Editing Gospel Oak to Barking line (section)

==Future==

=== Castle Green/Renwick Road ===

{{Main Article|Castle Green railway station}}

As part of the extension to [[Barking Riverside railway station|Barking Riverside]], a station, called Castle Green, at Renwick Road on the [[London, Tilbury & Southend Railway]] was proposed.<ref>{{Cite web |url = https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/rail/barking-riverside-extension-consult/ |title = Have your say on the proposed London Overground extension to Barking Riverside - Transport for London - Citizen Space |website = consultations.tfl.gov.uk |access-date = 15 April 2020 |archive-date = 9 August 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200809133757/https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/rail/barking-riverside-extension-consult/ |url-status = dead }}</ref> Although not built as part of the extension to Barking Riverside, the station site was safeguarded so that it can be built at a later stage.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |url = http://bailey.persona-pi.com/Public-Inquiries/Barking%20Riverside/B-Core%20Documents/Category%20C%20Scheme%20Development%20Documents%20Including%20Consultation/C15%20-%20Intermediate%20Station%20Feasibility%20Report.pdf |title = Barking Riverside Extension Intermediate Station Feasibility Report |date = December 2015 |publisher = Transport for London |access-date = 23 July 2017 |archive-date = 21 August 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170821002124/http://bailey.persona-pi.com/Public-Inquiries/Barking%20Riverside/B-Core%20Documents/Category%20C%20Scheme%20Development%20Documents%20Including%20Consultation/C15%20-%20Intermediate%20Station%20Feasibility%20Report.pdf |url-status = dead }}</ref>

===Potential Abbey Wood extension===
Following the plan to extend the line to [[Barking Riverside railway station|Barking Riverside]], there were also proposals to extend the line further across the river to [[Abbey Wood railway station|Abbey Wood]] via [[Thamesmead]], to allow for easier Orbital journeys in East London, and provide [[Thamesmead]] with a railway connection for the first time.<ref>{{cite news |title = Call to bring London Overground to Thamesmead – south east London's largest town with no trains |url = http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/11488390.display/ |work = This is London Local |date = 22 September 2014}}</ref> This was outlined in the [[R25 (London)|R25]] orbital railway proposal in 2014,<ref>{{Cite news |last = Dudman |first = Jane |url = https://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/2014/aug/01/boris-johnsons-london-orbital-railway-is-it-a-good-idea |title = Boris Johnson's London orbital railway – is it a good idea? |date = 1 August 2014 |work = The Guardian |access-date = 17 April 2020 |language = en-GB |issn = 0261-3077}}</ref> and the potential of a future extension was mentioned in the inspectors report of the [[Transport and Works Act 1992|Transport and Works Order]] authorising the extension to Barking Riverside.<ref name=":1" />

However, in 2019 [[Transport for London]] and [[Greater London Authority|City Hall]] proposed an [[Thamesmead Extension Scheme|extension of the Docklands Light Railway (DLR)]] to serve [[Thamesmead]] instead of an extension of the [[London Overground|Overground]], as part of the proposed Thamesmead and Abbey Wood [[London Plan|OAPF (Opportunity Area Planning Framework)]].<ref>{{Cite web |url = https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/18202007.workshops-future-thamesmead-abbey-wood-opened-public/ |title = Workshops about the future of Thamesmead and Abbey Wood opened to public |website = News Shopper |date = 31 January 2020 |language = en-gb |access-date = 17 April 2020}}</ref> A DLR extension was chosen due to lower connectivity benefits of an Overground extension, the low frequency (four trains per hour) of the Gospel Oak to Barking line, and — most significantly — a construction cost twice as much as the DLR, as the gradients required to cross the [[River Thames]] would require large scale tunnelling works when compared to the DLR.<ref>{{Cite web |url = https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/md2696_appendices_a-f.pdf |title = Thamesmead and Abbey Wood OAPF - OAPF Transport Strategy - December 2019 Draft |date = December 2019 |publisher = [[Greater London Authority]] |access-date = 17 April 2020}}</ref> Despite recommending an extension of the DLR to [[Thamesmead]], the consultation also noted that an extension of the Gospel Oak to Barking line could provide good orbital transport links in the long term.

=== Other proposed changes ===

Local residents and users of the line have proposed adding a station between [[Leytonstone High Road railway station|Leytonstone High Road]] and [[Wanstead Park railway station|Wanstead Park]] to serve the [[Cann Hall]] area. The [[Leyton and Wanstead (UK Parliament constituency)|Leyton and Wanstead]] branch of the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] has expressed an interest in the proposal.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/9560443.WALTHAM_FOREST__Campaign_for_new_station_in_Leytonstone/ |title = WALTHAM FOREST: Campaign for new station in Leytonstone |publisher = [[Waltham Forest Guardian]] |date = 29 February 2012 |access-date = 5 December 2012}}</ref> The line's user group and Islington Borough Council have been pressing for the reopening of the station at [[Junction Road railway station|Junction Road]], as its proximity to [[Tufnell Park tube station|Tufnell Park Underground station]] would allow interchange with the [[Northern line]].<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.barking-gospeloak.org.uk/history.htm |title = BGO History |website = barking-gospeloak.org.uk |access-date = 12 February 2014}}</ref>