London Rail

London Rail

Formation	1999
Type	Directorate of Transport for London
Purpose	Overseeing regional rail operations
Region served	Greater London, UK
Parent organisation	Transport for London

London Rail is a directorate of Transport for London (TfL), involved in the relationship with the National Rail network within Greater London, UK. It manages non-tube rail systems in Greater London.

London Rail manages the London Overground (LO), London Trams and Docklands Light Railway (DLR). It will also be responsible for Crossrail. As part of an internal restructure within TfL, it recently merged with the (previously separate) London Underground directorate, bringing all of Greater London local transport services on rails under one division.

The London Overground was established in 2007 when TfL took over control of the former National Rail Silverlink franchise in 2007. It has since taken on more services through a former London Underground line and over other network rail lines. London Rail lets a concession to operate the Overground. Operation is contracted to London Overground Rail Operations (owned by Arriva UK Trains and MTR) until 2014/16.

London Trams is responsible only for the Croydon Tram known as Tramlink. Tramlink was set up in 2000 by a private finance initiative. It was bought by TfL in 2008 and has been operated by it since. London Trams has been working on proposals for other tram schemes in west and central London, however as of 2011 all are unfunded or cancelled.

The Docklands Light Railway was established in 1987 and has seen significant expansion since. Its operation is contracted out as a concession to Serco until 2014. There are also other concessionaires who have built and manage extensions.

Crossrail also operates as a concession from London Rail. It already operates the Shenfield Metro services, taking over from Abellio Greater Anglia on 31 May 2015. The Reading / Heathrow services are however still operated by Great Western Railway, but will be taken over by Crossrail from 2018.