Transport for London (TfL) should receive devolved responsibility for suburban rail services in the south of the capital when current franchises expire, according to a new report by think tank Centre for London.

 

The organisation estimates that by 2050 demand for travel on south London’s rail network could grow by 100%. But currently suburban services are not delivering their potential. For example Brixton Underground station sees 29M entries and exits per year while the nearby suburban rail station gets just 1M.

 

In light of this the report ‘Turning South London Orange’ makes the case for adapting TfL’s successful Overground model to south London’s under used network in order to increase capacity and frequency of services.

 

Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: “The success of London Overground shows exactly what can be achieved on the rail network. Since 2007 we’ve seen a six-fold increase in passenger numbers with our high quality, frequent and reliable services proving incredibly popular.

 

“We think London deserves even more metro-style rail services and are in discussions with the Government to try and make that happen.”

 

Centre for London claims that in order to create a modern high frequency rail system for South London an ambitious package of upgrades would be required including improved signalling and train management systems and track layout amendments.

 

The report also advocates creation of a number of new stations and interchanges as well as major remodelling of the network near Wandsworth and Streatham.

 

Labour’s candidate for Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has also made a similar call for rail devolution this week. Speaking ahead of a meeting of the South East Quadrant Taskforce on the performance of the capital’s commuter rail services, he said: “Thousands of London’s train users are facing delays, cancellations and nightmare journeys coming into work day after day.

 

“Commuters have run out of patience and the Government must now give control of all commuter rail services to TfL at the earliest possible date the contracts allow.”

 

♦ In other rail news, this week saw the opening of two new stations as part of a £13.6M investment to improve services between Coventry and Nuneaton. The new stations are at Bermuda Park and Coventry Arena.

 

(Photo: Transport for London)