Funding for Electrification for Barking to Gospel Oak welcomed
The Barking to Gospel Oak line will be electrified following today’s announcement of a borrowing guarantee of £90m. Labour Assembly Member Andrew Dismore and campaigner for electrification welcomes the move and urges Mayor Boris Johnson and Transport for London to ensure work starts as soon as possible.
Labour London Assembly Members wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne in May asking for funding to electrify the line in today’s Comprehensive Spending Review. Electrification is necessary to ease the current overcrowding and improve air quality, the London Assembly Members argued.
Local Labour London Assembly Member Andrew Dismore said:
“I welcome today’s long-awaited decision for the essential electrification of the Gospel Oak to Barking line. This route is an anomaly in being the only line in the area dependent on diesel trains and electrification will make it connected with the rest of London’s transport.
“I urge the Mayor and Transport for London to ensure the electrification of the line starts as soon as possible to alleviate the overcrowding on this route. Transport for London will be able to introduce longer, faster, cleaner trains that users of this service have waited a long-time for.”
