On 8 Jan, 18:33, "Peter Masson" wrote:

"Mizter T" wrote

Of course the new DLR link will obviously provide a very useful
interchange with the North Kent line for people heading to the
Docklands. However there wouldn't appear to be an appreciable
difference to journey times for those heading to the big Docklands
traffic destination of Canary Wharf - from Woolwich Arsenal, the JP
gives a 20-22 min journey to CW via Canning Town and a change on to
the Jubilee line (though this is a very easy interchange).

Meanwhile journey time from Woolwich Arsenal to Greenwich on the North
Kent line is 13 minutes, then a pretty easy change there on to the DLR
with a journey time of 11 or 12 minutes on to CW (so a total of 24/25
mins). Of course any journey with an interchange adds time, especially
if the connection ain't great (though the DLR does run a turn up and
go service, esp. during the peaks). So when I ask JP for a journey
from Woolwich Arsenal to CW *via* Greenwich then it gives a journey
time of between 27-29 minutes.


Thanks for humouring me by wading through my somewhat epic post - it
started out being a short reminder of the upcoming opening, then it
gradually got longer as I investigated and discovered the various
different travel options as I wrote it! I guess I was really just
trying to pre-empt some of the potential criticism that I thought
could be levelled against this new link, indeed I think such criticism
has already been aired.

Anyway my reckoning is that the via Poplar route is quite neat, but I
forgot to factor in one thing - once everything settles down on the
DLR I can quite imagine new timetables will restore the very useful
synchronised train arrivals at Poplar that enabled really easy cross-
platform interchanges to be carried out there, hence pax could well
end up with an easy change there that would deliver them right in to
Canary Wharf DLR station.


It could be particularly useful for passengers originating from east of
Dartford - their morning peak trains tend to call only at Abbey Wood between
Dartford and Woolwich Arsenal, and then run via Blackheath, so they will
save quite a bit of time by changing to DLR at Woolwich Arsenal (whether
they get to Canary Wharf by changing to Jubilee Line at Canning Town, or via
Poplar and a short walk).


Yes, that makes it even more useful.


From Chatham it's probably quicker to take a fast train to London Bridge,
and Jubilee Line from there, though this involves Zone 1 fares.

Come December 2009 a further choice, from Medway, Gravesend, and Ebbsfleet,
will be HS1 to Stratford International, though the interchange to Stratford
Regional for the Jubilee Line or DLR won't be brilliant, especially until
DLR gets to Stratford International.


Good point. I was about to say something along the lines of whether
the Jubilee line (linking Stratford to Canary Wharf) will be able to
cope is another matter, as the growth in traffic on the line
(including the eastern end) has been immense - but then I remembered
that capacity-increasing ATO on the Jubbly is supposed to go live in
December 2009 too (it's almost as if there's a masterplan!).

I have to say I'm a little quizzical about how things will work when
the Kent high-speed trains start stopping (IYSWIM!) at Stratford -
will half a full-length train load of people get off and then try and
get on a DLR train? I suppose that might just about work - I'm
presuming that the peak CTRL-DS trains will (eventually) be formed of
two class 395 train sets each at 6 cars long (is this right?), and the
DLR trains will effectively be 6 (shorter) carriages too (i.e. three
vehicles).

Of course these trains won't run direct to Canary Wharf anyway, so I
wonder how long it will take to walk between Stratford Int'l and
Regional and thus how many people will forget about the DLR and use
shank's pony. We shall see...