DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE

Years of hard work and careful preparation paid off as we opened the gates to Barking Riverside for the first time.

Colleagues welcomed the first passengers on 18 July – a day of record-breaking temperatures.

And because Londoners had been urged to avoid travel that day, an official opening ceremony with the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan took place a few days later on 25 July, avoiding the full blast of the heatwave.    

Among those celebrating was driver Tanya Browne, who was the first to pull into the new station.

“It was a great highlight and something I’ll remember forever,” she said. “Although it was such a surprise as I approached the station, as I was unaware that I was the first. I couldn’t believe all the people that were waiting on the platform!”

Make a difference

The station, which opened ahead of schedule, marks the completion of the extension to the Gospel Oak to Barking line. It will serve people moving into a development of 10,000 new homes being built on the site of the former Barking Power Station and surrounding land. Transport for London Commissioner Andy Byford said the extension would “make a real difference to so many people’s lives” – something echoed by ARL programme manager Lucy Woodall.

“New stations are very rare, so there was a definite excitement about doing something unique,” she said.

Lucy said it has been exciting to see the station become a reality. One of the key challenges was ensuring that as well as looking fantastic, the station’s architecture worked for colleagues. For example, ensuring communications boxes were in the right locations and that drivers had platform-based facilities available to them.

“We listened to colleagues to get these right,” Lucy said. “We wanted to ensure it’s a great place for our people to work and I don’t think there was a department of ARL that wasn’t involved in some way.”