In an empty wasteland surround by a mix of empty fields and derelict buildings, a brand new railway station is being built for the London Overground.
This is Barking Riverside, an area that is currently being turned into a new town filled with over 10,000 new homes, and in need of a railway line for commuters to get to work.
(c) Barking Riverside
A railway was always planned for the development, indeed, it’s a requirement of the planning permission for the houses that a railway is provided. Originally expected to be an extension of the DLR but that was put on hold in favour of extending the London Overground.
(c) TfL
A new length of the railway will lead off from the existing C2C railway line, and curve around the edge of the new housing estate down to the station which will be towards the south-western end of the Riverside development.
Passive provision is also being included for an extra station at Renwick Road, for another planned housing development, and for a tunnel under the Thames to Thamesmead.
By sheer coincidence, the new station will be on the site of a large set of cargo railway sidings that used to serve the massive power station that occupied a large plot of riverside land now occupied by light industrial and the area’s famous Sunday market.
One of the advantages of developing the station now is that it’s much easier to build the heavy infrastructure while the area is still lacking too many people living here to complain about the noise. It also has to be one of the largest railway construction sites I have seen in many years, as most tend to be exceptionally cramped sites crushed in by other buildings.
At the moment, they’ve clearly laid out the core structure for the new station, and also the viaduct leading up to the elevated platforms.
As is often the case with brownfield sites, no matter how much planning is done to check everything is OK, unplanned problems can occur, and this site has come across a lot of utility works, mainly a Thames Water pipe and telecoms cabling that was not on older plans of the area.
They sit under the piers that will hold up the railway viaduct, and while the piers could be moved, that then means different loads on the railway spans, causing changes to those designs as well.
These are now having to be dealt with, which is causing worries about delays and costs, but at the moment, the concerns aren’t leading to revised opening dates for the new railway.
All going well, the new station, due to be placed in Zone 4 on the tube map should open in December 2021, offering four trains per hour at first.
When operational, London Overground services would no longer terminate at platform 1 at Barking station but would be diverted to run through platforms 7 and 8 which are currently used by c2c and freight services.
London’s newest RAILWAY STATION. (There is no such thing as a train station).
As such a term is in wide and common usage I’d suggest it is quite legitimate. Would offer a stronger case but I’m just off to the road station. Never call *that* a bus station….
It’s TRAIN station for me. There’s one syllable less for starters.
Something I don’t get is people making snarky comments on a site that is quite unique in London and offers a wide range of informative comment. No, instead I’ll just come on and show my superiority. Paper hat.
I shall look forward to visiting Barking Riverside Railway Station when it opens.
And I am also advocating that we change Airports to Plane Stations and Ports to Boat Stations.
Why not the other way? Let’s have trainports or railports 🙂
The term “train station” grates on me too. In the US they can call them that(or depots) but in the UK they were always railway stations I.e. stations on the railway.
Actually, in the UK, train station was used in Victorian times, while not as widely as railway station, it was in use in the UK long before the Yanks got their iron wagons, so it’s not an American import.
If I write for a trade magazine, I would use trade terms, but this is a general purpose website appealing to the general public.
Frankly, I don’t care which is used, so long as I use the one most popularly used by the public — which in this situation is train station.
It’s also worth noting that much of the London Underground terminology was imported from the USA, and no one seems to complain about that though. Odd.
Blimey.
You’d think people would be grateful that you write a free, hugely informative and interesting blog, but no, you use one term the pedants decree is “incorrect” (even though it makes perfect sense and its meaning is clear) and you get a flood of negative and insulting comments.
For all you pedants: if you object to the term, the simple answer is for you not to use it when you write and speak. Trying to control how other people write is extraordinarily rude.
Keep up the good work, Ian 🙂
Any information on TfL’s claim that the this station will allow for the Overground to proceed under (or over) the Thames?
If I recall off the top of my head, in the government’s budget announcement that approved funding for the station a year or two back.
The junction with c2c Tilbury line is very expensively wasteful in that both tracks of the Overground extension cross the bridge whereas it would only be nescessary for the eastbound track to bridge and the westbound just link into to up Tilbury line which it does much further west
Near where I live the “train station” is a gym.
Will the adjacent Combined London Markets Site at Barking Reach, if built, necessitate further provision and additional capacity and if so who will pay? The City of London Corporation? Presumably there will be increased Freight Off-Peak from the North ( via Carlton Road and Willesden) and West (Acton) and a Peak Metro Service, 7-10 am and 3-7pm. Will Public Funds be diverted from HS2 or Crossrail 2?
The GOBLIN is surely one of the Arteries envisaged as a potential for better usage.
I was really hoping the station would have been a dlr instead of a London Overground. This could definately have helped getting into the city quicker. Any chance a dlr could be on its way in the near or medium future ?
P.s love your blogs
A DLR via Beckton would be typically 5-10 minutes slower than the mainline/tube via Barking
The Barking Riverside Overground Station brilliant but we also need the DLR period for the near future from this new station as the DLR was the first proposed plan before the 2012 olympics,and as i live in this area we need controlled parking in all the roads especially in Estuary Close which is free to park for a lot of non-resident time abusers.This is a very big project and people will park for the whole day
which will cause big problems for residents locally.
The Rail Infrastructure for a separate Extension to Dagenham Dock and then, Three Markets Terminus is largely in place.
It may be in the City of London’s Interests to Fund a Station (35 Million?). A Concession based Deal, allowing a share of the Revenue for City of London, C2C and Tfl would surely entice such a scheme.
4 new Services an Hour, 2 each to Harlesden ( Harley Road – to Link with the new West London Line from Hounslow to Brent Cross West) and Kings Cross North / York Way via Kentish Town West would ease immediate Congestion in the Euston and Kings Cross Area and the Victoria Line. 8-12 Trains an Hour even with Freight should be possible, long before Hs2 Opens.
As an aside adding the Northern Heights on existing Infrastructure to the Goblin with a Line from Alexander Palace to Stratford utilising Haringey Green Lanes, South Tottenham and Lea Bridge must be Viable looking at Crossrail 2.
Highgate and all Stations north on the Northern Line would have its pressure eased.
Anything viable and with a positive CBA must be considered for Keynsisn Stimulus or 3rd Way Capitalism, in these Dark Times.