New station at Barking Riverside to open this summer

The new station is near completion, according to Transport for London

A new London Overground station in east London will open this summer, Transport for London (TfL) has said.

An extension of the Gospel Oak to Barking line will provide a rail connection to Barking Riverside, a development of 10,000 new homes.

Four trains an hour will run, taking seven minutes to reach Barking, which is also on two Tube lines.

The line had been due to open in the autumn, but TfL said it would now be sooner as it was ahead of schedule.

Some trains are already running on the 2.7 mile (4.5 km) extension, as drivers undertake training and test the route, which TfL said was a "major milestone" for the project.

The new, step-free station has been built in a new public square.

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"The extension will be a game-changer for Barking Riverside, vastly improving transport connectivity, accessibility and helping to realise plans to deliver much needed housing," said Stuart Harvey, TfL's chief capital officer.

Drivers are undertaking training and testing the new route

Barking Riverside is a development of homes, commercial units, community facilities and schools being built on former industrial land next to the river Thames.

Currently, it takes 25-minutes by bus to reach a London Underground connection at Barking.

The construction of the new section of line has required the construction of a viaduct, and the installation of structural steel plates, weighing 100 tonnes each.

Some of the work involved large-scale cranes, including the largest mobile crane in the UK.

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