Private company

Silverlink

Former British train operating company

Silverlink was a British train operating company owned by National Express that operated the North London Railways franchise from March 1997 until November 2007. At the end of 2007, Silverlink Metro services were taken over by London Overground and Silverlink County services were taken over by London Midland.2 It is part of Mobico Group.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 20, 2026.

Overview

1997Founded1

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313113 North Woolwich
Photo: The original uploader was Nsefan at English Wikipedia ., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons4

Silverlink was a British train operating company owned by National Express that operated the North London Railways franchise from March 1997 until November 2007. At the end of 2007, Silverlink Metro services were taken over by London Overground and Silverlink County services were taken over by London Midland.2

Corporate structure

Silverlink is part of a group headed by Mobico Group. 38 entities, 8 countries on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

Built from parent and subsidiary links from GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (CC0); subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0). Each entity in the chart links to its source.

The story

The North London Railways franchise was awarded to National Express on 7 February 1997. National Express commenced operating the franchise on 3 March 1997.

After initially trading as North London Railways, in September 1997 the franchise was rebranded as Silverlink.

The franchise was due to finish on 15 October 2006, but on 11 August 2006 the Department for Transport granted an extension until 10 November 2007. Upon its closure, its London metro services were taken over by London Overground and the remainder were merged with Central Trains' western services to form London Midland.

From Wikipedia’s article on Silverlink, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Products and brands

Silverlink had two sub-brands:

Silverlink Metro was used for services primarily within Greater London:

North Woolwich – Richmond (the North London Line)

Willesden Junction – Clapham Junction (the West London Line)

Read the full text

London Euston – Watford Junction via Willesden Junction (the Watford DC line)

Gospel Oak – Barking (the Gospel Oak to Barking Line)

Silverlink County was used for services beyond Greater London:

London Euston – Northampton (Birmingham New Street until 2004)

Watford Junction – St Albans Abbey (the St Albans Abbey Line)

Bletchley – Bedford (the Marston Vale Line)

Silverlink Metro

Silverlink Metro operated these services.

Note: Changes during the franchise period are noted but changes to the lines before and after the franchise are not.

North London line

These services ran on the North London line:

† At the end of service on Saturday 9 December 2006 the line between Stratford and North Woolwich closed, as much of the route was duplicated by the Docklands Light Railway and the Jubilee line, leaving Stratford as the eastern terminus of the North London Line.

West London line

These services ran via the West London line:

Shepherd's Bush on the West London Line was due to open under the franchise (with signage in Silverlink colours installed), but platform widening work meant that it finally opened in September 2008 under London Overground management, the signage being replaced with the London Overground roundels by that time.

Watford DC line

These services ran on the Watford DC line:

† = also served by the Bakerloo line.

Gospel Oak to Barking line

These services ran on the Gospel Oak to Barking line:

Birmingham/Northampton

Birmingham Line services ran on the slow lines of the West Coast Main Line. The service was cut back to Northampton in September 2004, with services north of Northampton being transferred to partner operator Central Trains, and some through services remained. (Central Trains, like Silverlink, was a subsidiary of National Express and the operations shared rolling stock.)

Prior to 2004 the service also continued to Birmingham, calling at the following stations:

Abbey Line

These services ran on the Abbey Line

Marston Vale line

These services ran on the Marston Vale line between Bedford and Bletchley:

From Wikipedia’s article on Silverlink, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Subsidiaries and ownership

Parent company

From Wikidata.1

Timeline

  1. 2007Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 1997Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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