Stratford International - Testing yet?

"embedded into the community...", "exciting opportunities for the local..." Fantastic! Lets hope that the hack who wrote that was a cynical pothead with a dark sense of humour, hoping to win a round of 'buzzword bingo' or two...

I haven't seen a test train down there for ages. Is it completely tested but now awaiting something else to happen before opening?

Couldn't that have been done months ago? The stations have been structurally completed for a while now.

To me, this whole extension has been a joke in terms of the time it's taken to get it working, especially when you consider that the Lewisham and Woolwich extensions opened early.

Whilst having nothng to do with DLR or any other railway cabling, I do have experience in fibre and data cabling installations. In these cases, the installs are tested to ensure the correct parameters are reached and the whole lot signed off and handed over prior to use by any user systems themselves.

I'd be interested to know what testing is required subsequent to signed off cabling with satisfactory headroom results on the DLR.

Anyone?

It's probably more the area between stations that is most vulnerable, and more difficult to patrol.

Also, as I understand it, the line and its security are still the responsibility of the constructors and hasn't been handed over to TfL yet

Oh right. Any updates on opening time yet? I heard it may be around July/August 2011 but that is of coursesubject to change, like the two previous dates we were given.

To be honest apart from bubble wrap and plastic sheeting the stations at least looked complete last year! Back then I saw them laying the track and wondered whether it would open in 2 months or 3... not around 10 so far!

I went through Canning Town twice today and both times in and overhanging the northbound SI platform were 114,116 & 118 (not in that order) about a foot gap and then 109,106 & 104 (in that order). All six units appeared to have power.

Simon

I was watching a video on the beeb yesterday about the Olympic Tickets, Boris et al were on a DLR train and I could have sworn it was on The Extension; I'll be damned if I can find said video now though!

It was indeed on the Extension - whilst Boris was at the front making jokes to the big paper journalists about Olympic tickets, I was being nerdy and taking pictures of Stratford International (which seemed to confuse a few of his PR handlers).

To be fair, it's what most of the papers want, because ultimately that's what their readers want - a couple of high-level comments about transport delays in the Olympics and a quick joke from the Mayor.

That's fair enough. Each to their own. I just generally find there's more value/fun in hanging back and talking to the guys who actually built it/work on it. They're the ones who know that if you ask them about the Extension's alignment, you're not asking whether its surrounded by Tory or Labour voters.

Boris very excited to pretend to drive the train, as was I when I had the mental age of a 5 year old...
Funny that he didn't get any Olympic tickets though. Boris sad ...

I'm a little behind with this - I've only just got an account here recently - and apologies if this the wrong forum, but has anyone else noticed that the Stratford International extension has been on the Tube Maps on LO trains since the H&I extension opened?

They published the maps before the admendment to Tottenham Court Road as well, so for the last couple of months there's been *two* errors on the ELL maps.

Opening really does seem to be very close now. Hoardings are down at Stratford Regional Low Level, with posters saying "Coming Soon" and "Make The Connection".

Also, I realised that, reading between the lines of these next two closures:

"18/06/2011 - 19/06/2011 - Bank/Tower Gateway - Stratford/Poplar/Lewisham and Canning Town - Beckton

25/06/2011 - 26/06/2011 - Westferry - Woolwich Arsenal/Beckton"

that have been on the "INVESTING IN... a better railway" posters since early April, they look suspiciously like "final testing" closures to integrate the extension into the service patterns for the rest of the network. So I suspect the target for opening will be in the week commencing 27 June?