[posted to both uk.transport.london and uk.railway]

[My take on the usefulness of this link for North Kent line to Canary
Wharf commuters is in the latter half of this post under the bracketed
header that highlights where this bit of my spiel begins!]


DLR webpage on "service change from 10 January":
http://pressroom.dlr.co.uk/news/details.asp?id=188


The DLR extension from King George V under the Thames to Woolwich
Arsenal is set to open this Saturday, the 10th of January, well over a
month before the contracted date of 28 February [1]. Public service
would appear to commence at the normal start of play in the early
morning on Saturday.

Journey Planner says the first train to call there seems to enter
service at Canning Town, calls at King George V at 05:17, traverses
the new tunnel and arrives at Woolwich Arsenal at 05:21, and after a
quick call there will then apparently leave the new station that very
same minute (05:21) and will head back under the river towards Bank.

Note however that Journey Planner gives the first journey through the
tunnel (from north to south) as taking 4 minutes, and the journey back
as taking 7 minutes, so from that I guess one can assume that the
first train won't actually be expected to depart the very same minute
it arrives!

Anyway, I won't be there, but for anyone who is, enjoy, you crazy
people! I imagine that if the attendance of dignitaries is on the
cards - Mayor of LB Greenwich, leader of the council, Commissioner
Hendy, perhaps even Bozza etc - it won't be until a more gentlemanly
hour ;-)


I expect that the lift attendants at the Woolwich Foot Tunnel will be
more bored as they witness a significant drop in foot fall through the
tunnel, and likewise pedestrians using the Woolwich Free Ferry will
also decrease. That said, the tunnel and ferry are free and the DLR
will not be - plus for people who are intending to travel onwards on
the DLR, a few pennies could be saved by heading north on foot to King
George V as its in zone 3 whilst Woolwich Arsenal is in zone 4, though
I absolutely acknowledge this is only ever likely to be a minority
sport!).


[*Usefulness for North Kent line to Canary Wharf commuters*]

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.

Time wise I wonder if Canary Wharf bound commuters coming from points
east will find changing at Woolwich Arsenal worthwhile, especially as
that route involves a further change to the Jubbly at Canning Town. Of
course there are other factors to consider - the DLR from Woolwich
will presumably be less busy than the DLR from Greenwich (it'll
obviously start out that way of course), and I suppose one would be
bailing off an increasingly crowded North Kent line train as it heads
into central London. But then one would have to get on a rammed
Jubilee line train at Canning Town for two stops to get to the Wharf.

The other option of course is to avoid the Jubilee line altogether and
go a
ll the way from Woolwich Arsenal to Canary Wharf on the DLR, changing
once en-route at Canning Town or Poplar - I've just asked the Journey
Planner for times for a DLR-only journey and it gives 30 minutes,
*but* quite unexpectedly it sends you via Westferry and a change onto
a CW bound train there! Someone wanting to do that journey would
actually be *far far* better off getting off at Poplar and walking to
CW - the Wharf is literally round the corner from Poplar station, one
simply needs to walk over the footbridge over Aspen Way, then a *very*
short distance down the main road to the junction with Upper Bank
Street, then simply cross the bridge over the Dock and voila you're
there.

And that's the one actually - a Woolwich Arsenal to Poplar journey
takes just *20 minutes* according to JP, so CW-bound commuters coming
off the North Kent line who want a better journey should choose this
route, no doubt about it. The very short walk will do them good too!

Of course Canary Wharf isn't the Docklands, and Woolwich Arsenal was
certainly not built simply to make life easier for North Kent line to
CW commuters, it's about much much more than that. But if anyone now
comes along and says that it's pointless and offers no benefit for the
Wharf commuter contingent, you can tell them where to get off -
Woolwich Arsenal and then Poplar, to be precise!


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[1] According to the London Reconnections weblog:
http://londonreconnections.blogspot....and-early.html