On Sat, 05 Feb 2005 11:57:21 +0000, Dave Arquati wrote:

Stevie wrote:
Anyone know how 'too schedule' the City Airport extension project is on
the DLR at the moment?
I notice that the Beckton branch is closed all weekend from 7pm last
night to start of service Monday morning for testing on the City
Airport branch - presumbly this is just testing around the Canning Town
junction as I can't believe they've already got the whole line down
ready for complete testing?
If I remember rightly, the Lewisham extension was opened 4 months
early - due to open March 2000 and actually opened in November 1999.
Is the City Airport extension also running ahead of schedule?
I think the City Airport extension is due to open in November this
year - could we actually see it working this summer though instead?

I went down there in late December and took some photos, some of which
are on my website at http://www.alwaystouchout.com/project/9.

The viaduct was complete between Canning Town and just short of London
City Airport station, although the descending ramp from the station down
to the ground had been constructed. (The station itself hadn't been
started.) I didn't see the section between LCY and King George V.

I'm not sure how much (if any) track-laying has been done. West
Silvertown station was only about half-complete, and Pontoon Dock
station hadn't really been started.

I'd guess that the testing work was merely on the junction. The
scheduled opening date is 16 December this year; I think everything is
running to schedule but I've no idea whether they can complete it early.
The most difficult infrastructure (the viaducts) is already in place, so
it may be possible.


DLR announced on Monday
(http://developments.dlr.co.uk/extens...ails.asp?id=13) that the
viaducts are now completed and the project is on schedule to open in
December. Most of the track has been laid, or at least what you can see
round the Canning Town area, apart from a single section linking it to the
working lines. I suspect there will still need to be track laid around
the LCY area, as this was the last bit of viaduct to be built. The closure
this weekend I assume was to test the signalling of the new junction as
the signals were covered up before the engineering works, but turned on
afterwards.

Whilst were on about the DLR, the public enquiry into 'Capacity
enhancement' (upgrading to 3 car trains) started this week. DLR say most
of the objections have been withdrawn, so it looks likely to go ahead. On
this subject I've read that all the stations on the Lewisham extension
were built so they could either handle or be easily extended to handle 3
car trains. I can't see how at Cutty Sark. It's only big enough for 2
car trains and as is it's a deep level tunnel it is going to be quite
difficult to extend isn't it? I thought it would have been easier to
build the extended platform in the original construction, like they did
with other stations such as Bank, Canary Wharf and Canning Town.



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