hey everyone welcome back to the channel
and the latest episode of transit
explained i can confidently say that the
london underground is the most famous
metro network in the world but much less
appreciated to its east and southeast is
another metro network that by itself is
one of the world's most interesting
metro systems what is it the docklands
light railway not only is the docklands
light railway one of the world's first
automated metros its location embedded
in the same city as one of the world's
most popular metro systems means that
it's experienced far more change than
similar systems around the world so
let's dive in and see what makes this
weird wonderful railway system work
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the doc lens light railway got its start
all the way back in the 1970s at least
in conceptual form as the redevelopment
of london's industrial docklands became
a top priority fortunately planners at
the time watched my video from earlier
this week which states that
transit-oriented development sites
should have transit built before
development and hence plants were
drafted for a railway system plans
shifted between tiny people mover-esque
tram systems linking to the planned
jubilee line to a full tube line back to
something somewhere in the middle which
ended up being the docklands light
railway or dlr as we know it today now
some original plants called for a deeper
level of integration between the dlr and
tube possibly even through some form of
through running scheme as is somewhat
common in continental europe however the
lack of surplus capacity on the tube
made this impractical and so a terminus
adjacent to the mainline railway tracks
at tower gateway was the primary initial
link to the rest of the rapid transit
system with plants solidified the first
phase of the dlr opened in 1987 a few
years after another iconic automated
metro system the initial system
comprised of two main routes on entirely
at or above ground track both traveling
from island gardens in the docklands and
then diverging just north of canary
wharf to both stratford to the north and
tower gateway to the west which is still
criticized for its poor connections to
the tube national rail transfers were
available at stratford and limehouse
routes were connected via a simple now
defunct three-way junction which also
provided access to the small operations
and maintenance facility adjacent to
poplar station
start of service saw driverless trains
serving the entire system but with
employees on board monitoring trains
unlike on the vancouver skytrain which
had roving attendance these employees
checked tickets and provided security as
well as manually operated the train
doors
much like the vancouver skytrain early
stations had a common design scheme with
a deep blue color palette in addition as
might be expected the system was
initially very poorly used which
reflects the nature of the
post-industrial wasteland that was the
docklands at the time things would soon
change though
as it turns out the fundamentals of the
docklands and canary wharf in particular
were very strong and the dlr only made
the area more attractive for development
in the years following the system's
opening canary wharf grew into a massive
business hub and a second city center
for london with a larger financial
sector presence than many large cities
this success exacerbated the system's
weak link at its western end with the
rest of london's transport network and
so a new tunnel connection was opened in
1991 to monument bank station complex
allowing transfer to the central
northern waterloo and city district and
circle lines this helped alleviate the
poor connectivity between the dlr and
the rest of the city's rapid transit the
success of canary wharf also had direct
impacts on the canary wars station which
was initially a fairly minor one the
significant transport demand created by
the surrounding office and commercial
developments meant that a much larger
station was quickly needed and so a new
six-platform three-track station opened
in 1991 with the spanish solution
incorporated into the design this
station was integrated directly into the
canada square office tower which remains
one of the uk's tallest to this day with
the dockland's growth continuing to
speed along in 1994 a new branch was
open to bechten along the north shore of
the thames which served a number of
sparse and underdeveloped sites
particularly north of royal albert dock
as well as an interchange with the
future jubilee line extension and
connections to the soon to be built
excel center as part of the construction
of the bechten branch poplar was rebuilt
with a total of four platforms allowing
easy cross-platform transfers from
services on the new branch onwards to
canary wharf fortunately a year later in
1995 a new junction west of the station
was opened allowing direct service from
the bechten branch into the city
furthermore as this constituted a major
system expansion a new depot was
constructed at bechten to accommodate
additional trains with the success of
the docklands and the dlr now fairly
indisputable in the late 1990s pressures
grew to extend the system under the
thames to greenwich and lewisham this
extension ended up being built and
opened on november 20th 1999 near the
turn of the millennia the extension
involved rebuilding the section to the
south of cross harbor station and
extending the line to lewisham via
greenwich whose station received a new
cross-platform transfer allowing
london-bound passengers to head to the
docklands easily surely benefiting any
bankers using that station the mixed
route of tunnels cuts and winding
viaducts let the lighter technology used
on the dlr flex its muscles and the
extension of rapid transit to a part of
the city which had no tube access as
well as transfers from the national
railway network at lewisham led to
significant ridership
following the extension to lewisham the
dlr benefited from a renaissance in
public transportation spending in london
which led to another extension of the
dlr adjacent to royal albert dock via
silvertown to london city airport a
business oriented airport in the
docklands and then onwards to king
george v station in northwood
this extension was followed up a few
years later with another extension under
the thames this time to woolwich arsenal
enabling connections to national rail
trains
a few months later the same year tower
gateway station which now plays second
fiddle to bank was rebuilt with a single
track in spanish solution boarding at
the same time the tracks north of the
now congested canary war station were
reorganized to allow westbound services
to bank to pass under services arriving
from stratford with a great separation
this was at the cost of bypassing west
india key station
in the lead up to the 2012 olympics more
works were undertaken with an entirely
new branch just stratford but no not
that stratford stratford international
the famous other stratford station
without international services this
branch directly parallels the jubilee
line and acts as a local service with
the jubilee line running express
both lines provide transfers to national
rail at west ham and stratford while the
stratford international branch offers
connections for high-speed passengers
looking to travel into the docklands
and this marks the end of the expansion
of the dlr network and gives us the
system we know today with 45 stations on
roughly 40 kilometers of track
while many plants have been discussed
for extending the dlr no projects are
currently in the works that said the
combination of the low cost of extending
the service and the massive financial
firepower of london means more
extensions are inevitable
infill stations are quite likely with
space afforded at thames worth likely to
be turned into a new station in the next
decade or so works on light metro
systems like the dlr have also shown
that developers can practically fund
stations as part of larger redevelopment
schemes and this is made easier by the
largely grade level or elevated nature
of the system some extensions which have
been proposed include extending the
bechten branch across the thames to the
isolated community of thames mead north
of abbey wood there have also been
discussions about extending the bechten
branch to the barking riverside area
discussions have also happened regarding
southern extensions from lewisham to
beckingham junction to connect with
tramlink connecting the systems for the
first time or to bromley but currently
nothing is very advanced
in the center of london an extension to
houston and saint pancras has been
considered with intermediate stops at
city thames link and holborn this would
create new connections between hs2 and
canary wharf serve london with a new
city center metro line and relieve
crowding at bank by spreading demand
over more stations such plans would be
expensive and would likely come along
with a shuttering of the tower gateway
stub which provides poor connectivity
and diverts trains from the bank branch
fortunately the tower gateway station
would be replaced by a new tower hill
connection on the bank branch
the origins of the dockland light
railway rolling stock are particularly
interesting you may have noticed i
previously compared the trains to north
american light rail trains such as those
operating in st louis calgary and los
angeles but are they really just similar
or do they actually have a common
relative
as it turns out the original north
american light rail system the edmonton
lrt as well as a number of other systems
in north america had its origins in
german stop bound systems as we've
discussed in a previous video these
vehicles are notable for their
articulated design with two halves
supported on top of three bogeys
the dlr rolling stock also originated
from these stat bond vehicles although
they were modified to be better suited
for operation on an elevated and
automated light metro system such as
with a lack of driving cabs and third
rail power as opposed to pantographs as
you'll soon find out these modifications
were more minor than you'd think though
the dlr stock is distinctive for its
flat angled front face akin to some
trains operating in sydney the first
model of rolling stock was referred to
as the p86 the name is derived from the
year of introduction and poplar the
primary depot from which the trains were
operated
the p86 was manufactured by lhb who also
built the original amsterdam metro
trains discussed in a recent video
as it turns out the initial sets of
rolling stock were fairly easily
convertible for operation as trams with
overhead power and one vehicle was even
used to test the concept of a modern
tram system in manchester a forefather
to the eventual construction of the
metrolink
unfortunately for these early trains
they did not meet british regulations
for underground operation because of a
need for improved fireproofing and thus
were sold off over a period of a few
years with the opening of the bank
branch the system's first underground
segment these trains were then
transferred to germany where they
operate on a stop-bound system in essen
the early rolling stock was supplemented
by the p89 sets which were manufactured
by british rail engineering in the uk
and ended up staying on the system
slightly longer these trains were very
similar to the initial p86 sets but had
improved fireproofing
unfortunately even the p89 sets were
deemed too costly to upgrade when an
upgraded signaling system was
implemented in the mid-1990s and hence
these sets were also removed from
service the next model of train
introduced was the b90 manufactured by
bombardier and introduced in the early
1990s however as with the initial sets
the b was initially meant to represent
their home depot at bechten though this
is somewhat less relevant now with the
removal of the psets these were
supplemented with the b92 and b2k for
the year 2000 which had minor
improvements such as internal screens
these trains were all capable of using
the newer signaling system and featured
front exit doors
that new signaling system was the moving
block cell track cbtc system the same
used on some london underground lines
and the vancouver skytrain the old
system well automated utilized fixed
blocks the newest sets are the b07 which
were manufactured by bombardier and are
also much more modern with better
announcements larger windows and
improved doors while also providing
better brake and acceleration
performance
a new fleet is also being constructed by
calf which will operate out of an
expanded bechten depot these trains will
be fully walked through and equivalent
to a current three-car set the trains
are set to enter service in the next few
years
as it turns out the initial phase of the
dlr was only built for single unit
trains entering the early 1990s the
network was expanded to handle two car
trains while works were undertaken at
sites like canary wharf and bank to
improve capacity and connectivity
further station expansion happened in
the lead up to the 2012 olympic games in
london with platforms being extended to
enable three unit operation at many
stations with selective door opening at
some stations whose platforms could not
be extended meaning not all doors open
at these stations
at the same time guideway strengthening
works were undertaken akin to those
completed in vancouver for the
introduction of modern skytrain cars to
support the weight of heavier trains
perhaps the most unique element of the
docklands light railway is the immense
growth that has spurred and been
surrounded with from canary wharf to
stratford to canning town the growth
around the system is astonishing given
the unusual layout of the dlr network
unlike the traditional tube network the
dlr has a variety of services which run
somewhat akin to the new york subway
these services change from time to time
and operate at varying frequencies
depending on the time of day
as it turns out significant sections of
single track exist on the dlr especially
approaching stratford which is quite
unusual for a modern automated system
that said this also leads to the logic
of operating a variety of services as
not all branches have the same capacity
as you may have seen the dlr has made
many changes in its track layout and
stations over the years again benefiting
from its light and often elevated nature
one example i didn't share before was
the relocation of pudding mill lane
station for one of the portals from the
crossrail tunnels this goes to show the
adaptability of the automated system and
should serve to inspire vancouver and
other automated metro systems as they
develop into the future expanding
capacity with new flyovers relocated
stations and longer platforms are all
feasible i'll be looking at some of the
complex railway junctions and stations
on the dlr in a future video so stay
tuned for that and remember to subscribe
if you don't want to miss it of course
london doesn't have many modern elevated
railways and so the dlr's newest
stations as well as newer sections of
the system provide good examples of what
elevated tube stations and tracks could
look like
so as you see the dlr is an incredibly
interesting metro network central to the
development of entirely new areas of
london that have come to influence the
city's development far more than anyone
could have predicted from the projects
outside from impressive expansion to
surprising changes in rolling stock to
radical shifts and changes to the
network to accommodate the changing city
the dlr is perhaps the world's most
dynamic metro network suited to one of
the world's most dynamic cities and i
counted among my top 5 favorite in the
world thanks for watching and i'll see
you in the next one
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you