We hopped on a DLR train the other day, to find that it was one of the refurbished units which now has longitudinal seating. Here’s what it looks like …
DLR Seating
And the weird thing is, we don’t like it – but we can’t quite put our finger on why! There are eight seats in total now spread along, and it feels like too many to have in a row. It’s weird when you’ve been used to the old style for so long, and so overall – we don’t like it. Yet it’s going to happen to all the other units.
Well, we say ‘map’ it’s a diagram of where the services now run, and how many trains per hour (tph) you can expect on that branch.
Note this is for off-peak and weekend services, during the peak hours – there are a few more trains on the network and they get extended and do go to a few more places, but this now gives you an idea of the new setup, including a new strange West Ham terminating train …
New DLR map
There are still a few DLR stations that we haven’t done yet for the App in terms of 3D maps, so we’re now getting round to doing these for a release later this year.
In doing so, we’re now experimenting with drawing in the trains and carriages themselves so that you can visualise the station even better.
Here’s the 3D diagram that’s a work-in-progress for Westferry DLR for example.
Westferry 3D Map
Avoiding the steps at Monument
Here’s something that we’ve been confused about for a while now, so much so that we emailed TfL, but they’ve so far not got back to us.
On the ‘Avoiding Steps‘ map that they have on their website, it is labelled that Monument station can be accessed without steps on the westbound platform only. For a moment I thought this might have been a mistake – and it had been labelled so instead of Cannon Street which has a lift, but to the westbound platform only.
But a quick twitter chat with @tflaccess and it all became clear – it IS possible to access the westbound platforms at Monument by using escalators (and thus avoiding steps) if you go via Bank Station DLR.
Bank Lift on King William Street
A little known thing is that there IS lift access to Bank station – but only to the DLR part of the station. The entrance is ‘secret’ and is on King William Street – not part of the main entrance, where a vaguely scary sign suggests that is is for those who want step-free access to the DLR at Bank only.
But because of the layout of the escalators at Bank DLR it’s possible to come up into Monument station on an escalator on the westbound side and thus access it step free.
But we’d like to know (and this is what we keep on emailing TfL and they never reply to us)
Is the lift at Bank for DLR customers only, or if you have heavy luggage or a child in a pushchair, can you use it to legitimately access the westbound platforms at Monument as their ‘Avoiding Steps’ guide suggests?
Who wants to go and try it and find out?
Station Master Geoff made a new production for Londonist, this time out on the DLR.
Update: We can’t believe no one’s noticed this yet, so we’re going to mention it. Look closely at the captions. Take the FIRST letter of every caption – write them down, and see what it spells out!
Here’s a fun anomaly that we spotted at the weekend. Every single time we have been to Stratford International on the DLR, it has only ever used Platform 1. We didn’t even think Platform 2 was in use, so it was to our small joy that we caught a train there yesterday coming in and out of Platform 2, which we were told “Does happen just once or twice a day” …
Stratford International Platform 2
Oh Google Maps, what have you done?
They’re not roundels!
We first spotted it on Monday morning – when skimming through Google Maps, and we noticed that the blue & red ’roundel’ symbol used to represent tube stations on Google Maps had been replaced… by a white ‘M’ on blue – the same symbol as used on the New York Subway – ‘M’ for Metro, presumably? (The same symbol which is incidentally used in the UK, up in Newcastle on the Tyne & Wear Metro system)
Some people speculated that it might not be a Google error, but TfL clamping down on the use of the roundel symbol.
Licensing issue?
But hang on – if that’s the case, then why was the roundel still in place on Google Maps for the London Overground – where the colours are slightly different! That doesn’t make sense.
Kenton has both
We then noticed that in some places where tube stations AND Overground stations are the same station, then the tube roundel still existed alongside the Overground roundel.
But this didn’t apply to all places – at Harrow & Wealdstone, the ‘M’ symbol was in place instead of the tube roundel (alongside the Overground roundel and the NR symbol which is correct)
Then, a news story popped up from ITV London news on Wednesday, reporting that Google knew about it, “There are currently engineering works on the Google Line. Normal services will be resumed shortly.”
Londonist ran an article on it too, reporting the same thing.
Then – to compound the issue – this morning we now note that DLR stations in London have had their symbol replaced by the National Rail ‘BR’ type symbol too! Which is also completely wrong …
DLR now National Rail!
So with it looking like it’s getting worse, rather than getting better – maybe it’s time to resort to a Twitter trend to get this fixed! #GiveUsBackOurRoundel – anyone?
Let’s get it trending!
With major work taking place on the escalators at Cutty Sark DLR station at the bottom, there is only step and lift access when entering the station – there is only an escalator out at the moment.
So there’s a big sign up saying that the lift is for wheelchairs and prams only – as a temporary poster – but this is up next to a permanent sign suggesting that it is always the case at this station, and is the first time we’ve seen a permanent sign suggesting that this is the case at a station.
Priority Boarding
The new Docklands Light Railway Pudding Mill Lane station, which is now the largest on the DLR network, was open today to the public for the first time; so, of course, we went along there to have a look for ourselves.
New Pudding Mill Lane
The new concrete and glass station is in a slightly different location, as the previous station is being demolished to make way for the Crossrail tunnel portal at Pudding Mill Lane where it will join existing railway lines through North East London to Essex. DLR passengers will be able to interchange with Crossrail at Stratford station. The new station is also double-tracked and trains arrive there together regularly as clockwork, Crossrail say this will boost capacity and enable the railway to carry an extra 1,100 passengers per hour on the route between Stratford and Canary Wharf / Lewisham.
The New Platforms
There were many other people there, taking photographs and generally having a look at the pristine new station on its opening day and a surprising number of staff (we counted at least 7 or 8), for what until 10 days ago was a tiny station, we’re not sure why or if they were suddenly expecting an influx of passengers now the station is bigger! However we noticed that the lifts aren’t presently working so it may have been they were there to assist with accessibility needs until the snagging work going on by the builders is completed.
Pudding Mill Lane – Old Station
It was also very noisy, as the work has already begun to demolish the old station.
Of the people there, we were lucky enough to be able to meet the architect of the new station, Dan Moore, who was taking photographs of his work and was justifiably proud of what had been achieved with a DLR station, compared to the old “Tin shed in the sky” as he put it.
He very kindly pointed out some interesting features of the station to us, that aren’t immediately obvious to the casual observer.
e.g. Presently, there are three staircases side-by-side up to each of the platforms. But, underneath the outside two staircases, they have already built escalator pits and space for machine-gear, so once the stations gets busier they can simply lift the staircases out and install escalators. Clever eh?!
Pudding Mill Lane Exterior
Also, as you enter the station (currently behind hoardings) there is a large brick façade. This façade currently conceals 1000 square metres of retail space, so when it’s needed, it can be demolished and shops fitted out in its place. There’s even a yard area behind the station for deliveries and refuse etc, again all planned for future expansion as the surrounding area becomes more developed, and the station busier.
Pudding Mill Lane – Exit
Outside the station there is still some Crossrail work and access required, so there is a hoarded off walkway to get you to Stratford High Street, and also a separate access route to take you onto the Greenway (which is well worth a walk on if you’ve never been there), the View Tube and on to the Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park (but it wasn’t signposted as such).
Diamond Geezer was down there at 7am when it opened has now put a complete Flickr gallery of photos online.
And lastly, of course, no Station Master visit to a station would be complete without the obligatory noting of the best exits, counting the steps and facilities and a sketch map of the station so we can update that information for the next release of the App!
Pudding Mill Lane Publicity
The new Pudding Mill Station is being built just about alongside and in full view of the old one. Publicity on the network proudly boasts it as being the largest of all the DLR stations – and it is going to be.
Built inside a large box structure, it’s expected to be a station that people will use to come to the new Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park a lot, which opens this weekend.
All the tracks are in place, except for where they join the existing line, and that’s what the 10 day closure is all about – putting those tracks in place and getting all the computer signalling working. It’s going to be an impressive station once done, and the last new TfL owned station that’s going to be opened for a while.
New Pudding Mill Lane Station