Further Docklands Light Railway services extended to Stratford

Further Docklands Light Railways services have been extended to Stratford from Canning Town under recent timetable changes.

Trains on the Beckton branch used to see half run as far as Canning Town from Beckton while others ran to Tower Gateway. Changes see some of those Canning Town shuttles extended to Stratford.

This will be of benefit to those living along the Beckton branch, with a number of developments having reason to the east around Gallions Reach station.

In the summer I took a trip to see how things were changing and in customary style then didn’t write up the post as other things took priority.

Much like this post has taken a few weeks longer to publish that originally planned, but hopefully it’s of use to some.

Expansion of Excel Centre

The Beckton branch also passes the newly expanded Excel Centre which is to see newly expanding halls as well as permanent food outlets beside the docks.

They’ve also begun to put on events outside of their traditional trade show base. One such example is the current Formula 1 exhibition.

This all brings more punters to the area, and the extended DLR services help provide direct trains from Stratford to the Excel. The Elizabeth line – as good as it is – requires a change at Whitechapel.

So as ever its welcome to see Transport for London implementing service improvements which as helped passenger and income recover far more quickly than National Rail services within London which continue to lag behind. A post on that will be uploaded soon with the publication of station usage figures for 2023/24 this past week.

Of course not everything is rosy with TfL and the DLR, with new trains due in service this year now delayed until 2025. IN fact the Beckton branch today is closed due to expansion of train sidings in Beckton as part of the new fleet’s introduction.