At the end of next month, London Overground will take over the local train services through our area to Enfield Town and Cheshunt. Stations on these lines are already being improved (i.e. lifts installed at Silver Street and Edmonton Green), and once London Overground is in charge, they will be staffed throughout operating hours.

Also, if not immediately, train frequencies will be improved. We only have to look at how the former north London and east London lines, as well as various services south of the Thames, have improved following the takeover by London Overground, and to see what a good service that entity, controlled by Transport for London and ultimately the Mayor of London provides.

What a difference to the shoddy service Go-Via, reviving the Great Northern name, provides the local services between Moorgate and Hertford North/Stevenage or Letchworth, and Welwyn Garden City, serving the western half of our borough. When that operator took over last December, great things were promised. But aside from lengthening a few three-car trains to six cars during the rush hour, nothing has changed. And all this despite pressure from our local MP David Burrowes and local councillors.

In particular, weekend services are abysmal, and that is without allowing for inevitable disruption caused by work to link these lines into the Thameslink system at Kings Cross. Trains are still only half-hourly, and unless Arsenal are playing at home, only three-car units operate on Saturdays and Sundays. Why? There are surely sufficient units at Hornsey depot to run six-car trains at weekends and on Saturdays.

I often travel from my local station at Palmers Green into central London and the trains are already packed when they reach my station, as much as if not more so than in the rush hours on weekdays.

If six-car trains cannot be provided (perhaps because the Class 313 units need extra time for maintenance owing to their great age?), then why not increase the frequency of the Hertford loop to three trains per hour instead of just two? This would at least alleviate some of the overcrowding.

There is also the question of stations being destaffed on these lines, resulting in such unacceptable things as the waiting rooms being locked, forcing passengers to wait for their trains in the wind and the rain.

Surely, the final solution to these problems would be for London Overground to take over these lines, and for that matter, all other suburban railway services in the London area. Needless to say, politicians on all sides are suggesting this in the run-up to the General Election – but will they honour their promises if elected? I doubt it.

As it is, the only light at the end of the tunnel (pardon the pun) is that the service into Moorgate on the Great Northern suburban lines from our area will be reinstated this coming December.

Jim Blake

North London Transport Historical Group