London Overground operator appointed to run additional services for TfL

LOROL, the London Overground train operator (of which Arriva are joint shareholders), has been appointed by Transport for London (TfL) on an interim basis to run local services out of Liverpool Street Station to north east London and to improve standards for passengers.

LOROL (London Overground Rail Operations Ltd) will run the services – currently managed under the Greater Anglia franchise – between Liverpool Street and Enfield Town, Cheshunt (via Seven Sisters) and Chingford as well as those on the Romford to Upminster line for 17 months starting on 31 May next year. The London Overground concession, including these latest additions, will then be re-let following an established bidding process.

LOROL has operated London Overground for TfL, since 2007. Since the start of the contract, passengers have benefited from new trains, staffing of all stations, and the upgrading of stations inherited at thes tart of the contract.  Customer satisfaction since the start of the concession has increased from 67 per cent to, on average, more than 90 per cent.

Commenting on the announcement last week, Peter Austin, LOROL Managing Director, said: “We are obviously delighted at TfL’s plans to appoint LOROL to run these new services. This recognises the efforts of the LOROL team in making the London Overground such a success and is an exciting development for us all.

“We have considerable experience in incorporating new routes in to the London Overground having successfully extended the network several times already. Over the next few months we will look at how we can sensibly manage the introduction of these new lines and plan how best to fully integrate them in to the network.”

LOROL will take over the new routes on 31 May 2015 and run them until November 2016 when the current London Overground concession is due to end.

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Notes to Editors:

• The delivery of a new fleet of trains for these routes is being planned with the first of the new units arriving in summer 2018. Until then the existing West Anglia train fleet – after deep cleaning - will continue to be used.
• Preliminary work on the procurement of the new London Overground Concession due for issue in 2016 which will include these Liverpool Street station services has already begun.
• LOROL began operating the seven-year London Overground concession in November 2007. Under a contractual option, this was extended by two years until November 2016 following the successful delivery of Olympic services.
• LOROL is a joint venture company between MTR Corporation of Hong Kong and Deutsche Bahn AG of Germany (DB). DB's interest is managed by Arriva, the division responsible for regional passenger transport outside of Germany.
• Passenger information is available at http://www.lorol.co.uk

For further information contact

Sara.borrow@lorol.co.uk