Plans to build an additional station at Castle Green on the newly opened Barking Riverside extension of the London Overground are being worked on by Transport for London (TfL) and Barking and Dagenham Council.
Potential tube map with Castle Green station added to London Overground
The new station, provisionally called Castle Green, would sit on Renwick Road, just before the London Overground extension rises up onto the viaduct. During the construction of the extension, the two railway tracks were split and widened to allow space for an island platform station to be built between them in the future.
London Overground extension (c) TfL
The proposed station would then have the main entrance on Renwick Road, and an option, subject to additional funding, for a second entrance at the far end of the platform offering easier access to the existing residential area.
In a presentation by the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee, they said that they are “working with TfL to make case for new station at Castle Green”
Indicative plan for the additional station (c) TfL
A TfL spokesperson said: “As part of the wider programme of works for the Barking Riverside Extension, the site for a potential new London Overground station at Renwick Road was protected as part of the Transport & Works order. While we continue to work with Barking & Dagenham Council and central Government on the potential for bringing this forward at some point in the future, any work on developing the station design and delivery would be subject to sufficient funding being available.”
If built, the station is expected to support the release of industrial sites at Creekmouth, Castle Green and Thames Road, to enable the delivery of 10,000 new homes on these sites by 2030.
Although details are not confirmed, it’s likely that the station would be funded by a mix of developer contributions from the housing project and potentially some central government funding via the Housing Infrastructure pot which funds transport upgrades in the UK that can unlock fresh housing development.
There is also related work in the area being looked at to enable the Castle Green housing development, such as a tunnel or underpass, and they expect to put forward a prefered option next April after talks with the GLA and government.
The council describes the Castle Green project as “likely to be the single biggest transformation area in the borough”
In other developments locally, Barking and Dagenham council says that it is assisting the GLA and Redbridge council in lobbying DfT to authorise the opening of Beam Park station, and they still aspire to reopen the main line platforms at Dagenham East that are currently passed through by c2c services. That was originally proposed back in 2015, but nothing has happened since then.
Unfamiliar with this area but a new station is always good news. Would TfL be able to contribute to the funding pot at all? I thought they were in a dire situation.
Will believe it when I see it. All spare TfL money for the next few years is earmarked for increasing wages, not increasing services or infrastructure.
The article suggests funding could come from non-Tfl infrastructure sources that can’t be directly used for existing wages, etc. But it’s all TBC.
Get in line – south Bermondsey first
Castle Green station will be built as the late Queen landed there in an helicopter a few years ago to view the schools in the area and more stations are needed due to the thousands of new homes now being built in that area
Generally, decisions about where to build railway stations are based on more compelling reasons than a monarch landing in a helicopter nearby once.
In other developments locally, Barking and Dagenham council says that it is assisting the GLA and Redbridge council… Shouldn’t that be Havering council instead of Redbridge?
Yes – you are right.
Interesting to see the huge amount of public funds being pumped into expanding London even further. The many Billions of pounds being spent on subsidising and expanding public transport in and around the London area would be much better spent on regional development, particularly in the socially and economically deprived northern half of England. This area has been neglected by successive Governments over many decades and is seeing bus services fast disappearing, railway services reduced and fares rising to the point where many people cannot afford to travel to work. Is this what the Government calls levelling up?
The bulk of the billions spent on London’s transport are paid for by Londoners.
London already pumps an average of £35 billion a year more into UK taxes than is spent on it by UK government, and on top of that, pays for the bulk of its public transport services — without a government subsidy.
Rather than mistakingly claiming that the rest of the UK subsidises the UK and focusing on that as the problem, ask yourself why the local councils and developers across the rest of the UK don’t spend more on local transport.
I share your comments regarding London and the North
It’s a fact the North has been underfunded for years
Although we still have weekends with bus replacement
A typical farce being both main lines from Southend and
Colchester stopping at ingatestone and Shenfield and all passengers converging at Newbury Park underground station.
It was chaotic and dangerously overcrowded with people .
A complete shambles