The North London Line is a railway line which passes through the inner suburbs of north London, England. Its route is a rough semicircle from the south west to the north east, avoiding central London. The line is owned and maintained by Network Rail. Although much of it originated as part of the North London Railway, the current route is the result of a series of amalgamations, closures and re-openings; and has a mixed third-rail and overhead electrical power supply. It is an important freight route and is used by the Richmond to Stratford service of the London Overground, as part of the National Rail network. Also between Richmond and Gunnersbury, London Underground's District line shares tracks with London Overground services, although this part is also owned and maintained by Network Rail.
The line closed in February 2010 between Gospel Oak and Stratford for the installation of a new signalling system and the extension of 30 platforms, ultimately to allow four-car trains to run on the London Overground network. The line reopened on 1 June 2010 with a reduced service and none on Sundays, and with the upgrade work completed the full seven-day service resumed on 22 May 2011.
Read more about North London Line: Connections, Closed Stations
Famous quotes containing the words north, london and/or line:
“Ah, how shall you know the dreary sorrow at the North Gate,
With Li Po’s name forgotten,
And we guardsmen fed to the tigers.”
—Li Po (701–762)
“...of all the shoddy foreigners one encounters, there are none so depressing as the London shoddy.”
—Willa Cather (1876–1947)
“Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore.”
—Apocrypha. Ecclesiasticus, 44:14.
The line “their name liveth for evermore” was chosen by Rudyard Kipling on behalf of the Imperial War Graves Commission as an epitaph to be used in Commonwealth War Cemeteries. Kipling had himself lost a son in the fighting.