line. 

172004 seen at Barking on the last day of service
© EastLondoner

The decision was eventually taken to shorten three of the Class 378s from 5 cars to 4 cars and to deploy them on the GOBLIN. These Class 378s would be made available by pausing the refurbishment programme that they were undergoing - as well as by eating into some of the spare units they had. The first 378 to be converted to the type, 378232 was seen training along the route in the weeks prior to deployment and was eventually deployed into service on the 28th of January just as the amount of Class 172s that were off lease dipped below the peak train requirement, this made it the first 4 car service as well as the first electric service on the line - albeit not the electric train that people might have wanted!

On the first day I went out to take a ride on the Class 378, the timings had been circulating on the internet a couple of days before the first service so it wasn't hard to track down the unit. 

378232 seen at Barking Station on the first day of Goblin service
© EastLondoner

The updated moquette
© EastLondoner

Upon boarding the most obvious feature was the longitudinal seating, although I'm very accustomed to this on the other routes served by the London Overground using Class 378s, alongside the London Underground it was very unusual seeing it on a line which until now was always using stock which had transverse seating. It is also worth mentioning that two of the Class 378s found on the line, 378232 and 378206 have had their interior refreshed so showcase an updated version of the London Overground moquette compared to the older variety found on other Overground trains, and still carried by 378209. The differing feature is a shade of green on the seat moquette, believed to be inspired by London's greenery. The shade of green is effectively the "average" of all the shades of green found throughout the city.

The new maps
© EastLondoner

Passengers certainly noticed the difference, with many being slightly surprised at the appearance of this train, although most seemed welcoming of the change and especially the extra space that was provided on the train. The interior maps of the Class 378 had also been updated, with them no longer showing the full size map of the whole network but three separate maps. One of the Stratford - Richmond/Clapham Junction Line, one of the Watford to Euston Line and another of the Gospel Oak to Barking Line. A notable emission is the East London Line - this is because the trains are unlikely to work that line, especially while they are in their four car state. 

4 Car Stopping marker at Upper Holloway
© EastLondoner

Due to the longer trains, the platforms of most of the stations along the line had been extended, or in many cases refurbished as the platforms were already long enough to accommodate 4 car trains however had been left to be taken over by nature as they were unused for many years while the line was being operated by two car changes. The extensions were all opened up for the first day of the 378 service, however the Class 172 trains also used the extended parts of the platform in some stations, causing a lot of confusion among passengers! However now the Class 172s have departed it shouldn't be much of a problem as the 378s use the whole length of the available platform at all their stations except for Barking. 

As can be seen at Gospel Oak, for 4 car trains it's a very big squeeze indeed
© EastLondoner

The Class 172s have all departed for the Midlands now, and as a result the Gospel Oak to Barking line is running at every 30 minutes for the foreseeable future until Bombardier and Arriva Rail London can get the Class 710 trains into service on the line, much like how the service used to be many years ago while it was operated by Silverlink. However until the 710s enter service the regular commuters of the line will have to face continuing uncertainty as well as a poor service level.

378232 seen at Barking Station
© EastLondoner

When will the 710s enter service I hear you cry? Well the correct answer is nobody knows, even Bombardier and London Overground don't seem to know. Currently Bombardier have been continuously working on multiple versions of the software, and reports in some places have even suggested that they've been seeking international help. But until we have working trains users of the line better memorise the timetable!