"Richard J." wrote in message
om...
Graham Harrison wrote on 16
September 2009 16:59:33 ...
"Graham Harrison" wrote in
message ...
"Basil Jet" wrote in message
...
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?


What is now called the "Overground" is actually part of "British Rail".
The government put those lines out to tender and "Overground" won it.

No, the government decided to delegate management responsibility for these
lines to TfL.

Therefore, it's not part of Tfl as such - for instance it works under
National Rail rules/signalling and passenger terms/conditions not LU.

It is part of TfL in the same way that the DLR is part of TfL. The
signalling rules are irrelevant; there are parts of LU that operate under
Network Rail signalling. Yes, the conditions of carriage are those for
National Rail - so what?

And to make matters more complicated although (as I understand it) the
franchise is let to Tfl it's actually run for them by London Overground
Rail Operations Ltd (LOROL) which is owned half by Hong Kong Mass Transit
Railway and DB Regio.

It's not a franchise. The London Rail Concession is an agreement between
DfT and TfL under which TfL is responsible for managing services on the
London Overground lines. TfL have contracted LOROL to operate the trains
and stations.

--
Richard J.
(to email me, swap 'uk' and 'yon' in address)

OK, let see if I've got this right

The Dft and Tfl have an agreement that allows Tfl to operate what is known
as the "Overground". Tfl have then let a contract to LOROL to actually run
the services. I'm intrigued - what's the difference between a franchise
and the Dft/Tfl agreement?

As for the issue of Network Rail conditions of carriage it makes a
difference (to me - ymmv).