London Overground's Gospel Oak to Barking line reopens on Monday (15 January) following delays to the installation of overhead electric lines for new, longer trains.
Transport for London (TfL) said that after testing it will run new electric trains from the spring, providing customers with increased capacity and featuring walk-through carriages, air conditioning, live network information screens and improved reliability.
The new trains will also improve air quality for people living and working along the route, TfL said.
However, until the new four car electric trains have been fully tested and driver training completed, the existing two car diesel trains will be used.
The upgrade was due to be completed last June.
Jonathan Fox, TfL's director of rail and sponsored services, said: `I would like to thank customers for their patience while Network Rail completed this stage of the electrification works.’
Meliha Duymaz, Network Rail's route managing director for Anglia, said: `Passengers travelling on the Gospel Oak to Barking line are set to benefit from a transformational, once in a generation upgrade with a new fleet of longer, electric trains so that twice as many people can travel comfortably, once line testing is complete.'
The electrification work on the Gospel Oak to Barking London Overground line is part of TfL's improvement plans and forms part of Network Rail's London Railway Upgrade plan.
TfL said testing of the new electrical infrastructure and the new trains will take place in-between normal services and at night to ensure it does not affect customer journeys.
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