New London Overground link carries one million people in one month

The new Clapham Junction to Surrey Quays link on the London Overground network carried its one million passenger yesterday (Thursday January 10) after being open for only a month.

The link, which was opened by the Mayor Boris Johnson and the Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin on 9 December 2012, completed the London Overground orbital network.

The last orbital rail network built in London was London Underground's Circle Line, opened 128 years ago.

Transport for London's (TfL) Chief Operating Officer for Rail, Howard Smith, said: 'The popularity of the new service across South London is as we expected given that it connects the major interchange of Clapham Junction in the west with the developing area of East London.

Most punctual UK rail operator

'Demand has been growing steadily since it opened as the new service offers a faster and more comfortable journey option to increasing numbers of Londoners.'

This milestone in passenger numbers comes just as new Network Rail punctuality tables make London Overground the most punctual UK rail operator during 2012.

The new tables measure the number of trains arriving within 59 seconds of schedule and London Overground had 88.4 per cent of its trains arriving within that time.

'These two sets of figures reveal that London Overground is the most punctual and popular railway in the UK and provides the sort of rail service Londoners deserve,' said Mr Smith.

One millionth passenger

Yesterday (Thursday 10 January), 43,975 people travelled on the Clapham Junction to Surrey link yesterday bringing the total number of passengers who have used it during its first 32 days of operation to 1,021,470.

The one millionth passenger travelled at around 2pm.

The London Overground network overall carried 160,000 passengers on one of its busiest days yet. 

Almost 120 million people use the London Overground network annually and based on the first month's figure the new Clapham Junction to Surrey Quays link is expected to add around 13 to 14 million passengers per annum.

Notes to editors:

• Network Rail has two punctuality ratings. The Passenger Performance Measure (PPM) measures the number of trains arriving within five minutes of their scheduled time. The new measure of Right Time Performance (RTP) measures the number of trains arriving within 59 seconds of their scheduled time
• London Overground's PPM for 2012 was 96.8 per cent and its RTP was 88.4 per cent
• Four trains an hour will operate on the new link, increasing the frequency of trains between Surrey Quays and Dalston Junction from 12 trains per hour to 16 trains per hour
• London Overground runs 938 services from its fleet of 65 air-conditioned trains each day (57 Class 378 Capitalstar and 8 Class 172 diesels) linking 20 of London's 33 boroughs. This is double the number of services it ran at the beginning of the concession and it has also quadrupled the number of passengers it carries to 100 million per year
• Forty-eight new drivers and five extra train support employees have been hired as a result of the new connection which increases the total of London Overground services around the capital from 945 trains a day to 1,090