East London’s overground line from Dalston to south London will run 24/7 at the weekends, starting later this year.
Admittedly, it sits a little awkwardly under the ‘Night Tube’ brand, given that it’s not actually a tube. But from December 2017, stations between Dalston Junction and New Cross Gate will run right through the night each Friday and Saturday.
It’ll connect the nightlife of Dalston and Shoreditch with south-east London, an area previously denied the joys of rail transport in the wee hours of the morning.
As well as helping Goldsmiths students wend their way home without a painful (if picturesque) Tower Bridge-based detour, it could also be a boost for venues outside east London.
The massive new Printworks club and Hawker House dining venue, both in Canada Water, might consider running later into the night. And plucky New Cross has been perpetually aspiring to ‘trendy place to go’ status for the last fifteen years, so perhaps they’ll finally be able to lure Hackneyites over the river. Hey, they can always go the Venue!
Late-night overground riders will be able to connect to the rest of the network using the Jubilee Line in Canada Water, and the route will be extended two stops further to Highbury & Islington later in 2018, where night owls can jump onto the Victoria Line.
However, there are currently no plans to extend the route south to Crystal Palace, Croydon, Peckham Rye or Clapham Junction, as these rail tracks are managed by Network Rail (while TfL themselves own the central portion of the line.) And the Overground won’t be stopping at Whitechapel at first, while they finish off the Crossrail works ahead of the December 2018 opening.
