please empty your brain below
The three carriage train actually made its first public appearance at Poplar station at 07:00am on Monday morning when it slid out of the depot and it's arrival was proudly annouced by the Station staff, "This train is now in service to Bank Station" Once on board the train captain was a little more excited and informed us all that "this was the very first in service three car unit and on behalf of DLR would like to thank passengers for their patience over the past few years as the works took place in order to achieve this result" looking around the carriage it appeared that nobody apart from me was actually the slightest bit interested, by the way it also appeared from the depot at 07:00 again yesterday morning gleaming and ready for service.

fishislandskin | 24.02.10 - 7:58 a.m. | #

Really? I'm pretty sure I was on it on a Bank -> Lewisham (i got off at Island Gardens) trip at the weekend on Saturday.

something in the back of my head went "Ooh, this train seems bigger than normal", but further than that i didn't really think about it.

geofftech | Homepage | 24.02.10 - 9:04 a.m. | #

It was bound to happen sooner or later. A three car train failed in the rush hour this morning - my two car train was held whilst the naughty train was coaxed into the third platform at Mudchute.

I'm sure it'll all be very nice when it's finished....

Island Resident | 24.02.10 - 9:41 a.m. | #

The website you link to refers to the number of vehicles. Does that equate to carriages/cars?

Audrey | 24.02.10 - 9:49 a.m. | #

Meanwhile the problems at Bank get worse. Not satisfied with closing the escalators, the powers that be at the station have decided that a perfectly good entrance to the DLR platform needs to be shut off during peak hours. They started doing this in the morning a couple of weeks ago but today a notice announces that they'll be doing it in the evening rush hour. This will only force more passengers to squeeze through the only other entrance at the other end of the platform - surely increasing the danger of overcrowding at that end. Who on earth thought that was a good idea?

Londonophile | 24.02.10 - 10:03 a.m. | #

The video on that 'Rolling Stock Enhancements' page a) is "literally" the worst thing ever; and b) cuts out after 38 seconds. Worst thing ever.

Mat | Homepage | 24.02.10 - 12:58 p.m. | #

"Two per cent capacity boost as DLR rolls out three-carriage train"

I can think of more than one rail operator that would have it's customers partying in the streets at this news this good.

Nico | Homepage | 24.02.10 - 1:07 p.m. | #

Well, they did divert one 141 down the steps at Monument today to help out.

Matt | 24.02.10 - 6:19 p.m. | #

In this sequence of ramblings I'd like to ask a formspring.me type of question: Having several months to practice, are you now the King of your new work route?

[email protected] | 25.02.10 - 6:27 a.m. | #

DG, I think you're being unfair on the DLR for once. For starters, there is definitely more than one three-carriage train in service - I saw one going one way from Limehouse and then another going the other a moment later (unless it incongrously reversed direction at Westferry). Curiously, one of these three-carriage trains was headed for Woolwich Arsenal, not Lewisham, so it's not just the Lewisham branch benefiting.


Also it's my understanding the upgrades to the DLR include signalling improvements and the diveunder at West India Quay which allow the DLR to run more trains per hour - so it's not just about the number of carriages.


Looking here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Docklands_Light_Railway_rolling_stock the DLR has 94 sets of the old style of train and 43 of the new style (with the rounded fronts) have entered service, with another 12 to come. Assuming all of them in service, that's 46% increase in size of the fleet, which is not far off the 50% they tout. Of course, not all the 43 new trains will be in service at once, but then I doubt that all 94 of the old ones were used at once before the expansion, so the two cancel each other out.

Chris Applegate | Homepage | 25.02.10 - 6:27 p.m. | #











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