Regarding the Romford to Upminster Overground line I'm requesting: ● The annual cost of running the Romford to Upminster Line (staff, maintenance, utility costs) since the Overground started operating the service ● The projected annual cost of running the line for the next 5 years ● Revenue (by month) generated from passengers use of the line since the Overground started operating the service ● The estimated date of introduction of the Aventra BR Class 710 stock on the line (Will the line be the last route to receive the new stock compared to the other Overground routes?) ● Are there future proposals to extend the operating hours of the line beyond 10pm during Monday-Saturday excluding Sundays?

---

TfL Ref: FOI-3509-1819

Thank you for your email received by Transport for London (TfL) on 21 March 2019.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy.  I can confirm we hold some of the information you require. You asked:

? The annual cost of running the Romford to Upminster Line (staff, maintenance, utility costs) since the Overground started operating the service

? The projected annual cost of running the line for the next 5 years

? Revenue (by month) generated from passengers use of the line since the Overground started operating the service

? The estimated date of introduction of the Aventra BR Class 710 stock on the line (Will the line be the last route to receive the new stock compared to the other Overground routes?)

? Are there future proposals to extend the operating hours of the line beyond 10pm during Monday-Saturday excluding Sundays?

No decision has been made yet to introduce the new class stock and there are currently no proposals to extend the operating hours of the Romford to Upminster line beyond what they currently operate.

Unfortunately, to provide the information you have requested above would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with a request if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the appropriate limit. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on the activities described.

We have estimated that it would considerably exceed the cost limit to provide a response to your current request. This is because we do not hold annual running cost of the network by line, but by region, and therefore we would have to manually review all contracts we have with every type of cost, associated with running the network, to determine the Romford to Upminster line cost as well as the forecast cost. Additionally, the current service provider Arriva Rail took over the service in 2016, so anything held prior to that would be difficult to locate. Whilst we hold the revenue information by period and could collate it within the appropriate limit, in accordance with the FOI guidance, we have applied section 12 to the request as a whole.

To help bring the cost of responding to your request within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider narrowing its scope so that we can more easily locate, retrieve and extract the information you are seeking. If you want to refine your request or make a Freedom of Information Act request in future, please bear in mind that the Freedom of Information Act allows you to request recorded information held by Transport for London. You should identify the information that you want as clearly and concisely as you can, specifying the types of document that you are looking for. You might also consider limiting your request to a shorter period of time, geographical area or specific departments of TfL.

Although your request can take the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, TfL does not have to answer your question if it would require the creation of new information or the provision of a judgement, explanation, advice or opinion that was not already recorded at the time of your request.

Please note that we will not be taking further action until we receive your revised request.

In the meantime, if you have any queries or would like to discuss your request, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely

Eva Hextall

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

Back to top

---