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DLR ‘Gateway to the Games’ opens

The route has been dubbed the ‘Gateway to the Olympics’ for the role it will play next year bringing visitors to the Olympic Park. But it also acts as a link between Stratford International and Regional stations, as well as bringing shoppers to the new Stratford City retail centre.

The line runs for 3.7 miles (6km) from Stratford International to Canning Town, mostly along the trackbed of the former North London Line to North Woolwich. It also runs alongside London Underground’s Jubilee Line south of Stratford Regional. There are refurbished stations at Stratford Low level, West Ham and Canning Town, with completely new stations at Stratford International, Stratford High Street, Abbey Road and Star Lane.

The idea for the extension had been around since the early 2000s, but it was only when London secured the 2012 Olympics in 2005 that funding was made available. A Transport & Works Order was granted in October 2006 and construction began a year later.

Services were originally planned to begin in July 2010 but were delayed by a number of technical hitches.

One big problem was that high-level platforms had to built at Stratford Regional for termin-ating North London Line trains, so that the low-level platforms they were using could be converted for DLR use. However, the new high-level platforms ran late, and their commissioning was put back from Christmas 2009 to Easter 2010.

Test running on the DLR route got underway in November 2010, with the key point being that it opened before the shopping centre (which opened in mid-September) and the Olympics.

The line begins at Stratford International with an all-new terminus adjacent to, but separate from, the High Speed 1 station. Both are located between the Olympic Park and Village, and are built on former railway lands once home to Stratford Works and depot.

Stratford International DLR is an island platform with two terminating lines.

Departing trains initially head west along a new formation before swinging round to head south along the former North London Line trackbed, passing the Olympic stadium along the way.

The tracks then pass under the retail centre and the main platforms at Stratford Regional to arrive at the refurbished low-level platforms. Here there is interchange with Network Rail main line and metro routes, London Underground’s Central and Jubilee lines, London Overground’s North London Line and the DLR’s original route from Stratford to Poplar and Canary Wharf via Bow Church.

To the south of the low-level DLR platforms is a turnback siding that allows a more intensive shuttle service to run as required between Stratford Regional and International.

Trains then call at Stratford High Street – a two-platform station built on the site of the former Stratford Market station that closed in 1957 – and at Abbey Road, which also has two platforms.

West Ham is next, where the former North London Line island platform has been refurbished to provide a step-free interchange with LU’s Jubilee line, and this is followed by the island platform at Star Lane, the last of the all-new stations.

The final stop on the new route is at Canning Town, where the refurbished island platform is sandwiched between the existing London Underground/DLR and bus stations. There is an interesting arrangement of platforms at Canning Town, as the existing station has a ground level island platform for LU’s Jubilee line trains and an upper level island for DLR’s line from Poplar.

South of Canning Town, the line from Stratford International links into the existing DLR branches to Beckton and Woolwich Arsenal.

The basic timetable sees trains every 10 minutes running through to Beckton, however in the morning and evening weekday peaks this changes to every eight or nine minutes respectively to Woolwich Arsenal to match passenger demand.