It appears that TfL aren’t providing any overnight Overground services on New Year’s Eve to Forest Hill and Honor Oak Park.
The final train will be as per a normal Monday evening with the Southern train from London Bridge at 0035, instead the normal Fri/Sat Night Overground service will operate to and from New Cross Gate.
The last connection to Forest Hill by changing at New Cross Gate from Canada Water is at 0031 which meets the Southern train.
Absolute con
And the 3.1 percent increase in Jan helps us how?! Thanks for the info though
3.1% barely keeps up with CPI / RPI. And that doesn’t factor in inflationary pressures currently on the railway workers salaries which are going through the roof due to a shortage.
Another issue is that TfL are in deficit. They were hoping that Crossrail/Elizabeth line would open in December to fill the funding cuts.
To run trains overnight on NYE means paying Network Rail additional carriage fees south of New Cross Gate. The section of line between Dalston Junction and New Cross Gate is owned by TfL.
Is the failure to run overnight services on New Year’s Eve / New Years Day due to costs, engineering issues or just because they can’t be bothered?
Are other TfL services running as usual over the New Year?
Latest info is updated on TfL here:
Last year they provided an all night service on the North London Line and a full night service on the ELL between Highbury & Islington and West Croydon/Crystal Palace.
This year they’re providing an all night service on the ELL between H&I and New Cross Gate only, North London Line between Willesden Junction and Stratford until 0230 and some trains out of Liverpool Street for the first time until 0230.
I’d speculate that they’re keeping the access costs to Network Rail down by only having trains that run on their infrastructure until 0230 only, while running an all night service on the ELL core which is largely on TfL infrastructure. (Section from H&I to just before the train goes into Dalston Junction is Network Rail).
So why can’t LO or Southern provide something on our line until 2.30pm too? Southern are running to East Croydon via Streatham Common, Norbury, Thornton Heath & Selhurst all through the night so why nothing at all after 00.35 on our line? South Eastern are running from Charing Cross & London Bridge to Catford Bridge until 3am and from Victoria to Penge East until the same time. But then there are no late buses from either of those stations either. We really seem to have been forgotten!
As far as I know, TfL subsidise those overnight services provided by the other train operating companies.
We may not have the train services this year, but TfL are operating the 185 overnight on NYE, this is in addition to the 176 and N171 buses that usually run.
The 185 will run from Vauxhall rather than Victoria all night, while the 176 and N171 will run from Elephant and Castle.
I emailed TFL for an explanation on why we have no late Overground services on New Years Eve this year and have received the following unsatisfactory response:
" Thank you for contacting us on 16 December regarding the London Overground on New Years Eve. I apologise for the inconvenience and understand your frustration.
Unfortunately TfL’s directive for this year has been just to run a standard night Overground service every 15 minutes between Highbury & New Cross Gate, with no overnight trains south of New Cross Gate. I trust you find this information useful"
I hope the Forest Hill Society will be raising this with their TFL contacts to make sure this is a one off and not a future trend.
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yet again we are the poor relations when it comes to transport for London.
They cut the frequency of the few useful buses that serve our area, and now this.
anyone would think we were in zone 5 not sone 3!!!
Woefully inadequate response.
Remember that TfL dictate to Arriva Rail London who is the London Overground contractor what level of service they provide.
For reasons known to them, they’ve decided to scrap the annual overnight service that has been running for the last couple of years. Personally I think it’s to keep costs down by not paying as many drivers from New Cross depot as they’d usually do for the night shift, along with carriage fees to Network Rail for running south of New Cross Gate, which would mean signallers at Three Bridges who run the signals also working. North of New Cross Gate, the New Cross signal box next door to the depot runs the signals.
They have stated somewhere that they can’t get enough volunteer drivers, even though they have offered substantial inducements.
Don’t forget that Brockey/Forest Hill/Sydenham and beyond have been cut off from East Croydon during rush hour too.
The use of the word “directive” hints that there was zero room for discussion. Not sure if it has anything to do with it, but those who have followed even just the headlines on TfL lately will have noticed that they’ve run into some serious cash issues. TfL were robbed off a modest sum of £700m yearly government grant coming into force last year, the fare freeze and hopper ticket didn’t help to increase journeys overall (let alone the income per journey), and now the revenue from Crossrail which I suspect was firmly accounted for in TfL’s budget from this month has gone up in smoke, at the same time as the cost has gone the other way. There comes a point where you have to widen your scrape for the pennies.
Put on top of that the uncertainty after a certain date next March and it becomes clear that there are far bigger fish to fry at the moment than a bells and whistles New Years Eve train service.
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Presumably your comment was in response to my post? I didn’t think it would be seen as political but for comfort I have now taken out any names that can be associated with political parties. The national context I believe is related to the issue discussed in this topic and therefore hugely relevant.
Thanks for modifying your post 
So disappointing about the trains this year! Has anyone taken the buses on New Year’s Eve before? We’re debating going out but unsure of the reliability of buses and don’t want to get stranded or stuck with a huge cab fare!
I regularly come home on the night bus. The 176 to Forest Hill. They are very reliable. This New Year’s eve the 185 bus will be running all night as well.
Based on a single experience from a few years back I would strongly recommend to avoid changing buses south of the river at all cost, but instead try to get onto a bus as close to where it starts as possible as they fill up quickly and won’t stop on their way to pick up people. I would avoid the likes of Waterloo, Elephant & Castle or Brixton.
Depending on location taking a train from Charing Cross to Catford Bridge and bus or Uber from there might be a better option.
The 185 is starting from Vauxhall Bus Station every 20 mins. Best bet is to go there.
Working purely on the assumption that for the most part the majority of this forum’s users are in their early thirties and upwards, who goes out in central London on New Year’s Eve? I’m down in Chichester with my parents and brothers and I’ll be getting slaughtered with my dad, brothers and uncles tonight. Anyway, safe travels and a happy New Year.
Last time we got trashed the following morning my mother gave me a kick and asked me if I could wake my father up as he’d passed-out on the sofa. He’s a big, powerfully-built man and a deep sleeper and my uncle had to fire a heavy-duty elastic band into his face to wake him up. I laughed so much I nearly threw-up.