London Overground Rail Operations Limited was a

train operating company A train operating company (TOC) is a business operating Passenger Trains, passenger trains on the Rail transport in Great Britain, railway system of Great Britain under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since the Privatisation ...

contracted to operate the London Overground train service on the National Rail network, under the franchise control of Transport for London. The company was a 50/50

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

between Arriva UK Trains and MTR Corporation.

History

On 20 February 2006, the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The d ...

announced that Transport for London would take over management of services then provided by Silverlink Metro. In June 2006, Transport for London announced that Govia,

MTR The Mass Transit Railway (MTR) is a major public transport network serving :Hong Kong. Operated by the MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL), it consists of heavy rail, light rail, and feeder bus service centred on a 10-line rapid transit network ...

Laing Rail 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 ...

, National Express and NedRail had been shortlisted to bid for the London Rail Concession. In September 2006, Transport for London announced that the extended East London Line would be included, and the operation branded ''London Overground''. In June 2007, Transport for London awarded the concession to MTR Laing, and operations started on 11 November 2007. The concession was for six years, four months until 31 March 2014 with a two-year extension option. The option was taken up with the concession to end on 12 November 2016. In December 2007, Henderson Group, the parent company of John Laing plc, announced the sale of the Laing Rail division, which comprised half of LOROL,

Chiltern Railways Chiltern Railways, formally The Chiltern Railway Company Limited, is a British train operating company that has operated the Chiltern Railways franchise since July 1996. Since 2009, it has been a subsidiary of Arriva UK Trains. Chiltern Railw ...

and a stake in the Wrexham & Shropshire open-access railway operator. In April 2008, Laing Rail was bought by the German Government's rail operator

Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the se ...

, which now holds a 50% stake in LOROL. The price was said to be around

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

170 million. Laing Rail became part of DB Regio, before a restructuring saw it moved under the control of Arriva UK Trains. In April 2015, Transport for London placed a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union, inviting expressions of interest in operating the next concession. On 31 May 2015, London Overground Rail Operations took over the Liverpool Street to

Enfield Town Enfield is a large town in north London, England, north of Charing Cross. It had a population of 156,858 in 2018. It includes the areas of Botany Bay, Brimsdown, Bulls Cross, Bullsmoor, Bush Hill Park, Clay Hill, Crews Hill, Enfield Highway ...

, Cheshunt (via Seven Sisters) and Chingford services, as well as the

Romford Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romford ...

to Upminster service, from Abellio Greater Anglia. In July 2015, Transport for London announced the shortlisted bidders for the next concession were Arriva UK Trains, ComfortDelGro, a Keolis/ Go-Ahead joint venture and MTR Corporation. In March 2016,

Arriva Rail London Arriva Rail London is a train operating company owned by Arriva UK Trains that operates the London Overground concession on behalf of Transport for London. History In April 2015, Transport for London placed a notice in the ''Official Journal ...

was awarded the concession commencing 13 November 2016.Arriva wins £1.5bn London Overground contract
''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

'' 18 March 2016

Services

London Overground operates these services: * East London line: Highbury & Islington to West Croydon/ Crystal Palace; Dalston Junction to New Cross/ Clapham Junction * Gospel Oak to Barking line: Gospel Oak to Barking *

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 rou ...

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

to Stratford *

Watford DC line The Watford DC line is a suburban line from London Euston to Watford Junction in Watford, Hertfordshire. Its services are operated by London Overground. The line runs beside the West Coast Main Line (WCML) for most of its length. The London ...

: Watford Junction to Euston * West London line: Clapham Junction to

Willesden Junction Willesden Junction is a railway station in Harlesden, north-west London, UK. It is served by both London Overground and London Underground services. History The station developed on three contiguous sites: the West Coast Main Line (WCML) st ...

South London line The South London line is a railway line in inner south London, England. The initial passenger service on the route was established by the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway on 1 May 1867 when the central London terminal stations of Victoria ...

: Dalston Junction to Clapham Junction *

Lea Valley line The Lea Valley lines are two Commuter rail in the United Kingdom, 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 par ...

: Liverpool Street to Cheshunt and

via Seven Sisters, and Chingford via Clapton *

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 ...

to Upminster

Rolling stock

London Overground inherited a fleet of Class 150 ''Sprinter''

diesel multiple unit A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

s, and Class 313 and Class 508

electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a numbe ...

s, from Silverlink. Between 2009 and 2011, the Sprinters were replaced with new Class 172 ''Turbostar'' units, and the Class 313s and 508s with new Class 378 ''Capitalstar'' units. London Overground further inherited a number of Class 315 and

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 o ...

EMUs from Abellio Greater Anglia upon the takeover of the Lea Valley lines from Liverpool Street and the Romford–Upminster line on 31 May 2015.

Final fleet

Past fleet

Depots

London Overground's fleet was maintained at New Cross and Willesden depots.

References

External links

LOROL official site
{{MTR Corporation Arriva Group companies Defunct train operating companies John Laing Group London Overground MTR Corporation Railway companies established in 2007 Railway companies disestablished in 2016 Railway operators in London 2007 establishments in England 2016 disestablishments in England