On Tue, 21 Dec 2004, Dave Arquati wrote:

Tom Anderson wrote:
On Sun, 19 Dec 2004, John Rowland wrote:

"Tom Anderson" wrote in message
...

On Sat, 18 Dec 2004, Dave Arquati wrote:

I believe even in the tunnel to Bank for an underground station to
replace Tower Gateway, which was originally going to be closed in
favour of Bank, but DLR decided operationally that it was too useful
to close.

Do you have any (pointers to) more information on this?

The flat straight spot between two very steep curved sections is quite
obvious if you ride the DLR to or from Bank, especially if you sit in
the front.

Is that right after the junction with the Tower Gateway branch,
immediately south of Tower Gateway station? That's the only
likely-looking straight bit i can see on the (admittedly quite poor)
maps i can find. Although it is on the right tunnel, sadly, it's even
further from Fenchurch Street than Tower Gateway - although perhaps
closer to Tower Hill.

Why does it need to be so close to Fenchurch St?

A rhetorical question, i assume, but for the record, the answer is to make
interchange easier.

Many c2c trains now stop at either Limehouse or West Ham to provide
access to Docklands more rapidly than going into Fenchurch St and out
again.

Good point; i wasn't aware of that. To put a number on it, in the current
winter timetable, of the 34 trains that arrive at Fenchurch Street in the
morning peak (0730-0930), 18 call at Limehouse, 1 calls at West Ham, and 7
call at both - a total of 26, or 76%, of which all except the one West
Ham-only train have DLR interchange. That's actually pretty decent, and
means i haven't really got a leg to stand on.

Still, all things being equal (which they aren't) it would be preferable
to have better interchange, surely?

In any case, DLR are unlikely to close Tower Gateway station at its
current location; it's extremely useful.

Why?

However, it is due to be reduced to a single but lengthened platform as
part of the capacity improvement project, as the island platform would
become dangerously overcrowded.

When you say 'single', do you mean it will still be an island, or will it
become a single-face platform? I can't see the latter being great for
capacity, but if reverses aren't a limiting factor, i suppose it would
work.

tom

--
Fitter, Happier, More Productive.