Arriva Rail London is a

train operating company A train operating company (TOC) is a business operating passenger trains on the railway system of Great Britain under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since the privatisation of the network under the Railways Act 1993. T ...

owned by

Arriva UK Trains Arriva UK Trains Limited is the company that oversees Arriva's train operating companies in the United Kingdom. It gained its first franchises in February 2000. These were later lost, though several others were gained. In January 2010, with th ...

that operates the

London Overground London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, (via archive.org). it now serves a large part of Greater London as w ...

concession on behalf of Transport for London.

History

In April 2015, Transport for London placed a notice in the ''

Official Journal of the European Union An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their su ...

'', inviting expressions of interest in operating the next concession. In July 2015, Transport for London announced the shortlisted bidders for the next concession were

ComfortDelGro ComfortDelGro Corporation is a multi-national land transport company listed on the Singapore Exchange, operating about 35,000 vehicles in seven countries. It was formed on 29 March 2003 through a merger of Singapore-based land transport compa ...

Govia Govia is a transport company based in the United Kingdom. It was formed in November 1996 as a joint venture between Go-Ahead Group (65%) and Keolis (35%) to bid for rail franchises during the privatisation of British Rail. History Establi ...

and

MTR Corporation MTR Corporation Limited is a majority government-owned public transport operator and property developer in Hong Kong which operates the Mass Transit Railway, the most popular public transport network in Hong Kong. It is listed on the Hon ...

. In March 2016, Arriva was awarded a seven-and-a-half-year concession with an option to extend for a further two years. Operations commenced on 13 November 2016. Arriva held a 50% shareholding in the previous concession holder, London Overground Rail Operations.

Services

Rolling stock

Arriva Rail London inherited a fleet of Class 172, Class 315,

Class 317 The British Rail Class 317 is an electric multiple unit (EMU) passenger train constructed by British Rail Engineering Limited in two batches, 48 sets being produced in 1981–82 and 24 sets in 1985–87. They were the first of several classes ...

and Class 378s. From 2019, the first of 54 Class 710s will be delivered. These will replace the Class 172, Class 315 and Class 317s, and the Class 378s on Watford DC line duties allowing them to be concentrated on

North London line The North London line (NLL) is a railway line which passes through the inner suburbs of west, north-west, north, and east London, England between Richmond in the south-west and Stratford in the east, avoiding central London. Its route is a ro ...

, East London line, West London line and South London line services. On 22 May 2019 TfL announced that approval had been gained for the Class 710s to enter passenger service. The first two units entered service on the Gospel Oak to Barking Line on Thursday 23 May 2019 and the remaining six were in service by August 2019, with the first unit entering service on the Watford DC line on 9 September 2019. The first units on the

Lea Valley lines The Lea Valley lines are two commuter lines and two branches in north-east London, so named because they run along the Lower Lea Valley of the River Lea. They were part of the Great Eastern Railway, now part of the ''Anglia Route'' of Network ...

entered service on 3 March 2020 after a first attempt on 24 February 2020. Their use on

Romford–Upminster line The Romford–Upminster line is a railway branch line in Greater London that connects , on the Great Eastern Main Line, to , on the London, Tilbury and Southend line and London Underground. The route is in length and there is one intermediate s ...

services began in October 2020.

Current fleet

Past fleet

Former train types operated by Arriva Rail London include:

Depots

Arriva Rail London's fleet is maintained at Ilford,

New Cross Gate New Cross is an area in south east London, England, south-east of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham and the SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwic ...

and

Willesden Willesden () is an area of northwest London, situated 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Charing Cross. It is historically a parish in the county of Middlesex that was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Willesden in 1933, and has forme ...

depots.

References

External links

* {{Rail franchises in Great Britain, state=collapsed Arriva Group companies British companies established in 2016 London Overground Railway companies established in 2016 2016 establishments in England