London Overground’s western orbital extension is viable says Mayor
Plans to reopen an old freight railway in West London as an extension of the London Overground have advanced, with the current stage of planning for the project nearing completion.
The work so far has also confirmed that reopening the line would be viable.

If built, the West London Orbital (WLO) could link Hounslow to Old Oak Common via Neasden and then head to either Brent Cross West and/or West Hampstead. The plans have been under development since 2017, but as always, how to pay for the railway upgrade is the key issue.
The plan is to convert a little-used freight railway line that runs from just north of Cricklewood on the Thameslink line and loops around West London, ever so slightly just missing aligning with several stations on existing lines until it joins up with the London Overground at Acton. Then, the line could take over some existing mainline tracks down towards Hounslow.
It would likely include new junctions at Neasden, Harlesden and new stations at Old Oak Common, and Lionel Road next to Brentford Community Stadium, on the site of the disused Kew station that closed in 1862.
In 2022, TfL confirmed that the economic case seemed fairly strong and that a benefit/cost ratio of between 1.6 and 2.3 would be positive.
Since then, work has been underway to determine the project’s cost and impact on revenues, train timetables, and, of course, how to pay for it.
In a written answer to Gareth Roberts AM, the Mayor of London said that Transport for London (TfL) continues to work with the councils the line would pass through. He said that the “current stage of development is now nearing completion, including confirmation of the costs of the scheme.”
The good news is that the work so far has confirmed there are “feasible solutions for all elements of the project”.
The Mayor added that to deliver the scheme, “funding would be needed from local sources and national Government as well as TfL/GLA. The Government is aware that West London Orbital is one of my priorities for expansion of London’s transport network.”
Given the nature of the project, he expects that commercial developers along the route would be expected to contribute to the cost of the railway. Previous analysis has suggested that improved transport links could unlock around 16,000 new homes in west London and up to 23,000 new jobs.
Back in 2017, the cost of opening the railway was put at somewhere around £250-£300 million, but that will have risen sharply since then, so it may be in the region of £600 million now.
Previous studies have also considered the potential for an Overground station at Old Oak Common, offering an interchange with the mainline, HS2 and Elizabeth lines. However that would push up costs, and unrelated plans for an Overground station in the area were dropped due to the pandemic funding situation.
The Mayor has previously said a decision on whether they should request a Transport & Works Act Order for the scheme could be made in the late 2020s.
If all the cards fall into place, then in maybe a decade’s time, it will be possible to catch a passenger train over a railway line that last saw regular passenger services over a century ago.
Come on Ian, you were contemptuous of about the prospect of automating tube trains, and dismissed the VfM case without any balance, how about some criticism of this plan? Or are you just a mouthpiece for TfL and the Mayor, simply reproducing their press releases?
It’s easy to see how automating tube trains has no ROI whatsoever, whereas linking West London communities to the upcoming Old Oak Common is quite intuitive.
How are those things remotely correlated in your mind?
Because there is no VFM proposition for retrofitting it.
Even Boris Johnson knew it but kept spouting off about it because of his whole anti-union bias
He knew it when he was Mayor and he knew it as PM when the DoT asked TFL to look at it again (despite at the same time demanding TFL raise income and cut expenses).
And it is niave to think at the only cost is the trains. The real cost is the total replacement of the signalling system and all that goes with that. It won’t be installed in a few weekend closures. It would require weekend line closures for years and years because the thought of closing down a line for any extensive period is just too much to bear.
Okay, great if people arriving on HS2 want to go somewhere else in West London other than OOC.
What would benefit enormous numbers of people, though, is a direct link from OOC to Clapham Junction.
Until Euston is built, it’s surely imperative to give people transiting through London options for onward travel from OOC other than the Elizabeth Line or Central Line into zone 1. Clapham Junction directly serves hundreds of destinations large and small. A lot of people would use the direct link rather than pile onto the Elizabeth Line.
So there is going to be, both Richmond and Clapham lines will be having stations linked with OOC Station, and it’ll happen way before West Orbital does.
In regards to stops at OOC, I thought that the option for a station between Acton Central and Willesden Junction was still alive (just need someone to pay for it ?). I think a station on the Clapham Junction branch is less likely as it is further way from OOC and is dependent on a lot of housing being built around it.
There’s so much potential with this line, and I’m not sure the current proposals fully exploit it.
An OOC interchange station absolutely should be built, linking Liz Line, HS2, Mainline, Mildmay line, Dudden Hill Line AND upgrade the freight loop over to link with the West London Line to Clapham Junction.
Also, I hope additional stations are added to the route over time, it passes through some densely populated residential areas with limited public transport options. There are some long stretches without at station but with well placed bridges along the route. It looks like there’s space to upgrade and add platforms to or beneath some of these. I imagine these stations could be well used by commuters and take a not insignificant number of cars off the road.
Route would link to Mildmay at West Hampstead, and also to Thameslink (on both terminal branches), which is pretty good. Sure there could be some additional gains for efficient freight movement although I suspect the available North London Line paths are already fairly limited.
What is proposed seems to be a short walkable connection (presumably with OSI fare easement) at OOC which is a fair cost compromise for HS2/Lizzie.
I used to live in the streets near Acton Central and the idea of yet more trains closing the level crossing would come close to making Churchfield Road unusable for travel east/west.
I guess that by the time this could come in, electric cars will be becoming a lot more common – and so the problem of people sitting in their cars pouring fumes out into the local streets while waiting for the level crossing to open might not be quite so significant.
Hopefully that means replacing the level crossing with a road bridge or making a rail bridge over the road. Closing routes isn’t nice.
Not convinced of the point of going to West Hampstead here when the 2 existing routes (Mildmay & Jubilee) are shorter.
The chances of spending money on Kew Bridge platforms AND on a station at Lionel Road feels slim; strong chance neither will end up happening IMO.
Hounslow to Hendon I can get behind.