please empty your brain below
At long last we'll finally end the daft situation where you can use your oyster card on the railway to Finsbury Park but if you want to go half a mile up the line to Harringay or Hornsey you have to get off and pay (or risk it).

Johnny Topaz | 03.01.10 - 9:17 a.m. | #

Another interesting post, but a couple of clarifications for you; the DLR was of course actually built for 1 car trains, not 2. It had a large programme of weekend and evening closures in the 1990s to turn it into a 2 car railway, sadly without the ambition of one day going to 3.
And the East London Line is likely to open rather earlier than the date you suggest. Trains are now running in test mode and will shortly be running to timetable for staff training. Hopefully doors will be opened to passengers before too long, hopefully before the Jubilee 4 day easter closure. No dates are being promised on this however in case of late hitches, they would rather surprise everyone by opening early than promise early but then fail because of an unforeseen problem.

SELondoner | 03.01.10 - 9:58 a.m. | #

The DLR always rather confuse the issue by referring to "vehicles". So a "1 vehicle" train is actually two carriages articulated in the middle. The current fleet operates as "2 vehicle/four carriage" and the 3 car project will see 6 carriages in use.

Kim | 03.01.10 - 11:44 a.m. | #

does the phrase "perfect by the summer of 2012" give anyone else an uneasy feeling of impending disaster?

petoskystone | 03.01.10 - 1:02 p.m. | #

Thanks for the blog, happy new year and I was very sorry to hear of your loss

John | 03.01.10 - 2:30 p.m. | #

My guess is that the Jubilee line closures will continue after Easter. We'll find out soon enough, of course.

Andrewh | 03.01.10 - 2:33 p.m. | #

I just love the idea of foreign tourists ending up at Abbey Road! Nice one! :-)

James D | 03.01.10 - 3:10 p.m. | #

"Pay as you go on Oyster ... still a bit flawed."

As I discovered yesterday on a journey to Sydenham station and then returning. At Southern stations you can top up your Oystercard that you already have by using the ticket machine but not at the ticket office.

At Sydenham station (run by London Overground which is part of TfL, the organisation that is keen to promote Oystercard in the face of opposition from privatised rail companies) the new ticket machine does not yet have this facility. So if you are short of credit on your Oystercard you need to find a suitable shop that is open or pay for a paper ticket which is now quite expensive.

I must add that I wasn't shortsighted enough to get into this situation personally but witnessed a luckless traveller at Sydenham. And we had to explain to the railman on duty that Oystercard is now valid on National Rail within the London area.

Despite this minor short term hiccup I have to say in general it is a brilliant improvement although not so great if you want to make a simple return rail journey that involves touching in between 16.00 and 19.00 Monday to Friday.

Pedantic of Purley | 03.01.10 - 4:39 p.m. | #

But why name a station Abbey Road when it's nowhere near THE Abbey Road?
It's very confusing!

Leuconoe | 03.01.10 - 8:35 p.m. | #

Pedantic - The truly odd thing is that Southern rolled out the Oyster software update on the day that TfL took over those stations. I've been able to top up Oyster way out in Carshalton Beeches for months now, but people on the ELL route can't.

FWIW, PAYG worked without issue this morning.

Chz | 04.01.10 - 8:40 a.m. | #

You can't give Ken credit for the Jubilee line cock up - he opposed the PPP from the outset.

The PM takes the fall for that. All of Ken's projects are working pretty much on track...

jamesup | 04.01.10 - 1:14 p.m. | #

"DLR 3-car upgrade: ... This has caused a few teething problems for non-clued-up passengers waiting in vain on the new bits,..."

Nothing compared with the ongoing problems for non-clued up passengers on the Southeastern on platforms where the platform entrance is towards the rear of the train, if you see what I mean.

Drivers' CCTV monitors are placed only at the 4-car and 10-car stop positions.

So will the next train in be a 4-car class 465 unit stopping at the 4-car stop or a 5-car class 376 unit stopping right at the other end of the platform at the 10-car stop? The (weekdays only) train-length info disappeared from the destination indicators on introduction of the new timetable.

Old hands like me stand under the 4-car CCTV monitors until the train approaches. Newbies and the confused who have chosen their position unwisely face a train-length sprint along the platform.

Edwin Greenwood | Homepage | 05.01.10 - 1:05 p.m. | #

Being picky, the East London extension predated Ken, and was implemented by the Strategic Rail Authority, so Ken was the intermediary in all this!

On a happier note, aren't the new Victoria and Metropolitan line trains due to start entering in service this year?

Mike C | 05.01.10 - 10:09 p.m. | #

Dare I mention what's left of East London Transit? Phase 1 due Feb 2010

Rob | 06.01.10 - 1:12 a.m. | #

Also coming this year: spanking new trains on the Metropolitan line with - gasp - air conditioning! (Allegedly)

Tim | 07.01.10 - 1:32 p.m. | #











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