Enable the delivery
of new homes
Enhance orbital
connectivity
Enhance public
transport capacity
Create new jobs
Plans are being drawn up for a West London Orbital rail service
This will transform peoples’ transport choices, making trips that can take hours and involve several changes simpler, quicker and more reliable. It will support delivery of thousands of new homes and jobs. It will help us make a start in tackling air quality and congestion on over-crowded roads. It will provide a major opportunity to improve the quality of life and prosperity of West London’s people and the success of its businesses.
West London councils have worked with the Mayor, Transport for London and Network Rail to develop the scheme. It is supported in the Mayor’s Transport Strategy and the first stage of work have shown the project is technically deliverable and value for money. We are now working on more detailed technical issues.
We’ve made a good start and are working hard to make the case for the new service. Your support will help show how much it means to West London and everyone who lives, works, studies or visits here.
This website makes it easy to register your backing for the new line – and to go with the WLO!
#gowlo
Watch the virtual tour:
About the scheme
The West London Orbital will be a new rail link connecting Hendon and West Hampstead with Hounslow and Kew Bridge, with stations at Brent Cross, Harlesden and Neasden, Old Oak Common, Acton, Lionel Road (to serve the new Brentford Community Stadium), Brentford and Hounslow. It will run as part of Transport for London’s Overground network, bringing back into passenger use a freight-only line between Cricklewood and Acton and then using the North London and SouthWest main lines. It could provide four trains every hour between Hendon-Kew and West Hampstead-Hounslow, meaning eight an hour Neasden-South Acton.
The WLO will play a major part in delivering West London’s future growth and making sure all its people share in its success. It will help deliver great new places and support the success of existing neighbourhoods, providing homes, jobs and other opportunities reflecting our position at the cutting edge of the new economy.
Connections
It will allow quick, reliable travel across parts of West London where at the moment the only option is to use congested, polluted roads, by bus or car. Trips between places like Harlesden and Brent Cross that take hours at the moment will take a few minutes. Journeys that currently require several changes will be simplified and make life easier for many people needing step free station access. Public transport will become a realistic choice for many journeys, reducing reliance on the car and helping West London meet the Mayor’s targets for switching to more environmentally friendly modes of transport.
It will help take vehicles off some of the country’s busiest roads (including the North Circular Road, identified as the UK’s most congested highway), helping to tackle concentrations of poor air quality and reducing losses to the economy from traffic delays. It will also help tackle crowding on other public transport services, such as the Piccadilly Line.
It will connect up several busy lines into central London from other parts of West London – and beyond – including the Jubilee and Bakerloo Underground lines, the Euston-Watford and North London line Overground, the Midland and SouthWest mainlines and, in the future, the Elizabeth line and HS2 via a new station at Old Oak.
Growth and Employment
Making it travel connections easier will help increase the amount of housing, offices, shops and industrial space along the route, supporting delivery of up to 16,000 more homes and space for 22,000 more jobs. It will link up places like Brent Cross, Wembley Old Oak and the Great West Corridor where over 56,000 new homes and 118,500 jobs are planned. It will help communities in some of West London’s most deprived areas access new opportunities. The WLO will provide a major boost to the London economy, adding £16 million every year by making the local economy more productive, making a contribution to the country’s prosperity and generating more tax revenue to support public services.
Timescales
Work is being done to develop the project, including engineering and timetable feasibility, and to identify funding opportunities. Assuming this detailed work is successful, the first trains could be running by the late 2020s.
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Step 1
We are asking for your name and email address for the purpose of sending you updates on the progress of the West London Orbital. Your information will not be shared with any third parties.
Latest News
Help the WLO Go!
We need your support to get the WLO and the benefits it will bring to West London delivered. Help us by signing up to show your backing for the West London Orbital and help spread the word by social media.
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Proposed Timeline
2021-2022
Further feasibility
Early/Mid 2020’s
Planning, Design,
Approval and
Procurement
2026-2029
Construction
2029
Operation
Proposed
Route Map
This map indicates the proposed route that the West London Orbital line will follow. The route makes use of existing track, currently used for freight trains, and will run as part of Transport for London’s Overground network.
The WLO is supported by the Mayor of London and the map detailing the scheme from the Mayor’s Transport Strategy can be downloaded from the link below.
