Partnership key to London Overground transformation

In the four years since the launch of London Overground the team behind the unique operator-client partnership has transformed the network into a modern, reliable metro railway that London can be proud of as it prepares to host the 2012 Olympics.

Significant investment by Transport for London (TfL), the transport authority responsible for commissioning all public transport for England’s capital, combined with excellent operational delivery by London Overground Rail Operations Ltd (LOROL) has been the key to making it the UK’s highest performing rail network for the past seven consecutive months.

The seven-year London Overground concession, which LOROL started operating in 2007 on behalf of TfL, links 20 of the capital’s 33 boroughs.

It operates 938 trains each weekday, which is more than double the number at the start of the concession, and has quadrupled the number of passengers it carries each day to provide some 100 million passenger journeys a year.

The route to transforming London’s overground rail services

A joint venture company between Germany’s Deutsche Bahn and Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation, LOROL operates as part of Arriva – Deutsche Bahn’s division responsible for regional passenger transport outside of Germany.

The initial concession, let by TfL, comprised a number of neglected and forgotten lines – the North London Line, Euston to Watford DC Line, West London Line and Gospel Oak to Barking Line. But the strategy was clear: to revolutionise services for Londoners and deliver a dynamic new rail system. Something which LOROL relishes being part of.

The early years of the concession focused on delivering a major TfL investment programme of more than £1.5 billion which has compre – hensively upgraded both infrastructure and rolling stock.

Working in partnership, TfL and LOROL opened two new stations at Shepherd’s Bush and Imperial Wharf and new Overground platforms at Stratford. The concession’s entire fleet was also replaced with the introduction, by TfL, of 51 three-car electric Class 378 Capitalstar trains and LOROL procuring eight Class 172 diesel trains for the Gospel Oak to Barking Line.

The investment was transformational. It reduced the average fleet age from more than 30-years-old to less than a year and by the end of 2010 had created the most modern fleet operated by any national rail operator in the UK.

Any fleet change brings operational challenges and requires extensive planning to negotiate through them effectively. For our team here at LOROL the challenge was to ensure all of the operational preparations were in place so that the new trains could enter service efficiently, while working to continue to improve service performance despite initially operating a mixed fleet of old and new trains.

For the first time in its history, passengers and employees on the Gospel Oak to Barking Line enjoyed new trains rather than ‘hand-medowns’ from a wider national cascade of rolling stock. The trains revolutionised the passenger experience for our customers. They provide brighter, more open interiors, air conditioning and on-train customer information screen displays – not to mention 23% more passenger capacity compared with the previous trains.

Between September 2010 and January 2011, the new Class 378 three-car trains that were introduced on the North and West London Lines were extended to include a fourth car providing a 33% increase in capacity. Platform extensions and a review of operating instructions with revised despatch arrangements were also successfully implemented to accommodate the lengthened trains.

Transport for London and LOROL’s strategy is to offer a high frequency service across the network and in the summer of 2010, service frequencies were increased on three Overground routes.

The Gospel Oak to Barking Line was the first route to benefit, with the peak service enhanced to four trains per hour in the summer of 2010 and the off peak frequency being doubled from two to four trains per hour in January 2011.

In addition, May 2011 saw the introduction of an ambitious new timetable which enhanced services and represented the biggest change to Overground services in living memory.

The West London Line saw a doubling of the off peak service, again from two to four trains per hour along with additional peak time services, while the North London Line benefited from two additional trains per hour (eight trains per hour in the peak and six in the off peak). A significant challenge given this route was already the busiest mixed traffic railway in Europe with high freight volumes.

As part of the new timetable, we increased staff cover at stations to meet the later finishing times for some services.

East London Line

One of TfL’s and LOROL’s proudest moments came in May 2010 when the extended East London Line opened from New Cross Gate to Dalston Junction – a month ahead of schedule.

Preparing to open the new route saw us overcome some major challenges. We needed to increase our workforce significantly in order to operate the line. We embarked on a major campaign which saw the business successfully recruit and train 132 drivers, almost doubling the number of drivers employed by LOROL, and 80 additional customer hosts for eight new stations on the route.

A new dedicated integrated control office was also introduced for the line with LOROL staff co-located with colleagues from Network Rail, the UK’s infrastructure maintainers, and TfL. The objective was to introduce a completely new, very high quality railway to the national rail system.

This partnership approach reflects the way LOROL operates the concession for its key stakeholder. Having a Transport for London team – led by Mike Stubbs, Director of Operations – based in LOROL’s head office ensures good communication and an operation that is focused on delivery.

The introduction of the East London Line effectively doubled overnight the number of services operated by LOROL across the London Overground network. From day one, customer reaction was overwhelmingly positive and since February 2011 passenger numbers have grown by 40%. Latest National Passenger Survey results for the line are the highest ever recorded with 96% of customers satisfied with the service LOROL provides.

Engaging our people

Our people have been a driving force in our success. They complement the outstanding partnership we have with TfL and share our commitment to delivering a high quality service for their fellow Londoners. With more than 1,150 people, delivering a major programme of change requires a strong focus on employee engagement and development.

Our approach to managing recruitment and developing our people has helped us create the professional workforce we have today. A workforce which has doubled in size and has top quality, service focused people.

We strive to replicate the diversity of our customer base in our employees with local people providing services for their local communities. Wherever possible we seek to promote internally before looking elsewhere for our talent, offering career development opportunities that allow our people to fulfil their potential.

We have actively engaged with our trade unions and, working in partnership with them, have restructured all our front line roles to give the business the flexibility to deliver for our passengers and meet the terms of our concession agreement.

LOROL’s directors have also taken a very hands-on approach to engagement. We regularly hold our meetings away from our head office in Swiss Cottage, North London, opting instead to be out on the network, often on station platforms.

This gives us the opportunity to meet frontline staff and, equally important, experience our train services first hand.This approach has significantly increased the visibility of our senior team making them more approachable for staff wanting to contribute toward the company’s future success.

LOROL’s commitment to investing in people through training, excellent communications and effective employee relations has helped deliver a major improvement in employee engage – ment. In our latest employee survey, some 93% of staff told us they feel proud to work for LOROL, 97% supported our organisational aim and 94% felt able to contribute to it.

Journey to the top

Our vision has always been to transform our railway, connecting communities across London and we strive to deliver that vision every day for our passengers, our client and our employees.

Our customer-focused approach, combined with a productive working partnership with TfL and significant investment, has resulted in enhanced services and stations.

More than £35 million has been invested in refurbishing the 55 stations we manage improving platforms and facilities. Our passengers have particularly welcomed the investment in new CCTV and customer information systems and all London Overground stations now have Department for Transport Secure Station Accreditation.

What is perhaps most impressive about the transformation of this railway, is the dedication our people have shown working tirelessly throughout the changes to provide punctual rail services, which ultimately is the top priority for our customers.

For the past seven months, our per – formance figures have topped the UK Public Performance Measure table with 95.7% of trains arriving on time.

Our improved performance figures have also resulted in a significant increase in overall customer satisfaction, with levels across the LOROL network recorded by the independent National Passenger Survey by industry watch – dog Passenger Focus, increasing by 18 percent – age points to 89% in the last 18 months.

It is the strong working partnership that LOROL has built with TfL, Network Rail and Bombardier, combined with a committed workforce, that continue to be central to this concession and LOROL’s success.

The future

Looking forward, the next major step for LOROL is the extension of the East London Line from Surrey Quays to Clapham Junction in late 2012, completing an orbital rail route around London.

Recruitment of 48 additional drivers is already underway and many are already in training. A further three Class 378s, procured by TfL, have entered the fleet in preparation for the extension and we will have a further three by late 2012.

Although most of the extension will run along existing national rail lines, TfL works have now started in the London Borough of Lewisham to construct a new 1.3km link between Surrey Quays station and the existing South London Line at the Old Kent Road.

This further extension of the London Overground network will deliver a key rail link south of the river Thames and improve local transport for Londoners by providing more choice and better access to other parts of the capital. It will also double the frequency of services along the line to four trains per hour during the day which will help meet London’s increasing demand for more rail capacity.

When the new extension opens, services will call at all stations between Dalston Junction and Surrey Quays, then Queens Road Peckham, Peckham Rye, Denmark Hill, Clapham High Street and Wandsworth Road before terminating at Clapham Junction. Services through the core section of the East London route – Surrey Quays station to Dalston Junction – will increase to 16 trains per hour.

The formation of this orbital rail route around London will mark another exciting phase in the development of London Overground, and deliver even more passenger benefits.

More than half way through the concession, we are well established as a top performing train operator. These achievements, which are a direct result of the strong partnership between TfL and LOROL, provide firm foundations as we continue to deliver London Overground services and maintain our position as a dynamic company that can positively transform its railway.

About the Author

Between 1999 and 2004, Steve Murphy was General Manager and then Managing Director of Chiltern Railways. Under his leadership, Chiltern rose to the top of the UK rail industry for both punctuality and customer satisfaction. In 2004, Steve was seconded to Irish Rail as General Manager (Southern & Western), implementing a major culture change and investment programme and developed Irish Rail into the fastest growing railway in Europe. In 2007, Steve was appointed Managing Director of LOROL and, in partnership with Transport for London, has led the transformation of London Overground.