London Rail’s Howard Smith on new orbital rail network

The official opening of a 1.3km section of line near Surrey Quays now means that passengers can make use of London’s first orbital railway.

Already dubbed the M25 on rails, the new route, which opened on December 10, allows commuters to make short journeys around the capital without having to travel into central London and to avoid busy stations such as Victoria, Waterloo and London Bridge.

Chief operating officer of TfL London Rail Howard Smith said: “It’s a pretty symbolic moment because it actually completes the orbital network.

“Overground itself  started about five years ago and gradually over the last few years we’ve been filling in parts of the dartboard.”

Managing director of London Underground and London Rail Mike Brown said: “This is the last piece of the jigsaw of the outer orbital route. If the Circle line is the equivalent of of the North and South Circular Roads, this is the M25 of rail.”

With four trains in each direction an hour, some 12.3 million passengers are expected to make use of the new link.

The new section of track, which cost £75m to install, commences just south west of Surrey Quays station and links the East London line section of London Overground with existing track just north east of Queens Road in Peckham.

Funding for the link, which is served by Bombardier 378s, has come from the DfT (£40m), TfL (£15m) and Network Rail the remaining £20m.