On 16 Sep, 23:00, 1506 wrote:
On Sep 16, 7:04*am, "Basil Jet"

wrote:
Is there a reason why this is not just billed as part of the Underground,
especially since it will soon have some deep tube bits? If the Underground
can include the Chesham branch, why not the North London Line? Do staff at
Gospel Oak station get paid less than staff at Chesham, in which case
keeping the Overground separate from the Underground is a divide-and-conquer
wheeze against the rail workers?

This is something I have wondered for some time. *The Overground name
is contrived. *The East London Line is a former Underground line
anyway.

Some differences between Overground and Underground:
1. Third rail electrification rather than fourth, so not compatible
for through running. Choosing fourth rail would have been (a) very
expensive with no obvious gain [why convert Willesden Junction--
Clapham Junction for example, or indeed the North London?] (b) The
reason for fourth rail on the Underground is the need to run through
metal tubes, which give rise to induction and other problems with
running-rail-return systems (they were tried, and abandoned). No metal
tunnels on Overground routes: the ELL is masonry, of course.
2. Comparatively little exclusive route (only the former ELL, really,
and arguably the Watford DC, except that even that is shared between
Queen's Park and Harrow & W with the Underground).
3. Almost entirely surface, except again for the former ELL of course.
4. Essentially a suburban network. With the transfer of the ELL, all
Underground lines now enter (and mostly cross) central London. No
Overground line does, with the exception of the Watford DC which gets
as far as Euston. My understanding is that there is a longer term plan
to remove the DC from Euston, reviving the connection at Primrose Hill
to take the Watfords on to the NLL instead. This may be tied in with a
second proposal to restore the Bakerloo between Harrow and Watford,
but some Overground service will have to continue if the stations
between Queen's Park and the Primrose Hill connection, such as Kilburn
High Road, are to stay open. These developments are probably at least
a decade away, because they are also linked to some extent with
replacing the Bakerloo fleet, after c.2016.
5. I think the intention is to create a kind of S-Bahn, to take the
German model. The Underground, of course, is the U-Bahn.
6. There are also plans to extend Overground services further, taking
in more south London routes in particular (see the new Southern
franchise).l
7. On balance, I feel the decision to create Overground was logical
enough. All ticketing, of course, is compatible, so many passengers
don't notice the join, I suspect. Red roundel, orange roundel: it's
all TfL.