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Stratford International line - almost open!?
CJB wrote:
When I travelled on this some days ago it seemed to duplicate the route of the Jubillee Line - so I'm not sure why everyone is lauding the extra benefits. Both lines run parallel from Stratford to Canning Town and serve the same communities. There are three extra stations on the DLR, serving intermediate stops. Stratford High Street in particular can help ease a bit of the pressure on Stratford by providing an earlier exit point closer to the High Street/Broadway. At Canning Town the interchange between all is confusing and its seems that the new DLR line has been added on as an after-thought - as indeed it has. I guess the alternatives would have been either to rebuild Canning Town *yet again* (how many times has it been now?!) or else complicate the system no end by trying to run the new branch into the high level platforms. But I do think a bridge from the high level to the low level DLR would be handy - I'm not sure if there's enough room though (the curse of legacy platforms). The real strength of the new DLR line is that it goes to Stratford International - maybe. But then the line does not serve the City being a mere shuttle between Woolwich or Beckton. Both places hardly of interest to tourists compared to the centre of London which the Jubille Line eventually gets to (if it hasn't been disrupted - an everyday occurrence it seems). Access to central London is available at all interchange stations along the new route by the High Speed, by NXEA, by the Central line, by the District line, by the Hammersmith & City line, by the Bank DLR branch and by the Jubilee line and, if you fancy a short walk, by the North London Line. It is also going to get Crossrail. On top of all that exactly how many more direct routes to central London does Newham need? Realistically tourists for central London should be using St Pancras not Stratford International. Tourists for east London can use SI and there are spots covered by the DLR, from the Olympic village to the ExCel. Then there is the new DLR station at Stratford International. There are no 'touch out' machines there (that I could find). You missed them. On my one visit so far I came up at the rail station end and they were easy to spot. There are no gates. No staff appear to be on duty. All par the course for DLR stations. Its in the middle of a building site, with heaps of rubble everywhere blowing dust, there's nothing there, no shops - except for the concrete monstrosity of Stratford International train station. But that's a misnomer with Eurostar refusing to stop there. Well that's not TfL's fault. That part of Stratford is developing and is not complete yet but the opening of the DLR is a key step forward - in particular it makes Stratford International *much* more accessible. I've had a few times when the connecting bus has been difficult to find (and sometimes changes its departing point at Stratford) and it just doesn't give passengers full confidence they will make their connections. A DLR connection is much smoother. All in all my impression of the new DLR line is that it may serve a few extra localities ignored by the Jubillee Line but it is a service in dire search of a market. Give it time to fill up. An obvious starting point is the University of East London, which has campuses in Stratford and by Cyprus DLR. |
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