Re: Stratford International line - almost open!?
- From: bearded
- Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2011 08:21:17 +0100
A couple of observations from a round trip Woolwich Arsenal - International - Woolwich Arsenal at about 1700:
Up to the flyover/junction S of Canning Town all as per normal on Bank service. However the acceleration and speeds through the junction up to the CT platform were very different from the DLR's normal smooth ride, even though the road was clear ahead, with no preceding train anywhere in sight - service interval ex WWA at that time was 14min then 7min, suggesting a train had "gone missing".
Acceleration and deceleration were both too sharp for comfort, and the system took the run into the platform at a higher speed than normal station approach, so a shuddering halt. Played havoc with my front door video attempt!
From CT onwards, much better - typical DLR.
The DLR station appears to be complete, and the final snagging of what I assume will be the drop-off / short-term parking area outside International shows great attention to detail.
First impression of the concourse was 'wow' at the scale of it.
Not much seating for waiting passengers - a couple of tables and chairs alongside the AMT coffee kiosk. Not much of a problem if the services are lightly used, but delays in the peak could mean lots of pax on the councourse with nowhere to perch.
Passenger info screens all defaulting to welcome message, with no train info - is this usual?
The Westfield mall is going to be very interesting to see - I suspect Waitrose there will become my regular branch, avoiding the change of trains to Canary Wharf or the long hike to St Katharine's.
DLR and shuttle bus arrivals 1730-1800 brought a steady flow of customers for the high speed service.
A couple of Canary Wharf commuters from Kent told me recently they and several neighbours / colleagues have been waiting for the DLR to open before switching from the Greenwich line to the new route. One of them tried it for a week and got very wet waiting for the shuttle bus on a couple of occasions so decided to revert to Greenwich "where there's always the subway to shelter in…"
The big test will be once Westfield opens - 13 days?
On 2011-08-28 12:24:29 +0000, Mizter T said:
"Paul Corfield" <aooy65@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:Well according to London Reconnections the DLR line to Stratford
International is apparently going to open on 29 August 2011. Given
reports on other blogs over the weekend state DLR is running a
frequent test service I'd say we are now on the home straight.
More at
http://londonreconnections.blogspot.com/2011/08/dlr-stratford-international-extension.html
Once it's open I can stop writing posts about when it will open or why
the opening has been delayed ;-)
Just a heads up, this is apparently opening tomorrow - see:
http://londonreconnections.blogspot.com/2011/08/dlr-stratford-international-extension.html
I'm guessing that the shuttle bus that links Stratford station with Stratford International (which of course isn't international) will be withdrawn when this opens, with SE Highspeed ticket holders able to use the DLR to get between the two - but maybe the bus link will stay around (or at least standby) until the DLR line is known to be working ok. The bus journey through 'no-mans land' was quite entertaining I thought, but of course from the point of view regular users' (or potential users') the DLR link will make it all so much more, well, usable!
What does need to be sorted is the ability to buy through tickets to Stratford International from origin points other than stations in Kent - e.g. from Peterborough or Nottingham or wherever, so pax can travel to KX or St Pancras then on to Stratford Int'l on the Southeastern Highspeed (HS1) service.
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