RAIL services will double on one of Britain’s most overcrowded lines as part of a £1 billion investment in new trains and restored tracks.

A gap between the North London Line and East London Line at Dalston Junction in Hackney will be plugged by 2010.

Trains will run every eight minutes rather than every quarter of an hour. The increase in capacity, promised in the London Olympic bid, will allow thousands of passengers an hour to travel by train to the Olympic park at Stratford in 2012.

A 100-metre new section of track will connect the North London Line — which links Richmond in West London with Stratford in the east — with the East London Line, which is being extended from Shoreditch to Dalston Junction in the north and from New Cross Gate to West Croydon in the south.

Two new fleets of trains, costing £223 million, will operate by 2010. All stations will also have staff on duty throughout the day to improve security.

Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, launched a new routes logo yesterday based on the Tube symbol, but with the words London Overground instead of London Underground.

He also reiterated his long-term plan to create an orbital railway for London, allowing passengers to cross the capital without travelling into the centre. This will require additional funding to extend the East London Line to Clapham Junction via Surrey Quays.

Mr Livingstone said: “For decades, national rail services in London have been neglected — London Overground will start a much-needed revitalisation. By joining the North and East London Railways we will create a new rail artery around the city, serving 20 London boroughs.”

Four companies, Govia, National Express, Netherland Rail and Laing, are bidding to run services on the lines.

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