FirstGroup has been selected as the preferred operator for London’s Overground rail network under a contract valued at roughly £3 billion ($3.99 billion) over an initial eight-year period,

the British transport group said on Wednesday.

Its subsidiary, First Rail London, is scheduled to assume control of the service in May 2026, taking over from Aviva Rail London, which has run the network since 2016.

Launched in 2007, the London Overground connects communities outside central London across a 100-mile network with 113 stations. The system handles more than four million passenger journeys each week. Photo by Kevin.B, Wikimedia commons.