3-car trains start running in January

I arrived at Bank tonight to find the PID showing the next train to be to Canning Town. Odd destination I thought. And then all became clear as a 3 car train pulled in to the platform.

That also answers my question as to what they're going to do with the trains leaving service that normally go to Gallions.

I was in a meeting room over looking the delta junction today and I saw a number of them go past. Not many trains were 3-car. I would estimate that maybe 20% of the Bank-Lewisham ones were (at 11am).

I haven't yet seen any 3-car trains made of old units though. I wonder how soon they will go into service as 3-car...

I've been wondering about this. I take it there's no reason inhibiting the formation of three-car old trains?

I saw one new three-car train this morning, at last. And at least half a dozen two-car trains, on the Lewisham branch at 9:30-10am. Ho hum...

i know this might be a bit old now but i spotted one in canary wharf middle platforms a week on saturday ago but it wasn't in service then

I saw 124 coupled with 144 and 135 (I think) at Canary Wharf at about 3pm heading south. There were platform staff in hi-viz vests there and at Herons Quay at least. Any staff sightings at other stations?.

If there are difficulties for the train operator seeing clearances to operate the doors, I wonder if they will be restricted to certain doors only, such as just the centre unit. In which case ticket examination will become a thing of the past, a bad move on a system whose original concept was ungated stations and regular ticket examination on the train. In sngle unit days examination was about 75% f the time, with two it's about 25%, with three units will it be nil ?

I got a three-car train home last night. The last car was half-empty - there were several seats free, unheard of usually. The first two cars were significantly busier...

At Cutty Sark SDO locked out the forward and rear two sets of doors (ie. half of each of the leading and trailing vehicles). The CSA had to announce this manually.

Ummmm ..... the clue is in the name .....

Incidentally, your canteen is not on the 8th floor, is it ?

You never know on t'Internet

Nope, it's on the 14th.

There might be one on the 8th as well, but I don't have access to that floor as it's occupied by a different tenant.

CCTV is also in use at Bank for 3 car trains.

diana - I suspect this shows not the failings of the DLR, but really that Canary Wharf is still heavily dependant on a line which transports over 20,000 people in the peaks*.

The DLR is not really a heavy metro like the Jubilee so I don't think it should be able to handle loads that it's not designed for.

On the other hand, if and when Crossrail is finally finished, you'd expect the Jub and Crossrail to complement each other and increase network resilience.



*(basic maths, 24 trains * 500 people per train * 2 directions, rounded down for pessimistic errors)

We have had to get used to the overloading situation at Bank for far too long now; we must be into year three (or maybe four) of the Jubilee weekend/holiday closures. In passing who decided to shut the Jubilee at weekends AND do grossly disruptive works at Bank on the alternative route at the same time?

But when these crush loads are being carried (I wasn't there today, but by experience of Saturdays before Christmas and similar) it is not the transit down the Northern platforms, or the stairs beyond, that are the limitation, but passengers queued back from the DLR departure platform up the approach passage, and then back up the stairs, which is the pinch point. This is what should be relieved by DLR trains able to carry away 50% more passengers than before, because the biggest holdup was caused by passengers beng unable to board the first train, which is where the justification for the three car scheme came from in the first place.

Indeed, however I think the issue is that although the DLR are trumpeting the arrival of 3-car trains on the Bank to Lewisham route, no-one seems to have seen more than 3 (out of a peak requirement of 15) trains formed of 3-cars out at any one time - and I make that 33 cars in total, up from 30 prior to the upgrade or only an 10% additional capacity - so far.

Having used the DLR regulaly for a period of 18 months to get to work, all be-it prior to the beginning of 3-car operation, my opinion is that the addition of the 3rd car was not to aid situations where the Jub was closed, but to alleviate crush level on the DLR under normal working conditions. On numerous days I was forced to wait for 3 or 4 trains to Bank before being able to board. So bad was the morning peak I was left with two options were I to arrive at work in a punctual manner. These were:

1) leave 20 mins earlier and use DLR
2) leave 20 mins earlier and take the C2C train from Limehouse to Fenchurch St, then walk to Tower Hill and take the District/Circle to Cannon Street, then catch a 344 bus or walk for 20 mins. Blackfrairs would have been a better station for me, but is currently closed.

Normally, I opted for the latter as even though there were more variables, I had a better chance of arriving on time.

Hence I can only suggest that 3-car operation was designed to make trips into Bank for regular DLR users a more comfortable experience.