Docklands Light Railway

Docklands Light Railway train at Crossharbour/London Arena. Photo by Bernard Chatreau, August 2006.

Overview

The Docklands Light Rail is a fairly unusual light rail system compared to others worldwide. It is fully automated, with no drivers. Current collection is third-rail, therefore the right of way is fully segregated. The right of way is partly old railway ROW, partly in new tunnel and partly elevated.

Stations have high platforms providing level access from platform to car. The cars are double-ended single-articulated cars with no drivers cab and a full width railfan window at each end. They usually run in coupled pairs. There is a small driver's console concealed behind a locked panel at the railfan seat.

Despite being high-platform and highly automated, the cars are derived from German streetcar design. The first order of cars was not designed with underground operation in mind (the initial system had no tunnels) and had to be retired; they were bought by Essen in Germany, were fitted with cabs and pantographs and now operate in-street in that city.

Most platforms are accessed by stair and elevator; a few stations have escalators. Stations are (apart from the underground ones) unmanned; tickets are sold from ticket machines. Fare collection is based on the honour system, with tickets inspected by a 'Train Captain' who patrols the train and also controls door closure (from whichever door is nearest to where he happens to be). If need be, (s)he can (and is trained to) drive the train at limited speed manually using the hidden controls at the car ends.

The system is quite complex. There are five terminals (Bank, Tower Gateway, Lewisham, Beckton and Stratford) with several interlocking services. The line largely serves the rejuvenated docklands area, which is rapidly becoming the center of London's financial industry. One area (Canary Wharf, the tallest building in the United Kingdom) was planned by the same architects as the World Financial Center in New York (and looks it).

At first the system was a bit derided as under-spec'ed for the amount of traffic, but with subsequent platform and train lengthening, more routes and the addition of a separate Jubilee line tube line to Canary Wharf it now seems to be very successful. A new extension has just been approved to serve London City Airport.

Transfer between tube and DLR, and mainline rail and DLR, is pretty good in most places they coincide. At Bank, DLR runs into the underground tube station; at Stratford the DLR runs into a surface station shared with two tube lines and two mainline rail lines; at Canning Town the DLR platforms are elevated immediately above the (surface) Jubilee tube lines; at Lewisham the DLR station is just outside the mainline station. Ironically the one place transfer isn't good is Canary Wharf, which has a pretty monumental elevated DLR station and a truly amazingly monumental underground tube station, but several hundred yards apart.

Photo Gallery

Five Random Images
Image 10439 (246k, 1044x788) Photo by: David Pirmann Location: South Quay	Image 23694 (216k, 1044x788) Photo by: David Pirmann Location: Beckton Park	Image 23710 (211k, 1044x788) Photo by: David Pirmann Location: West India Quay	Image 23716 (179k, 1044x788) Photo by: David Pirmann Location: Greenwich	Image 120678 (196k, 1044x788) Photo by: Bernard Chatreau Location: Crossharbour/London Arena