London City Airport Consultative Committee
DLR Extensions
Describes the schemes to extend the Docklands Light Railway from Canning Town to the London City Airport and beyond
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London City Airport Consultative Committee |
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DLR Extensions |
Describes the schemes to extend the Docklands Light Railway from Canning Town to the London City Airport and beyond |
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DLR Extension to Airport
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The RouteCanning Town to North Woolwich RoadThe Extension leaves the existing DLR Beckton branch south of Canning Town at ground level. It then passes under the Lower Lea Crossing road using an existing underpass, and rises up on to an earth embankment to cross the Thames Wharf area on a viaduct and a further embankment. The route then remains on viaduct to the south of Dock Road and North Woolwich Road above existing industrial car parking. Along North Woolwich RoadThe route continues on a viaduct along the south side of the North Woolwich Road, above the landscaping, footpath and cycle way. North Woolwich Roundabout to the AirportThe viaduct then crosses the North Woolwich roundabout and runs along the route of the former Silvertown bypass across Connaught Road. The viaduct approaches the Airport alongside a re-aligned Camel Road and Hartmann Road. The route then traverses the site formerly occupied by Drew Road Primary School to descend to ground level. The Airport to North WoolwichFrom the Airport, the route runs in a shallow cutting along the the southern edge of the Airport's land adjacent to the King George V Dock as far as North Woolwich. |
The basic construction cost of the scheme including contingencies, land, project costs and rolling stock was £140m. Funding was provided from a mix of sources. The Government made available £30m from the capital Modernisation Fund and the London Borough of Newham secured contributions from developers and other beneficiaries of the scheme thorough planning agreements under s. 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. The Airport itself contributed through such an agreement. The balance of the cost came from the private concessionaire who designed, built and financed the extension and will maintain it over a 30 year period. The concessionaire is City Airport Rail Enterprise (CARE), a consortium of AMEC and the Royal Bank of Scotland. Their contract with the DLR, signed in February 2003, was worth £300m over the 30 year period.
On 1st July 2003 CARE and AMEC briefed the Consultative Committee on the project and in particular the impact of the construction works on the local area - see the Minutes of that meeting for full details including this outline information on the phasing of the works:
Throughout the project AMEC and CARE briefed the Committee on the progress of the works - for details see the Committee's minutes. Some parts of the project moved ahead faster than others but overall the project was completed to schedule and in fact opened at the beginning of December 2005.
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The project involved the relocation of the Airport's headquarters at City Aviation House and a number of other Airport facilities. The Airport's HQ moved to its new office building, located nearer the Terminal, early in October 2004.
The DLR station at London City Airport is built on an elevated structure. There are two entrances. One leads directly into the airport terminal, passengers enter the airport via an escalator and an enclosed linked building connecting the station to the front entrance of the terminal. The second entrance is located on Drew Road, to serve the local community.
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The project has involved only minor changes to the layout of the terminal forecourt. The design provides smooth integration with the connecting airport transport links, such as the bus and taxi services. There were no changes to the terminal building; the layout remains exactly as it always has. The approach to the airport along Hartmann Road has been realigned to accommodate the railway, which has been built along the old road. The new entrance of Hartmann Road is located where Camel Road used to join Connaught Road.
To make way for the station the old building of the Drew Road Primary School was demolished - see picture in Construction section above. The school has moved into new premises further south in Drew Road - see picture below right. These were built by agreement between the DLR, the London Borough of Newham and the London Development Agency.
In October 2006 the station scooped the Community Rail Award for the best ‘Local Transport Integration Project'. Described by the judges as “an excellent and a major improvement to transport access” the station was also commended for ”integrating many transport modes within a major city”, as it directly links the airport and neighbouring bus and walking routes to the DLR. Airport passengers can be on the DLR platform from the airport terminal in just four minutes, while local residents using the station gain access via a fully-accessible street-level entrance. The station is also served by two large-size passenger lifts that accommodate people with restricted mobility, wheelchair users and pushchairs. In April 2007 the station was runner up
in London Transport's Rail Station of the Year award. 
The extension brings a new reliable surface access opportunity for airline passengers and airport visitors and staff, allowing them to get to the airport from Bank in about 22 minutes and from Canary Wharf within 14 minutes. The Airport believes this will put the Airport firmly on the public transport map, helping to reduce car journeys by an estimated half a million a year.
Some people fear that the initial benefits of the new line might not be as great as expected. These concerns arose when it emerged that the DLR had decided not to provide a direct service to the new business district at Canary Wharf from where many of the airport's passengers emanate. It would thus be necessary for passengers (and staff) wanting to travel between the airport and Canary Wharf to change trains at Poplar or Canning Town. This is not ideal as for the most part airport passengers are only going to be enticed to use the new surface if it provides a time saving for them over and above taking a taxi. While it would still be a fairly swift service having to change trains is never popular.
Following its meeting in April 2005 the Consultative Committee wrote to DLR expressing it's fears. In response to these concerns there were discussions between Airport and the DLR - see response from the DLR - but without result; for the time being the service does not include direct trains to Canary Wharf
The first train from Canning Town to serve London City Airport Station departs at 05:32 arriving at 05:38
The first train departs from London City Airport Station towards Canning Town at 05:31. The last train departs at 00:31.
The first train from Canning Town to serve London City Airport Station departs at 07:02 arriving at 07:08.
The first train departs from the London City Airport Station towards Canning Town at 07:01. The last train departs at 23:28.
Trains will depart from the London City Airport Station every seven – ten minutes
07 : 00 – 09:30 service to/from Canning Town every 7 Minutes, alternate trains continue on to Bank
16:30- 19:00 every 8 minutes to/from Canning Town , alternate trains continue on to Bank.
Outside of peak periods trains run every 10 minutes to/from Canning Town, alternate trains continue on to Bank.
Starting in 2007 DLR has each year published a Monitoring Report on the operation of the new line. Here are the first three such reports:
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First Monitoring Report (9.83mb) | |
Second Monitoring Report (2.5mb) |
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Third Monitoring Report (2.2mb) |
The findings of the Year 3 report were:
For more information about the project see the Presentations given to the Airport Transport Forum at its meeting in December 2003 and September 2004.
ON 26th February 2004 the Department for Transport announced its approval of a submission under the Transport and Works Act for an extension of the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) to Woolwich Arsenal. The formal decision letter was issued on 26th February 2004.
The proposal to build this extension flowed out of DLR's work to develop the new line now being built from Canning Town to London City Airport and North Woolwich - see above. The consultations for that line revealed a lot of interest in carrying the new line under the River to Woolwich town centre. Plans were thus drawn up.
There was a public consultation exercise about the
new line between August and October 2001. This showed strong support
for the scheme and for DLR's preferred Option 1 involving a 2.5km
route, mostly in bored tunnel. Leaving the City Airport line at King
George V station in North Woolwich the new line would descend into
a bored tunnel, passing under the River Thames and surfacing again
near Burrage Road, alongside the
Network Rail lines at Woolwich Arsenal Station. A
new DLR station would be constructed
partly under Woolwich New Road with a new station entrance onto Greens
End and Powis Street giving excellent access to the town centre and
the new developments along the riverside and in the Royal Arsenal
site. Click the map (26k) for more details of the options.
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Mayor Ken Livingstone with DLR MD Ian Brown at the start of work on the Woolwich Extension |
Artists impression of the new DLR station at Woolwich Arsenal |
It was felt that extending DLR to Woolwich would
provide a useful and easy new route to the Airport for passengers
going to and from places south of the River. DLR also believed
it would bring substantial benefits to the Woolwich town centre, to
the communities in Woolwich and the surrounding area, to the development
of the Woolwich waterfront, including the Arsenal site, and to those
travelling by rail from North Kent into Docklands and the City.
DLR applied for the Transport and Works Act Order in July 2002. The application attracted objections and there was a public inquiry early in 2003 following which it is understood that all the objections were successfully resolved.
Following approval of the Order in April 2004 the DLR began the process of selecting a concessionaire to design, build and maintain the extension and in December 2004 AMEC plc announced that its 50/50 joint venture with the Royal Bank of Scotland - known as Woolwich Arsenal Rail Enterprises (“WARE”) - had been appointed preferred bidder.
The financial details of the project were settled in the early months of 2005 and the contract was signed on 1st June. The partners in the WARE consortium are the same those in CARE and the success of the WARE bid allowed the new line to be built as a seamless extension of the Airport Extension project with many of the team building the Airport Extension transferring to the Woolwich Arsenal project. Construction work got under under way in mid-June 2005 and train services on the new line began on 10th January 2009.
The contractor, Morgan Est, provided the Committee with regular updates on the progress of the works. These can be seen in the Committee's minutes.
For more information visit the DLR's website
An
independent Consultative Committee established by London City Airport
pursuant to Section 35 of the Civil Aviation Act
1982
Chairman: John Adshead Secretary: Stuart Innes
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Page last modified: 18 February 2012
