The West London Orbital is a proposed extension to the London Overground railway system. The extension would make use of a combination of existing freight and passenger lines including the Dudding Hill line, North London line and Hounslow Loop line. The route would run for approximately 11 miles (17 km) from at the northern end to at the western end via , Neasden, Harlesden, , South Acton and .
If the extension were opened, it would improve rail connectivity across West and North-West London and establish a number of new connections to existing radial rail infrastructure including Thameslink, the Jubilee line, the Bakerloo line, High Speed 2, and the Elizabeth line. It was anticipated the line would be operational by the mid-2020s because it makes use of existing underused rail infrastructure rather than requiring significant lengths of new track or tunnels to be built. The planned line would follow a portion of the route of the former Super Outer Circle that was operated by the Midland Railway from 1878 to 1880.
The scheme is supported by the Mayor of London and Transport for London's Transport Strategy. It is still at the proposal stage, and TfL is due to launch a public consultation on the scheme in the summer of 2026.
The West London Orbital scheme consists of three distinct sections which will make use of existing railway lines:
The Dudding Hill line, opened in 1868, is currently a goods line, roughly long, and has had no scheduled passenger service for over a century. It has no stations, no electrification and a speed limit with semaphore signalling, and is lightly used by freight and very occasional passenger charter trains. Utilising part of the Dudding Hill line would enable a new passenger rail route from , running south to a junction near the future station, connecting to the existing North London Line. Further south at Acton, a short link would connect to the Hounslow Loop, allowing the new route to reach and stations. Taken together, this set of routes would form a new peripheral rapid transit passenger service around West London suburbs, known as the West London Orbital railway.
The proposal would involve building four new stations:
The scheme also includes installing additional platforms at and stations.
In June 2017 Transport for London published the Mayor's Transport Strategy, which stated that London government would work with the relevant boroughs to explore the feasibility of the proposed service, that would become the West London Orbital. In March 2018 the Mayor's Transport Strategy was published, which includes a proposal for this orbital connection to Old Oak between Hounslow and Brent Cross.
Following the naming of the London Overground lines in 2024, Mayor Sadiq Khan confirmed that, if built, the West London Orbital would similarly be given a new line name to reflect the culture and history of areas along the route.
In March 2017 the West London Alliance group of local authorities commissioned a study to assess the feasibility of the line so that a decision could be taken as to whether it merited pursuing further. This study found that:
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The London Mayor's Transport Strategy (MTS), published on 28 February 2018 and ratified by the London Assembly on 8 March 2018, includes plans for a West London Orbital railway line under Proposal 88. The mayor's proposal for the service highlights that utilising new and existing orbital connections in west London could also improve public transport connections in the city centre.
The West London Alliance group of local authorities have expressed support for the West London Orbital Scheme, and have confirmed that it will be incorporated in to all Local Plans. Discussions are currently underway between West London councils and London government on the future of the scheme.
A number of independent analyses of the scheme have been published, including by Modern Railways magazine and the independent blogging community
In April 2019, ã320 million of funding was approved for a new Brent Cross West railway station, that would also serve the potential new service.
In June 2019, Transport for London published the Strategic Outline Business Case for the scheme and concluded that there was a strong case for the scheme as it had a medium to high benefit-cost ratio. TfL found that for 8 trains per hour in the core the BCR was between 1.4 and 1.8 and for 4 trains per hour it would be 1.7 to 2.0. As the scheme was found to have a strong business case, TfL stated that it intended to proceed to the next stage which will look at how the scheme can be funded. A more detailed business case was expected to be developed in the following 18 months.
In March 2023, Mayor Sadiq Khan said that plans were progressing for the link and that timetable assessment by Network Rail was nearly complete. He also said that he hoped a business case for the scheme would be created shortly, allowing strategic decisions to be taken in early 2024.
In March 2026, TfL announced a ã6.65 million funding deal between TfL, the boroughs of Barnet, Brent, Ealing and Hounslow, and the Old Oak & Park Royal Development Corporation to progress the scheme further, with a full public consultation expected to be launched in summer 2026.
A number of routes have previously been examined for new orbital tube lines and improved connectivity across West and North London. It was considered that the most likely route of the previous proposal would be a northâÂÂsouth route running from Brent Cross to Surbiton, via Wembley Park, Ealing Broadway, Richmond and Kingston fully underground, connecting several London Underground and National Rail lines, including the Elizabeth line at Ealing Broadway.
The proposal envisaged an underground driverless light rail train system similar to the Docklands Light Railway, and updated "to the most modern standards". The transit time from Brent Cross to Surbiton was quoted as 28 minutes, with a maximum train speed of .
The promoters cited a number of reasons why they believed an underground scheme would be cost-effective at ã1.75 billion: with lower tunnelling costs as the tunnel diameter would be smaller than for a heavy rail scheme; there are no other rail tunnels to avoid (as in central London); and the subsoil strata are suitable for modern tunnel boring machines.
An unrelated scheme of the same name was previously proposed in June 2008 by the West London Business group. That proposal involved the construction of a new underground line across West and South West London and did not progress beyond concept stage.
Additionally, Regional Eurostar proposals meant to send trains from Eurostar lines into Waterloo International station to London Heathrow Airport used parts of the orbital between Willesden Junction and Acton.
Earlier development work of the proposal looked at a potential route to West Hampstead Thameslink via Cricklewood. However, in March 2026, TfL confirmed that their initial proposal included a route to Hendon instead, but would not prevent services running to West Hampstead in the future.
A number of other notable orbital rail schemes for London have been previously proposed: