It is true to say the Docklands Area has outgrown the Docklands Light
Railway. Due to the mass movement of businesses from the city to the
docklands, the transport infrastructure has not grown with it. It may
not be understandable to some, but the city had it's railway stations,
(Kings Cross, Canon Street, Liverpool Street, Waterloo, etc) all
serving the city. However with such movement, these commuters have been
"forced" on to the jubilee line, which serves, London Bridge, Waterloo,
or have been "forced" on to the DLR at Bank). While for now this may be
fine, we have to remind ourselves that now the Thames Gateway Region is
being expanded, Regeneration of the lea valley is taking place,
Stansted is growing and Homes are being built in Essex and
Hertfordshire.

Crossrail, although a good scheme, in peak times is only likely to
benefit those to the west of Paddington, who have no direct access to
the docklands and subsequently cause overcrowing at Baker st. Great
Western commuters would be kept happier (in the short term) with a
clockface timetable, and longer trains, increasing ridership. Capacity
constraints and the prority of the Heathrow Express means that they
suffer. In the East, Great Eastern Services are frequent and fast and
crossrail's plans do nothing to improve the level of service already
offered, except to remove some fast Ilford peak time services to ensure
timetable simplicity.

Now where Docklands Transport fails is where the long distance and
outer suburban market is concerned. Pre-Lewisham Extension, the only
connection with outer suburban services was stratford. Along with
Central Line, Great Eastern, North London and One Anglian services,
alot of passengers must be accomodated on trains of two cars and on the
jubilee line. The Lewisham Extensions do well to accomodate those from
the South East. However, with the thames gateway region plans becoming
reality, major overcrowding will take place at Lewisham and Greenwich.
Now if the DLR was built to heavy rail guidelines, it would have been
possible to provide extra trains to the docklands via the south. It has
taken years to realise that Heavy Rail is better than smaller metro
systems.

Lets take an example of the Victoria Line in the 1960s. No doubt if it
was built today, it would have been built to a heavy rail gauge,
connected at Wood Street, Walthamstow - for chingford, Tottenham Hale -
for Cheshunt, Stansted and at Victoria or Herne Hill - for South London
Destinations. Knowing that there is no case for extension to the
victoria line, Crossrail 2 has been proposed.


The NLL Statford - North Woolich line should be seen as an important
line that has potential to serve both South and North of The River
similar in a "Thameslink" Style. If a thames tunnel was built between
North Woolwich and Woolwich Arsenal. and a connection was made from the
North London line to the Lea Valley line. A huge number of potential
routes would be available. Stansted - Dartford or Cheshunt to Abbey
Wood for example. Even complementary services from Enfield or Chingford
could be diverted into this route.

Where the DLR also fails is its catchment areas. Stations are too
close, so by the time the train as a change to accelerate, it has to
slow down again. Look at the Beckton Extension with Stations Royal
Albert, Beckton Park and Cyprus. If only one station was there, say
Cyprus, then more emphasis onto providing subsidary bus services would
have taken place, therefore having a bigger catchment area.

Honestly it would be best if DLR ceased operations north of West India
Quay. And heavy rail was reinstated from Fenchurch Street to a new
overground Isle of Dogs Station (probably around billingsgate market)
witin a good walking distance of Canary Wharf. A line would continue to
pass through Canning Town, and diverge into two, one diving under the
thames as crossrail envisages, and the other continuing to custom
house, Gallions Reach Barking Reach and following the C2C line to
Pitsea. Simple. It makes much more sense to provide longer 8 - 12 car
trains which can transport more people, and has the 'potential' to have
the same frequency of the DLR service. I would even continue to say
that Crossrail should be realigned to serve Fenchurch street as well as
Bank before connecting with the main alignment at Farringdon. However,
lets be realistic, that wont happen

And is it me? but with the jubilee line you have to walk miles to get
to the train. I suspect the same will happen with Crossrail. Happy
missing last Train!