A consultation has opened looking at plans to extend the DLR from Beckton to Thamesmead, and potentially beyond.
Thamesmead has long been a rather isolated area with buses to the local Abbey Wood station, but it’s a surprisingly slow journey and adds a substantial amount of time for commuters to work. As part of a wider regeneration of the area, TfL and the Mayor’s office are looking at how to improve the area transport options.
The one that’s likely to be supplied first is the easier to deliver, and that would be improvements to the bus services with a new segregated road bus transit service linking with Woolwich and Abbey Wood.
That would unlock the potential for around 7,500 additional homes in the area.
However, the real prize is likely to be the long mooted extension of the DLR across the Thames from Becton, with new stations built on either side of the Thames, at Armada Riverside and Thamesmead West, and a possible extension down towards Belvedere.
That would also unlock considerably more housing — some 15,500 new homes being projected if the DLR is opened.
Although that would link Thamesmead with the DLR towards Canning Town, there is also a speculative suggestion of the DLR going up towards Barking as well, which would substantially widen the options for faster connections into central London.
However, there’s currently no funding for anything at the moment, so they’re warning that any upgrades will be dependent on the scale of new growth to make a strong case for investment and on the availability of funding for construction.
The consultation is holding a number of public events:
- Sat 15 Feb 2020, 1pm – 4pm, Sainsbury’s Abbey Wood, SE2 9NU
- Thurs 20 Feb 2020, 5pm-8pm, Thamesmere Library, SE28 8DT
- Tues 25 Feb 2020, 5pm – 8pm Sports Club Thamesmead, Mead Bar, SE28 8NJ
- Weds 26 Feb 2020, 10am – 5.30pm Thamesmead Information Hub, DA18 4BW
There is also the exceptionally long url for their website:
You would have though that they might have started with a current DLR map when planning an extension, wouldn’t you?
That will be very kind of the organisation if the Dlr will extend to Thamesmead. We living here here will be so happy.
Yep, it would be better to get the extension to Stratford International via Canning Town and West Ham built first……..
This is good news. But would be even better if the line is extended to Slade Green.
it be nice to do this to dartford
I seem to recall they were going to build a busway along the banks of the Thames until it was scrapped. Also, this may mean the GOBLin extension from Barking Riverside may not go ahead as I recall they last said Thamesmead could have a DLR extension, or an Overground one, but not both.
They are building the Barking Riverside station and line, you can go see…
Intrigued by the speculative suggestion of the DLR going up towards Barking, not sure how it would go about reaching Barking station though if that is the intended stop let alone if there are anymore opportunities for a northern extension from Barking to around Ilford.
the .is web address is interesting!!!
The other thing missing is extending Crossrail to Ebbsfleet as a long term plan.
Does anybody remember the Jubilee Line branch at North Greenwich that was built in case of an extension to Thamesmead? That is not being considered because of costs or heavy usage, right?
By the way,the Beckton branch has more stops than the Woolwich Arsenal branch, making it slower than an Overground extension from Barking.
Nothing more than passive provision at North Greenwich station for a possible extension was ever built.
Ken Livingston spent loads of taxpayers money on plans, negotiations and surveys for a superhighway bus lane from Woolwich arsenal to thamesmead. Then Boris Johnson became mayor and scrapped it and spent taxpayers money on plans, negotiations and surveys for a garden bridge. Guess what! Zadik kharn became mayor the bridge was scrapped and TFL are basically bankrupt and cross rail is still not running. Why do we let these people waste our money and not hold them accountable?
The DLR to Thamesmead is the worst option of all.
They need to extend the Jubilee Line to Thamesmead from North Greenwich and permanently close the Jubilee Line between North Greenwich and Stratford. That way the Jubilee line will not be overcrowded. The redundant space between Canning Town and Stratford could be used to increase capacity on the DLR.
Once Crossrail fully opens, the Central Line at Stratford into Central London will no longer be overcrowded and therefore the Jubilee Line at Stratford will not really serve much purpose. People in West Ham can use the H&C and District Line or the DLR to Stratford for fast service to Central London or the c2c to Fenchurch Street.
Plenty of options! No more need to run the Jubilee Line to Stratford.
People will say what about getting to Canary wharf from Stratford? Well again use the DLR!
The DLR is ridiculously slow and from Thamesmead and going on the Beckton line it’s even longer! Also 3 or 4 carriages is never gonna be enough it will be overcrowded and something that Covid has taught people is we need space and I’m sorry but the DLR to Thamesmead is not the way forward.
The Goblin line from Barking Riverside is also another bad idea. Its a line that goes from nowhere to nowhere. The goblin line is bad for interchanges with the exception of Barking Station. People don’t wanna go to Gospel oak a big council estate in Camden! People wanna go to Central London.
So the Jubilee line is the best option unless they can find a way of creating a branch line from the Greenwich line to Thamesmead which is unlikely