In a couple of weeks time, services on the troubled Gospel Oak to Barking section of the London Overground are set to get even worse.

This is because the new Class 710 electric trains that should have been delivered a year ago, are still not ready for passenger service and the last of the old diesel trains being used on the line are needed elsewhere in the country.

From Monday 18 March, services on the Gospel Oak to Barking line will switch from a 2-car train every 15 minutes to 4-car trains every 30 minutes.

Although swapping the 2-car diesel trains for 4-car electric trains seconded from other parts of the Overground means no net loss of capacity on the line, there will be longer gaps between trains, so at least half of commuters are likely to have to leave home earlier in the morning, and get home later in the evening.

The line has been beset with problems for the past couple of years, with delays to electrification of the line, and now delays to the delivery of the replacement trains.

When TfL signed a deal in 2015 to buy 8 new trains for the Goblin line due to be delivered in early 2018, it agreed to cancel a lease for the existing diesel trains, which were then leased onto West Midland Trains for use from 2019.

The new trains were due to be in service last year, and although West Midland Trains has been able to sublease some of the old diesel trains back to TfL, the trains are needed back in order to provide a new Leamington – Coventry – Nuneaton service that is due to launch in May.

WMT has been progressively taking back its trains for overhauling, reducing the service on the Goblin line over the past few months, and the final three diesel trains have to leave on 15th March.

From the following Monday, TfL will be left with just the temporary electric trains it has modified to run along the Goblin line, and the line will have to be cut back to the half-hourly service that’s now been announced.

The manufacturer of the new electric trains, Bombardier, are continuing to solve software issues — having worked through 27 changes already — and needs to complete mileage testing before they can be certified and handed over for passenger use. Initial driver familiarisation has however now begun.

Once software issues are resolved, driver training will start and once substantially progressed there will be more certainty on when the new trains can enter passenger service.

In the meantime, supplementary buses will give customers an alternative option, alongside local bus routes. Regular customers who choose to take alternative routes via Zone 1 as a result of the temporary timetable change will be automatically refunded the additional cost.

Bombardier, manufacturer of the new Class 710 trains will be offering a month’s free travel for customers on the Gospel Oak to Barking line once the new trains are fully introduced. The details of this are being developed and will be communicated closer to the time

Amended timetable from 18th March 2019

Gospel Oak station

Trains will depart at about 20 and 50 minutes past each hour towards Barking

Upper Holloway station

Trains towards Barking depart at about 24 and 54 minutes past each hour

Trains towards Gospel Oak depart at about 03 and 33 minutes past each hour

Crouch Hill station

Trains towards Barking depart at about 26 and 56 minutes past each hour

Trains towards Gospel Oak depart at about 00 and 30 minutes past each hour

Harringay Green Lanes station

Trains towards Barking depart at about 29 and 59 minutes past each hour

Trains towards Gospel Oak depart at about 27 and 57 minutes past each hour

South Tottenham station

Trains towards Barking depart at about 03 and 33 minutes past each hour

Trains towards Gospel Oak depart at about 24 and 54 minutes past each hour

Blackhorse Road station

Trains towards Barking depart at about 07 and 37 minutes past each hour

Trains towards Gospel Oak depart at about 19 and 49 minutes past each hour

Walthamstow Queen’s Road station

Trains towards Barking depart at about 09 and 39 minutes past each hour

Trains towards Gospel Oak depart at about 17 and 47 minutes past each hour

Leyton Midland Road station

Trains towards Barking depart at about 12 and 42 minutes past each hour

Trains towards Gospel Oak depart at about 15 and 45 minutes past each hour

Leytonstone High Road station

Trains towards Barking depart at about 14 and 44 minutes past each hour

Trains towards Gospel Oak depart at about 12 and 42 minutes past each hour

Wanstead Park station

Trains towards Barking depart at about 16 and 46 minutes past each hour

Trains towards Gospel Oak depart at about 10 and 40 minutes past each hour

Woodgrange Park

Trains towards Barking depart about 19 and 49 minutes past each hour

Trains towards Gospel Oak depart at about 07 and 37 minutes past each hour

Barking station