Passengers on the Docklands Light Railway are set to benefit from a new timetable at the end of September which will provide more frequent services, including in the evening and at weekends. The timetable will be introduced from Monday 26th September and sees changes to services between Stratford and Canary Wharf/Lewisham and Canning Town to Beckton.
The new timetable is being introduced now following the opening of the Elizabeth Line earlier this year and more people travelling to and from the office and for leisure. The plan is that it will cater for these changing travel panels giving reduced waiting times for passengers, reducing crowding on platforms and giving better connections with the Elizabeth Line.
Tom Page, TfL’s General Manager for the DLR, said: “It is fantastic to see customers regularly using the DLR again and we want to make sure the timetable provides the best possible service. The changes will help our customers complete their journeys more quickly and easily.”
Whilst all routes will benefit from more frequent services, the main changes will be seen as follows:
Stratford to Canary Wharf
- Weekday peak – services running every 4 minutes instead of every 6-7 minutes
- Daytime and early evening – services running every 5 minutes instead of every 10 minutes
Stratford to Lewisham via Canary Wharf
- Weekday morning peak – every other train from Stratford will continue to Lewisham providing a services every 2-4 minutes between Canary Wharf and Lewisham
Canning Town to Beckton
- The shuttle will be reintroduced during off-peak periods and for the first time will run in the peak. Complementing existing services this means a service will operate on the route every 4 minutes during the morning and evening weekday peaks (currently every 8 minutes) and every 5 minutes during off peak daytimes (instead of every 10).
Evenings and Weekends
- More frequent services will run for longer in the evenings and at weekends. For example, on weekday evenings, Bank to Lewisham services will run every 5 minutes instead of every 10 minutes
The changes will help to minimise waiting times with the Elizabeth Line at Canary Wharf, Custom House and Stratford. And with the integration of Elizabeth Line services from 6th November, passengers on the DLR will be just one change away from key destinations such as the West End and Heathrow Airport.
The new service frequency will have a side effect in that some services will now be running with fewer carriages (running as doubles instead of triples). However, its said that overall capacity on each route will be unchanged as where this happens they will be running more frequently. The impact of the changes will be monitored (including by looking at passenger and staff feedback) by TfL to ensure that it is “delivering as intended”.
Looking further ahead and 2024 will see new trains being introduced onto the network. These will be walk-through vehicles being constructed by CAF and are due to replace the older trains in the current fleet.