Changes at the planned new Thames Wharf DLR station

Plans for a new DLR station halfway between Canning Town and West Silvertown is being revised following a decision to change how it is being funded.

The station, provisionally called Thames Wharf is due to be built in an area that is currently light industrial and brown-field sites but has been earmarked for housing for at least 4,500 new homes. In late 2018, as part of a funding deal that ties transport upgrades to housing construction, the government agreed to a package of upgrades for the DLR, including part-funding a new DLR station at the Thameside West housing development.

There was a tight spending clause in the agreement though, and the money needed to be spent by March 2023. With the TfL’s funding situation as it is due to the pandemic and with the demand from the government that TfL finds £900 million of cost cuts by March 2022, some transport upgrades are being delayed.

As a result, TfL has now decided not to take up the funding from the Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) for the station.

A TfL spokesperson said: “We are still looking at proposals for the Thames Wharf DLR station. We will no longer be pursuing HIF funding, however, we will be looking at alternative ways to fund the station. The next stage of design is proposed to be taken forward as part of the wider Royal Docks Enterprise Zone proposals.”

The station will still need to be built, as it will eventually be required for the housing development, but the decision about how to pay for it has been delayed.

TfL has also previously ordered a fleet of new DLR trains to replace older models, and some of the HIF funding would have contributed to an additional 13 trains, but that decision may also be delayed depending on passenger demand forecasts following the pandemic.

Some other funding, which is for upgrades at the Pontoon Dock, Royal Victoria and Canning Town DLR stations will however still be going ahead.