Barking & Gospel Oak Line to close for all of September

Press release from the B and GO line's user group. Timetable 62 is the applicable one.

'The new Summer/Autumn rail timetable starting on 18th May shows the Barking-Gospel Oak Line will be closed for engineering works from 1st September until 28th September. Passengers travelling west from Gospel Oak by North London Line trains will have to change at Camden Road and Willesden Junction until 17th November.

Members of the Barking-Gospel Oak Line User Group (BGOLUG) were concerned that Transport for London (TfL) was holding back on announcing serious disruption to passengers using the Barking-Gospel Oak-Willesden Junction rail route this autumn.

BGOLUG Secretary Graham Larkbey said, “TfL managers had warned us of the need to close the lines to finish major works ahead of the 2012 Olympics. We were still waiting for the details from TfL when we found on the Network Rail website that there would be no trains between Barking and Gospel Oak from 1st to 28th September.”

“We were concerned that TfL had yet to make any detailed announcement. There are many schoolchildren among the several hundreds of commuters that cram into these short trains during the rush-hours and they need to know what arrangements TfL are making for their journeys before the summer holidays. TfL Overground managers have now promised us that an announcement will be made in a few weeks.”


“And the misery doesn’t end there,” Committee member Richard Pout added, “Many of our passengers continue their journeys along the North London Line between Gospel Oak, Hampstead, Finchley Road and Willesden. These trains will not be restored until 17th November.”

At the moment no replacement buses are planned, so passengers will need to change trains at least twice at Gospel Oak and Camden Road. A special train service will take passengers from Camden Road to Kilburn, Queen’s Park, Kensal Green and Willesden. These trains normally run from Euston to Watford, so the direct route from Queen’s Park, Kilburn and South Hampstead to Euston will also be lost for 11 weeks.”