Longer trains, more frequent services, better connections and improved infrastructure are among the recommendations made by Network Rail on 31 August 2006 as it published its Cross London Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS).

The Cross London RUS, published following consultation and feedback from more than 500 stakeholders, strikes a balance between meeting growing demand on London’s suburban passenger routes while also allowing essential freight growth.

Network Rail’s Chief Executive John Armitt said: “London’s orbital routes face passenger growth of up to 17% over the next 10 years but will also remain a key route for freight traffic. The Cross London RUS offers a series of solutions that meet both of these demands and which make the most effective and efficient use of the capacity on London’s railway. I would like to thank our industry partners and all of the stakeholders who contributed to the RUS process to help shape this extensive and coherent vision for the future of London’s rail services.”

The draft RUS was launched in November 2005 outlining a series of options aimed at increasing capacity and meeting future demand on the orbital London routes across the 10-year period the strategy covers. The scope of the RUS included the North London Line from Richmond to Woolwich; the Gospel Oak to Barking Line; the West London Line from Willesden to Clapham; and parts of the South London Line between Battersea Park and South Bermondsey.

After nine months of further analysis and extensive consultation with MPs, local councils, rail user groups, members of the public and many others, the original options were developed into a series of value for money recommendations including:

Short-term plans from now until 2009- Lengthen  trains and introduce new trains with increased passenger capacity
- Infrastructure improvements to signalling, track, bridges and platforms to improve performance and reliability
- Freight gauge improvements on the Gospel Oak – Barking route to accommodate freight growth

Medium-term plans between 2009 – 2014- Increasing the frequency of services on orbital routes including: an extra two trains per hour between Stratford and Camden; two more trains per hour between Gospel Oak and Willesden Junction; two more trains per hour between Gospel Oak and Barking; and one extra train to run from Shepherds Bush to Croydon

Long-term plans between 2014 – 2019- Upgrading the Felixstowe – Nuneaton freight route to take some freight off of the North London Line and allow more opportunities to increase and improve passenger services on London’s orbital routes

The final Cross London RUS document will now be reviewed over the next 60 days by the Office of Rail Regulation, after which it will become established as Network Rail’s future strategy for the maintenance and renewal of the cross London routes discussed in the document. The strategy will also inform the Government in their development of the High Level Output Specification (HLOS) – essentially a specification of what future services they want the rail network to provide, which will be developed over the next 12 months.