The London Overground is set to launch an all-night service, just in time for the city’s Christmas festivities.

The 24-hour service will run on Friday and Saturday between New Cross Gate and Dalston junction – with a possible extension to Highbury & Islington in 2018.

The announcement of the Night Overground service comes as the London Overground celebrates its 10-year anniversary.

“I’m delighted that we can bring night services to the east London line for the first time ever next month,” said Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London.

“The Night Tube has proven such a success with Londoners, I know the Night Overground will help thousands more who are working through the night or out enjoying our capital’s nightlife.”

The Night Tube launched in the city last summer and contributed more than £170 million to London’s economy in its first year. It has been estimated that around 300,000 journeys are made every weekend on it. 

London Overground will become the sixth line to run the late-night service, joining Central, Piccadilly, Jubilee, Northern and Victoria lines.

Jonathan Fox, TfL’s director of London Rail, is keen to address any question marks that passengers may hold over the out-of-hours service. 

“The safety and security of passengers is our number one priority. We fund 2,500 BTP [British Transport Police] officers who work across the Overground and London Underground networks keeping customers safe,” he tells Stylist.

“All our stations on the Night Overground will be fully staffed when services are operating, from 15 minutes before the first train until 15 minutes after the last.

“The Night Overground will be policed by BTP from when it opens, to provide a rapid respond to all incidents to keep customers safe. This will be alongside ARL [Arriva Rail London]’s own travel safe officers - mobile London Overground staff who work across the whole network. They are specially trained to deter and respond to antisocial behaviour, in addition to providing customer service.”

A map of the new service has been revealed on Twitter - highlighting that there will be no link to the Victoria line just yet. 

The move has been cautiously welcomed by Londoners.

“I live in south London which is chronically under-served by the Underground, so this is a blessing for me,” says Moya Crockett, digital writer at Stylist. “No more expensive Ubers if I want to go out north of the river.

“I think I would be safe,” she says. “I get night buses at that time so I don’t think I’d feel any more at risk.”

“TFL is so expensive and pretty unreliable, any moves towards making the service more usable I will welcome with open arms,” says Megan Murray, another digital writer at Stylist.

“My hopes aren’t sky-high considering you have to wait a decent amount of time for the Overground in the day, so come nightfall you’ll probably have to take provision to get you through until the next one arrives - but it’s cheaper than a taxi.”

Images: Matt Obee / Rex Features