the doctrines like railway known as the
DLR
is a driverless automated light metro
system that was designed to rejuvenate
the Docklands area of London a low cost
alternative to extending London's
underground network the heart train half
tram has surpassed all expectations
rapidly expanding to become a vital part
of the city's transport infrastructure
opening in 1987 with 11 trains
servicing 15 stations the DLR has spread
across East London and now has 145
trains connecting 45 stations
this makes the Docklands Light Railway
large in the entire metro systems of
many major cities including San
Francisco Ridge narrow and Yokohama
passenger numbers have also risen
dramatically while 6.7 million people
traveled on the line in its first year
of operation an incredible 122 million
passengers use the DLR in 2016
as the lion celebrates its 30th
anniversary we look at the story of how
the DLR was born and chart his growth
into a hugely successful urban railway
an example for other cities around the
world to follow the DLR was created to
breathe new life into the Docklands area
of East London which declined as a docks
closed and manufacturing relocated in
July 1981 the London Docklands
Development Corporation or LD DC was
created to coordinate the redevelopment
for one of his first actions was to
investigate affordable public transport
system the word attract businesses to
the area and kickstart housing
developments the LD DC's preference was
for a highly visible automated
driverless system with a futuristic look
the DLR was born
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the UK government specified that the
entire new railway had to be built
within a 77 million pound budget with
this in mind a study was undertaken to
identify the opt-in routes and station
positions that rejuvenate the area
without breaking the bank
tombs were chosen the first an east-west
route that connected the Docklands and
the city the second running north to
south to link the Docklands to
residential North East London to
minimize costs the DLR used existing
infrastructure wherever possible in
total 8 miles of track was laid across
disused train via ducts and existing
surface railway formations connected
with new elevated concrete viaducts the
built stations were all above ground
generally unstaffed and United and
design with a short half cylindrical
glaze blue canopy been a common feature
on the platform's it was decided not to
connect with the Alliance the main tube
network where to arrived in the city as
this would have required the
construction of an expensive underground
station instead track near the disused
minor e station adjacent to today's
Fenchurch Street station was repurposed
as a city terminus of the line on the
31st of August 1987 the Docklands Light
Railway opened to the public
with two lines running from tower
gateway to Island gardens and Stratford
to Island Gardens the railway of the
future had arrived the trains were fully
automated with no driver
although train captain on each train was
responsible for checking tickets making
announcements and controlling the doors
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due to the rapid development of the
doctrines the DLR proved much more
popular than expected and expansion of
the system began almost immediately
being separate from the underground
network was clearly a major flaw of the
initial system to resolve this issue the
line was extended to Bank underground
station this 149 million pound
connection into the heart of the City of
London for a 1.3 kilometre tunnel opened
in 1991 as the original trains did not
make safety and fire standards for
operating in underground stations the
fleet was sold to the city of Essen in
Germany where they use all their tram
system and a new feat was installed also
1991 Canary Wharf station opens
originally planned as a regular station
due to the growth of the office complex
it was redeveloped into the largest
station on the network with six
platforms serving free tracks under a
large glazed roof following these
developments the line was further
extended to the east of the Docklands
starting the existing poplar station and
terminating abettin this extension added
11 stations to the Docklands Light
Railway substantially increasing the
overall size of the system when the
eastern extension opened in March 1994
the DLR had almost doubled in size from
15 to 28 stations in just seven years
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early on in the development of the DLR
Lucien Borough Council had expressed an
interest in bringing the Docklands Light
Railway south of the river which of
course would mean tunnelling under the
River Thames the council commissioned a
feasibility study to investigate the
extension and in 1993 the UK government
approved a 200 million pound project to
connect to Lucien railway station via
Greenwich this was the first Private
Finance Initiative or PFI on a railway
in the UK
to allow the DLR to pass under the
Thames its route had to be realigned
this meant the demolition and rebuilding
at both mud suit and Island garden
stations with Island Garland's be
reconstructed completely underground the
4.2 kilometer extension opened ahead of
schedule on the 3rd of December 1999
adding a further five stations to the
network and taking the DLR south of the
river for the first time by 2004 the
line was serving almost 50 million
passengers a year but it was the
continued growth of London City Airport
that provided the impetus for the next
extension to connect the airport's into
London's transport network an eastward
branch that followed the approximate
routes of the former Eastern Counties
and Thames Junction railway was created
this extension which cost 140 million
pounds opened on the 2nd of December
2004 five two years later were became
extending the route further under the
temps to Woollett Arsenal station
connect from the DLR the North Kent
mainline costing 180 million pounds this
extension opened in 2009 the latest
extension to the DLR was undertaken
ahead of the London 2012 Olympic Games a
line was opened from Canning Town to
Stratford connecting the games as two
major venue clusters at the Olympic Park
and Excel
this extension and it's seven stations
to the network bringing the total number
of stations to 45 operating across six
lines the Docklands Light Railway has
been hugely successful extending over so
much of East London but the name now
seems largely inappropriate over the
past 30 years the line has been steadily
extended and this doesn't look set to
stop anytime soon
there are several planned extensions to
the network being discussed that will
make the system even larger these
include an extension south from Lewiston
to Forest Hill East to Dagenham docks
across the river to Thames meet and West
to continue the line underground from
Bank to Charing Cross and Victoria the
DLR has grown into a truly an urban
railway and is a shining example for
other cities to follow happy 30th
birthday if you enjoyed this video and
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construction subscribe to the v1m
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