Mudchute DLR station progressing well

The main reason service the southern branch of the DLR is messed up is to rebuild Mudchute with three platforms. Reader Robert sends in this picture taken yesterday of how they're getting on:
They were doing two thing to this platform - extending it to take three car trains and giving it a second face onto the [currently trackless] siding behind it. The platform extension is clearly finished already (it's the section on individual supports) and the canopy shows there's serious progress on making it double sided.

It's notable that the canopy is much more substantial than the old one. The three-car programme is being used as an excuse to do a general upgrade programme, and several stations are going to get their whole canopies replaced, which is why you'll find construction hoardings along the whole length of Limehouse and Westferry, for example.

Mayor's Question Time: July 2008

A few interesting items from the most recent Mayor's Question Time:

• Trains on the Gospel Oak to Barking Line will be lengthened to three cars by 2010. Electrification of the line is too expensive.
  
• Bus roofs are being painted white to help keep them cool.
  
• Boris likes Greenwich Waterfront Transit.
  
• This list of South London transport improvements includes things like Greenwich Waterfront Transport but conspicuously not Cross River Tram. Nail, coffin, etc.
  
• Croydon's tram system will be getting deep cleaned and refurbished, as well as a new livery and new seat moquettes.
  
• The first three bus routes to be unbendied will be the 38, 507 and 521, with "appropriate" capacity to be provided by the double deckers (note not "the same" capacity).
  
• The DLR is set to go back to normal  on August 25 (at least on the Lewisham route) , rather than there being a different set of closures.
  
• The redeveloped King's Cross may include a new footbridge to allow continued access from York Way.
  
• The Mayor has met with Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly to ask for money for the East London Line phase 2 extension.
  

Stratford International aerial photo

The Olympic Development Authority have published some amazing aerial photos of the Stratford Olympic site, including this one that shows the Stratford International DLR extension very clearly.

Here's an annotated version (click to enlarge):

You can see exactly where the track will go, taking over the North London Line route on the right and then running alongside the existing tracks on the left. They've been quietly boxing in the route at the Stratford station end, in order to build over it. The North London Line will be diverted to use new platforms parallel to the existing main line platforms, using the track along the right hand edge of the picture to get there.

This image shows a similar view but from nearer Stratford station.

[via Skyscraper City]

Half of our DLR is missing

Here's the DLR service map that appears above the doors on every train, and unlike the tube map, shows the individual services they run:

Or at least, are meant to run, because it's not really accurate anymore. Let's start with the obvious, Tower Gateway is closed:

For reasons unknown, possibly related to building the junction for the Stratford International extension (although I can't fathom what), the Beckton-Tower Gateway service is actually curtailed all the way back to Canning Town:

Moving on, they've turned the northbound track through Mudchute into a building site while they turn the siding into a third platform:

With only a single track available, the Stratford-Lewisham service has been curtailed at Crossharbour:

The line goes immediately into twin tunnels south of Mudchute, which would force trains to share a single track all the way to Greenwich, which would seriously limit frequency. So they've come up with a clever wheeze whereby trains from Mudchute reverse at Island Gardens. Meanwhile, trains from Lewisham reverse in the other platform there, using the normally-northbound tunnel under the Thames in both directions.

This has the happy side effect of leaving the southbound platform at Greenwich free to be extended for three cars, but the downside is there no trains run through Island Gardens:

Oh, and someone has demolished one of the viaducts into West India Quay, in preparation for the Delta Junction upgrade:

Which means with only one southbound track through the station, during peak hours when an additional Bank-Crossharbour service runs, half the trains from Stratford have to terminate at Poplar, and the rest terminate at Canary Wharf:

And let's not forget, as the network-wide tannoy announcements endlessly tell us, there is no interchange at Bank and Monument stations, except between the DLR and Northern Lines (not really true and probably never will be):

The service is so fucked they're running rail replacement buses while it's open, and the leaflet accompanying the disruption also suggests using the Greenwich foot tunnel, a Thames Clipper, even an East London Line replacement bus - anything but the DLR. TfL have gone so far as to invent a whole new bus route so you can avoid the DLR completely.

This phase of disruption lasts until August 25, and disruption in general lasts until ca. 2010 when all the various projects should be finished. With nothing but the probably-undisruptive Dagenham Dock extension on the horizon, you may even get some time to enjoy the upgrades.

[Thanks to an anonymous reader for the Delta Junction photo, and martin_petrov for suggesting I write about this]

TfL Board Papers: June 2008

TfL held its first board meeting since the Mayoral election last week, and the papers are online. Highlights:

Oyster PAYG on National Rail

• The rollout of Oyster PAYG London wide will require work "at 240 National Rail stations [which] includes the installation of around 1,100 Oyster validators, over 600 ticket gate upgrades, ticket machine upgrades [...]"
• A fares proposal for Oyster PAYG has been submitted by the train companies, and is expected to be signed this month (July).
• "Southern has now agreed to allow installation of Oyster equipment to commence immediately."
• The Mayor's planned summit with train companies will look at "harmonisation of passenger standards (fares and information) plus interchange security and policing", as well as the headline Oyster PAYG issue.

London Underground

• "Prior to its introduction on the District line, the new Sub-Surface train will be introduced on the Metropolitan line (from 2010) and on the Circle and Hammersmith and City lines (both 2012)," as previously announced. This seems to contradict Modern Railways' claim of a change of plan.
• The Northern Line is now the most reliable on the network, with 98.5% of services running as planned, thanks to the new timetable.
• The opening of the Northern Ticket Hall at King's Cross St Pancras has been moved forward to December 2009 at the request of the Department for Transport, in time for the start of Kent High Speed rail services.
• The first new Victoria Line train will be tested in service in January 2009.
• Testing of the new Jubilee Line signalling system isn't going well, with only a 50% success rate.

London Overground

• Ticketless-travel on the Gospel Oak to Barking Line is down from 15% to 1.7% since London Overground took over.
• The first new London Overground train will be tested in Derby this month, though it's unclear when the first one will be tested in London.
• A few seats will be removed from the existing trains this month (as discussed for the GOBlin) to increase standing capacity and reduce boarding times.
• The new London Overground platforms at Stratford will open in December 2008. These allow the existing ones to be reused for the DLR extension to Stratford International.
• The first section of new slab track for the East London Line extension was laid on 12 April.

Crossrail

• A final Crossrail funding agreement is being prepared for signing in September.
• They're trying to get the Crossrail Bill passed before Parliament breaks up on 22 July, but it's looking "increasingly tight"
• The congestion relief plans for Tottenham Court Road tube station require powers granted by the Crossrail Bill.

DLR and Tramlink

• Track work for the DLR Woolwich Arsenal extension is complete
• Testing of the new DLR trains is being held up by getting electrical interference approval from London Underground at Stratford.
• An immediate cleaning and refurbishment of the Croydon tram system is planned now TfL own it, to be carried out by existing operating contractor First.

Tower Gateway DLR closes for rebuilding

As part of the three-car upgrade Tower Gateway DLR station will be closed from the end of service today until next April for a complete rebuild of the platform area.

The narrow island platform (pictured) will be replaced by a single track with platforms on both sides, of which you can see an artist's impression or download the planning application diagram. Departing passengers will wait on the south platform and arriving passengers will disembark onto the north platform.

While losing a platform gives the appearance of reducing capacity, the current track layout (effectively single track) means the two platforms can't be run at full capacity anyway, so the new layout should hopefully be no worse.

Tower Gateway's only service, to Beckton, has been curtailed to Poplar for the last couple of months, with the City Airport service diverted to serve Tower Gateway. This will be going back to Bank, which will be then be handling the same number of trains that it did before.

The existing main entrance won't be changed apart from getting brand new movement activated escalators, while the second entrance at the east end will be remodelled to only link to the departures platform. In the artist's impression there are passengers loitering at the east end of the arrivals platform, yet there is no exit there. I trust the BTP will be along shortly.

The DLR disruption in pictures

I've been on a visit to the scene of this week's DLR disruption and it turns I was totally wrong about what the problem is. The bit I thought they might be demolishing is on the right in this picture, and as you can see, it's all still there:
This shows part of Delta Junction looking west towards Westferry. Before work started to upgrade the junction there were two westbound tracks leading from the two platforms at West India Quay (to the left) that didn't merge for some distance. They've now made them merge much closer (the new-looking track on the left), leaving a redundant second track (in the middle of the picture).

The next step is to turn that track into a replacement eastbound line so the existing one (on the flyover at the top) can be demolished and lowered to make trains dive under the West India Quay-Poplar track that this picture was taken from.

Let's have a look a bit further west where this new eastbound track will reconnect to the main line:
Now this is why the service is messed up. To turn the second westbound track into an eastbound track they needed to dig up the concrete track bed and remodel the junction, which has also severed the other westbound track. The route trains are meant to take from West India Quay to Westferry is around the mini-digger, past that man's arse, through the fence and over the sandbags. On the other hand, there's nothing stopping them at least running eastbound trains on the flyover (on the columns), but apparently they're not interested in trying that.

I've no idea what's gone wrong, but they were still drilling and demolishing this afternoon, so don't expect them to be putting the track back imminently. There are a few more trips over that footbridge at Poplar in your future.

If you haven't understood a word I just said, have a look at the diagrams on page 5 (or 7) of the Enivronmental Statement summary. If you can't get enough, read the full version.

Engineers break the DLR

The engineering work on the DLR this weekend has inadvertently resulted in trains no longer being able to run around the west side of the junction at the north end of the Isle of Dogs (between Westferry and West India Quay). That means no trains between Bank and Canary Wharf/Lewisham and an emergency timetable on all other routes. This is expected to last several days.

As part of the Delta Junction upgrade they needed to demolish one side of the viaduct while leaving two passable tracks on the other side, and if that's the work they were doing this weekend (no idea) then I'd speculate they've demolished too much.

DLR to Dagenham Dock TWA Order submitted

TfL last week submitted an application for a Transport and Works Act order (planning permission, essentially) for the DLR extension to Dagenham Dock. TfL's project page is a bit of a waste of space, but the route map at least shows you where it will go. A better place to look is the February board papers, which includes a detailed report along with route maps and diagrams, all beginning on page 111 of the PDF. The application itself is also on public display in various locations.


The line connects to the Beckton branch at Gallions Reach, running for 4 miles along the north bank of the Thames to c2c's Dagenham Dock station. The land it runs through is mostly undeveloped (the site of Beckton Riverside station is pictured), but permission has been granted for 10,800 new homes in the Barking Riverside development alone. Only 4,000 are allowed to be occupied before the line is built.

Trains will run from Dagenham Dock to Canning Town or through to Stratford International. There'll be no services to Central London or the Isle of Dogs - the idea is you change to Crossrail at Custom House or the Jubilee Line at Canning Town. The Beckton-Tower Gateway service will continue to run.

The cost is projected at £750m. Although they hope to get approval by late 2009, construction isn't scheduled to start until 2013, with opening due around 2017.

[thanks to reader Jamie for the TWA tip-off]

Bank-Monument: TfL mellows out

So on Monday morning London Underground were handing out an amazing little booklet at Bank station:

That's it on the right, next to their earlier snotty dictatorial attempt at public relations.

They've managed to produce a nice, well-illustrated, detailed look at the history of Bank and Monument and a reasonably detailed overview of the escalator refurbishment programme*. It's informative, relevant, well-written and borders on being friendly in places. It doesn't even contain any outright lies.

Let's look at some quotes:

There will be no interchange at Bank and Monument stations

vs

Customers are advised not to interchange at Bank and Monument stations

Or:

Remaining walking routes through the station will change significantly, so please use nearby Cannon Street, London Bridge, Mansion House or Moorgate stations

vs

To minimise disruption we are endeavouring to keep as many walking routes as possible through the stations open.

But the most astonishing thing about the new leaflet is how it closes:

We apologise for any inconvenience caused to your journey.

Disingenuous or not, there wasn't anything even resembling an apology before.

[* though not as detailed as it could be]

Shadwell DLR platform extension nearing completion

For whatever reason, Shadwell is getting its platform extended to take three cars long before most other stations. I was passing through and spotted this muddy hole in the ground is a bit of surfacing away from being a proper platform:

There was a reference to "Shadwell Track Slew Completed: May-08" in the recent board papers, which is probably a reference to the eastbound track not being in line with the platform:

In other platform extension news, most stations on the Poplar-Stratford route now have their extension boundaries marked out with blue fencing.

Don't got too excited though. I've just noticed the official completion date has been officially pushed back to early 2010 (not just unofficially). And if you live on the Beckton branch, sorry, you're not included.

DLR improvement works

I've been emailed  a document that includes several interesting bits about DLR current projects, mainly regarding service changes during it.

Royal Mint Street Junction remodelling. This is where the Tower Gateway and Bank branches split. Currently the route to Tower Gateway is a single lead design which limits capacity, and the two tracks west of there are used bi-drectionally to reach each platform, rather than one for eastbound and one for westbound. Hopefully these two problems will be fixed - they'll have to be given Tower Gateway will in future only have one platform.

Single-line working south of Crossharbour. For two months starting this June the Stratford-Lewisham service will terminate at Crossharbour and the Bank-Lewisham service will terminate at Island Gardens, with cross-platform interchange to an Island Gardens-Lewisham shuttle, as well as parallel bus services. These services will only use one track, enabling the platform extension work to take place on the other.

Canning Town junction rebuild. The new junction for the Stratford International Extension is going in east of Canning Town. From 21 April trains from King George V go to Tower Gateway and trains from Beckton terminate at Poplar. From 30 June trains from King George V switch back to Bank, with Beckton services cut back further to Canning Town. This doesn't seem to reduce the number of trains over the junction, but whatever.

Bank station closing. For 5 weeks starting Christmas Day 2009, Bank will be closed for works relating to the three-car project. This appears to indicate a delay in the start of three-car running (scheduled for late 2009).

Bank-Monument escalator works

It looks there's a lot more work planned for the escalator refurbishment at Bank and Monument. I've been sent some info that gives details of the full programme:

• April 2008-Autumn 2009: DLR-Monument (E12-13 and E14-15). These are the ones currently closed.
• September 2008-June 2009: Northern Line-Monument (E4-5), one at a time. If the remaining one fails the Northern Line will have to non-stop Bank due to lack of evacuation routes.
• May-October 2008: Lombard Street ticket hall escalators (E6-7), one at a time.
• Late 2009-Autumn 2011: DLR to Bank (E8-9 and E10-11). These have already been worked on, but it seems it was life-extending maintenance, and this will be the full replacement.
• TBD: Main Central Line escalators (E1-3)

(The map I made of the station has the escalators and their numbers marked on)

The presentation notes that the DLR escalators are being replaced so early in their life (17 years) due to much heavier usage than anticipated.

The E4-5 works will mean there'll actually be no Monument to Bank interchange, though Bank to Monument should still be a goer. One of the E6-7 escalators is closed already, so that work shouldn't make things any worse at the Bank End. In fact, things are better since I made that last map - the spiral staircase route has been open every time I've been there.

Mudchute third platform

Mudchute DLR station has a siding behind the northbound platform for storing failed trains and where trains terminating at Crossharbour can go to reverse*. As part of rebuilding the station for the three-car project, the siding will be turned into a third platform so that passengers can board trains reversing there instead of having to use the crowded trains arriving from Lewisham.

Work has already begun and the siding has had most of its track removed:
(looking north from the northbound platform)

The planning application is here. It includes before and after plans and a short rationale. The station will gain full length platform canopies during the work - something that will also happen at other stations.

[* There's also a siding nearer Crossharbour between the two tracks that serves a similar purpose]

DLR Limehouse footbridge project

Limehouse has adjacent elevated DLR and c2c stations, built to act as an interchange, but the only route between them is via the street. Since the westbound c2c platform is right next to the eastbound DLR platform (towards Canary Wharf), every morning commuters from Essex have a long walk to end up only a few feet away.

After twenty years of this, they're doing the obvious thing and building a footbridge between the two. Here's a plan - it has its own gateline, since the c2c station is gated and the DLR is not. There's an artist's impression on the TfL project page and the image above is pilfered from this presentation, which also has details of all current DLR projects. Finally, the planning application.

It's due to be completed by the end of this year.

DLR Woolwich Arsenal extension

A year from now the second phase of the DLR City Airport branch is due to open, consisting of a new tunnel under the Thames connecting King George V (the current terminus) to Woolwich Arsenal railway station. Here are some photos of how they're getting on.

Here's the tunnel portal on the north side, taken from the footbridge at King George V:Tunneling finished last July. The track is joined up to the rest of the network already.

Here's the entrance building at Woolwich Arsenal, next door to the railway station:
The completed building will look like this, with an office development on top.

Here's the same building from within the railway station. A new interchange bridge links the DLR station to the westbound platform:
TfL have an aerial photo that shows the overall layout.

The DLR stays below ground level all the way into the station and none of the track is visible from the street south of the river, and Greenwich Council's online planning register is too horsedrawn to have diagrams available online, so we'll have to wait to see exactly how things work inside. They do have this planning brief which provides some detail, and there's always TfL's project page.

The DLR three-car project

Last week's event showing off the new DLR railcars was also the launch for the three-car DLR project, so it's probably time I wrote about what's happening.

First, a note about terminology. This is what what a "three-car" DLR train looks like. Each articulated unit counts as one "car", so the three-car project amounts to running three units coupled together rather than two, not adding a third segment to each unit as many people misunderstand. And although the new cars have been bought as part of the three-car project, they're likely to run in two-car configuration to begin with. In time, old and new cars will all be coupled in threes.

As is visible in that picture, most stations on the DLR are only long enough for two cars, so the main part of the project is rebuilding the platforms, and most . At most stations they can easily extend them in one direction or the other, as is already happening at the east end of Shadwell:

The track here also needs to be straightened.

One station that can't be extended easily is South Quay, which is between two sharp curves. A fancy new station is being constructed slightly further east where the track is straight:

They haven't got much further than ground preparation. The image on the right shows the new site from the end of the existing station.

Tower Gateway will also be rebuilt. It currently has a narrow island platform with tracks either side. During a nine month closure starting this June, the entire platform area will be demolished and replaced with a single track with platforms on both sides. Passengers will board from the south platform and leave via the north platform.

The project is being done in stages. Stations from Bank-Lewisham are being done now , though the pictures above show the only visible construction so far. Tower Gateway and the Delta Junction upgrade are being done as part of this phase. Completion is due in October 2009.

Phase 2 begins with the Poplar-Stratford, due for completion in March 2010. The City Airport/Woolwich Arsenal branch was built as three car, but Blackwall and East India Quay will also be extended in December to provide a three car route all the way to Bank. That leaves only the Beckton branch which, although officially part of phase 2, I can find no timetable for it being upgraded, and I don't believe it has funding. Beckton depot is however being expanded to house the extra cars.

TfL have station plans for the Phase 2 upgrades here and there are some dates and other details on page 72 of the most recent board papers. An overview of closures required for the work is here.

[Thanks to diamondgeezer for the last link]

How Bank-Monument works

Since I made my maps of Green Park and King's Cross St. Pancras I knew it was only a matter of time before I had a crack at Bank-Monument. And here's what I've come up with:

[ Update: Diagram of the current closures ]

There are several other maps available, but I wanted to do something a bit more detailed and geographically accurate that could be reconciled with the actual experience of traipsing through the tunnels.

Notes, disclaimers and things learnt during this exercise:

• This was made entirely by visual observation on a handful of short visits, with no accurate charts used save an aerial photo to get the general shape right. It's entirely possible it's hilariously wrong.
• The DLR really is slightly offset from the Northern Line and not quite parallel to it as shown. It's not me making my drawing easier.
• From shallowest to deepest the levels are: Ticket halls, District/Circle Line, Waterloo & City Line, upper interchange level, Central Line, lower interchange level, Northern Line and DLR.
• The route from end to end via the DLR rather than the Northern Line isn't actually much longer, it just involves a stupidly high number of bends and transitions.
• The Waterloo & City Line platforms have a tiny newsagent hidden in a cross passage. Is it the only deep[-ish] level station so blessed?
• The complex is so vast it has a whole other tube station within its thrall (Cannon Street).
• The lift access from street to the DLR requires using three separate lifts, two of which are in the peak hours only ticket hall.
• I have no idea what shape the Bank ticket hall really is.
• For extra anorak points I've included the platform numbers and escalator numbers - I've heard the guy on the tannoy (it appears the same one works there 24/7) use the latter to refer to the escalators under repair.

This long easter weekend, why not use the diagram to try to work out what on earth today's rambling TfL press release about escalator closures is trying to say.

New DLR railcars on display today

The new DLR railcars were on display at West India Quay all day today, parked in the platform that as part of the same capacity upgrade programme, is not long for this world. Here are some photos:



On the whole, remarkably similar to the existing cars.

Stratford DLR footbridge: FITE!

TfL are quietly fuming after Network Rail closed their shiny new DLR footbridge less than two months after it opened. From the board papers:

The station upgrade project gives cause for some concern given Network Rail's unilateral decision to close the footbridge linking DLR's new £20m station to the suburban lines at Stratford. Following high-level intervention, Network Rail are giving consideration as to how the footbridge might be reopened sooner than the 2009 scheduled date.

That's some serious understated snark.

The bridge was closed because a new staircase to the subway is being constructed nearby as apart of the Olympic upgrade (in red, lower left on this plan), and the construction hoarding makes restricts access along the platform to the bridge.