The Chancellor of the Exchequer has made a £90million commitment to electrify the Gospel Oak to Barking Overground train line in the spending review.

The £90million pledge formed part of a six-year capital and borrowing package for Transport for London announced by George Osborne last week.

Campaigners who have long called for the electrification of the line, which serves Camden, Islington and Haringey, say it will mean quieter, greener trains with quicker acceleration and more coaches.

A spokesman for the Barking Gospel Oak Rail User Group said: “It is still hard to believe that after six years campaigning, during which time it certainly felt as if we were banging our collective head against a brick wall, at least as far as government were concerned, that the 10-mile ‘diesel island’ of the Barking to Gospel Oak Line is finally to be integrated with the rest of London’s electric railway.”

Valerie Shawcross, chairman of the London Assembly’s Transport Committee, said: “The assembly welcomes this decision, which will benefit the journeys of thousands of passengers who have long endured an inferior service to those using other parts of the London Overground network.”