West Anglia LO performance update

[snoggle]

A couple of Mayor's Answers about the operation and performance of London Overground on West Anglia.

West Anglia Main Line(1)
Question No:2016/0433
Joanne
McCartney

Can
you
provide
me
with
an
update
on
the
works
on
the
West
Anglia
Main
Line
to
improve
the
reliability
of
this
line
since
the
takeover
in
May
2015?


Written response from the Mayor

For
customers
using
the
London
Overground
section
of
the
West
Anglia
route,
TfL
has
completed
a
long
list
of
improvements
since
taking
over
at
the
end
of
May
2015.
 TfL
is
undertaking
a
major
engineering
overhaul
of
the
trains.
In
addition,
London
Overground
has
hired
another
two
trains
to
provide
cover
while
reliability
is
improved.
Since
TfL
took
over
this
section
in
May
2015,
it
has
invested
£2m
to
improve
these
trains,
and
reliability
has
improved
four
fold.
 London
Overground
has
worked
with
Network
Rail
to
improve
the
reliability
of
signalling
and
points
with
a
new
team
in
place
to
inspect
and
maintain
signalling
and
points
in
a
more
systematic
way.
For
example,
the
reliability
of
the
points
approaching
Liverpool
Street station
has
been
improved
significantly.
Others
points
along
the
route
are
now
subject
to the
same
process.



These
improvements
are
in
addition
to
all
of
the
customer
service
enhancements
London
Overground
has
made
across
the
West Anglia
stations
with
station
staffing,
customer
information,
train
cleanliness
and
station
ambience
all
being
improved.

London
Overground
has
also
recently
awarded
the
first
contract
of
a £25
million
programme
of
station
improvements
and
is
now
on
site
at
Theobalds
Grove
and
Bethnal
Green.

West Anglia Main Line(2)
Question No:2016/0434
Joanne
McCartney

Can
you
tell
me
how
many
times
trains
have
been
formed
of
less
than
the
eight
coaches
and
how
many
trains
have
been
cancelled
along
the
West
Anglia
Main
Line
since
May
2015?
Can
you
also
provide
this
information
by
month
since
TfL's
takeover
in
May
2015?


Written response from the Mayor

The
below
table
provides
details
of
services
that
were
short
formed
or
cancelled
along
the London
Overground
Rail
Operations
Limited
(LOROL)
operated
section
of
the
West
Anglia
route
since
TfL’s
takeover
by
reporting
period:



West
Anglia
(Exc.
Rom-Upm)

Reporting Period 2015/16	Part Cancellation (Train did not run for part of route)	Full Cancellation (Train did not run)	Short Formed (4 carriages instead of 8)	Total Services Booked
Period 3 (ie. 31 May to 27 June 2015)	49	165	260	8,458
Period 4 (ie. 28 June to 25  July 2015)	67	207	117	8,634
Period 5 (ie. 26 July to 22  August 2015)	49	161	109	8,642
Period 6 (ie. 23 August to 19  September 2015)	52	210	102	8,019
Period 7 (ie. 20 September to  17 October 2015)	36	80	67	7,546
Period 8 (ie. 18 October to 14  November 2015)	108	167	38	8,604
Period 9 (ie. 15 November to  12 December 2015)	89	180	149	8,589
Period 10 (ie. 13 December to  9 January 2015)	98	191	78	7,893
Period 11 (ie. 10 January to 6 February 2015)	79	80	87	8,612

TfL
and
its
train
operator
LOROL
have
been
working
to
improve
the
reliability
of
train
services.
To
address
the
issues,
London
Overground
has
developed
a
rolling
stock
reliability plan
that
it
is
closely
managing
alongside
LOROL,
which
is
delivering
a
planned
£2m
investment
in
refurbishing
existing
rolling
stock
and
replacing
vital
life
expired
components.

Abellio
Greater
Anglia,
who
maintains
the
trains
on
behalf
of
London
Overground,
has
also employed
an
additional
20
fitters
and
has
put
in
shift
managers
to
oversee
work.
More initiatives
to
further
improve
performance
will
continue,
as
London
Overground
identifies opportunities
for
improvement.




In
the
past
eight
months
passengers
have
seen
a
marked
improvement
on
the
West
Anglia
line
with
reliability
having
improved
four
fold.
Delays
on
the
line
do
still
occur,
although
many
of
these
are
the
result
of
infrastructure
failures,
which
are
outside
of
London Overground’s
direct
control.
The
problems
on
the
line
have
been
exacerbated
by
recent
weather
conditions
and
London
Overground
has
been
working
closely
with
Network
Rail
on
a
number
of
preventative
measures
to
manage
performance
during
adverse
weather
conditions.

[ServerKing]

The antique OHLE on the Enfield line doesn't help I thought they were replacing all this with newer equipment? It seemed to only go as far as Bethnal Green. Theobalds Grove really does need work, everytime it rains, the ticket office roof leaks and the ticket hall floods, so that might be pretty costly to fix

[snoggle]

Feb 27, 2016 8:23:44 GMT ServerKing said:

The antique OHLE on the Enfield line doesn't help I thought they were replacing all this with newer equipment? It seemed to only go as far as Bethnal Green. Theobalds Grove really does need work, everytime it rains, the ticket office roof leaks and the ticket hall floods, so that might be pretty costly to fix

I thought all the overhead line works were on the Shenfield line and not on West Anglia. I always suspected that LOROL would struggle because of infrastructure problems and they have. What I hadn't anticipated was that LOROL would end up with rolling stock issues too. Makes me wonder where the £2m for rolling stock repairs has come from - TfL? - as that's a shedload of cash to fork out in a short remaining term of the concession.

[snowman]

Feb 27, 2016 11:42:47 GMT snoggle said:

Feb 27, 2016 8:23:44 GMT ServerKing said:

The antique OHLE on the Enfield line doesn't help I thought they were replacing all this with newer equipment? It seemed to only go as far as Bethnal Green. Theobalds Grove really does need work, everytime it rains, the ticket office roof leaks and the ticket hall floods, so that might be pretty costly to fix

I thought all the overhead line works were on the Shenfield line and not on West Anglia. I always suspected that LOROL would struggle because of infrastructure problems and they have. What I hadn't anticipated was that LOROL would end up with rolling stock issues too. Makes me wonder where the £2m for rolling stock repairs has come from - TfL? - as that's a shedload of cash to fork out in a short remaining term of the concession.

Its now that much for about 30 trains, although part may have been funded by previous Operator if there was a backlog of maintenance or lack of proper heavy cleaning, effectively a default penalty for not maintaining as per lease or franchise terms.

Regarding the OHLE on Shenfield line most of the structures dated from 1940s and were originally designed for the thicker 1500v DC wires. The insulators etc were all replaced about 1980 prior to conversion to 25Kv AC. Virtually everything from Bethnal Green To Liv St was replaced about 1990 when station rebuilt. Substations were changed twice, once about 1959 when converted to 6.25KV AC and then on upgrade to 25KV. The last section that had voltage change was Bethnal Green to Clapton in 83 or 1984. The new substation just South of Hackney is obvious. Before the conversion the 315s couldn't operate West Anglia services as they weren't dual voltage. The mid 1980s refurbs saw the 6.25Kv equipment isolated on most of the 1960s trains. Note that as 25Kv is 4 times, the corresponding amps are therefore a quarter for same power so the replacement overhead is smaller in cross section and lighter. Some new masts have been errected where crossovers were moved or changed to longer faster ones.

For those who weren't familiar with history the 6.25Kv was due to smaller clearances being needed, later they wete reduced once steam and soot wasn't likely to hit the lines.