Post by gal06 on Apr 22, 2007 21:23:04 GMT
I decided to go and watch the London Marathon today as I didnt go last year - West Ham were playing in the Semi-Final of the FA Cup, not fighting a relegation battle!
Anyway, I have never viewed the event from the Cutty Sark, and as I'm a big fan of Greenwich, I decided to take a trip down there.
I got a train to Canning Town, where I wanted to get a train to Poplar, and another round to Cutty Sark, a Lewisham-bound service.
The train I boarded was heading towards the next station at East India, when the guard informed us that a train had broken down at Mudchutte, and there was no current service between Crossharbour, and Lewisham in either direction! He did say, however, that this was likely to clear sooner rather than later, so I held out hope it would clear before I got there.
When we arrived at Poplar, we got a train 1 stop to West India Quay as there were no Lewisham or Crossharbour trains going from Stratford today, and hoped the service was back.
The first Crossharbour train went, and the next one was for Lewisham! Great, I'll beable to get down to the Cutty Sark! As it pulled in, they announced there was damage to the Mudchute platform and no trains for the foreseeable time would travel beyond Crossharbour!
With this news, I got the train one stop (if you can call it that far!) to Canary Wharf and watched the Marathon from outside the station, although the runners dont get to the Wharf until about 11 and it was still about 9am!
The DLR and their contractor, Serco, had changed the timetable to provide extra trains to Canary Wharf, Cutty Sark Greenwich, and Lewisham at the expense of other destinations, especially between Poplar and Canning Town, with all King George V trains only going to Canning Town and Beckton trains only up to Poplar.
Could the real reason for the problems be an overload on certain parts of the system? Has the Canary Wharf - Lewisham branch ever had to handle trains coming down at 2.5 minute intervals from Bank and Tower Gateway?
The worrying thing is that if the system can't handle an event like the London Marathon, how is it going to handle the Olympic Games from Stratford International in 2012? Trains are going to depart apparently from there about every 2-4 minutes, but today has proved the DLR does not have the track space or the system to handle this.
I would like to think they are going to take this disasterous day seriously and try to implement some upgrades to various parts of the system, this cannot happen in 2012.
I would consider putting an extra platform in down at Lewisham to help capacity, perhaps a siding at Crossharbour to take the pressure off Lewisham terminus. There is room to have a third platform at King George V to have trains terminate there as well as Woolwich Arsenal when that opens. This would ensure more trains running into and out of London City Airport, without Woolwich Arsenal being overcrowded as I understand it will only have two platforms like Lewisham.
A disappointing day for the DLR's reputation and question marks against our transport system at major events once again. - Gareth
Anyway, I have never viewed the event from the Cutty Sark, and as I'm a big fan of Greenwich, I decided to take a trip down there.
I got a train to Canning Town, where I wanted to get a train to Poplar, and another round to Cutty Sark, a Lewisham-bound service.
The train I boarded was heading towards the next station at East India, when the guard informed us that a train had broken down at Mudchutte, and there was no current service between Crossharbour, and Lewisham in either direction! He did say, however, that this was likely to clear sooner rather than later, so I held out hope it would clear before I got there.
When we arrived at Poplar, we got a train 1 stop to West India Quay as there were no Lewisham or Crossharbour trains going from Stratford today, and hoped the service was back.
The first Crossharbour train went, and the next one was for Lewisham! Great, I'll beable to get down to the Cutty Sark! As it pulled in, they announced there was damage to the Mudchute platform and no trains for the foreseeable time would travel beyond Crossharbour!
With this news, I got the train one stop (if you can call it that far!) to Canary Wharf and watched the Marathon from outside the station, although the runners dont get to the Wharf until about 11 and it was still about 9am!
The DLR and their contractor, Serco, had changed the timetable to provide extra trains to Canary Wharf, Cutty Sark Greenwich, and Lewisham at the expense of other destinations, especially between Poplar and Canning Town, with all King George V trains only going to Canning Town and Beckton trains only up to Poplar.
Could the real reason for the problems be an overload on certain parts of the system? Has the Canary Wharf - Lewisham branch ever had to handle trains coming down at 2.5 minute intervals from Bank and Tower Gateway?
The worrying thing is that if the system can't handle an event like the London Marathon, how is it going to handle the Olympic Games from Stratford International in 2012? Trains are going to depart apparently from there about every 2-4 minutes, but today has proved the DLR does not have the track space or the system to handle this.
I would like to think they are going to take this disasterous day seriously and try to implement some upgrades to various parts of the system, this cannot happen in 2012.
I would consider putting an extra platform in down at Lewisham to help capacity, perhaps a siding at Crossharbour to take the pressure off Lewisham terminus. There is room to have a third platform at King George V to have trains terminate there as well as Woolwich Arsenal when that opens. This would ensure more trains running into and out of London City Airport, without Woolwich Arsenal being overcrowded as I understand it will only have two platforms like Lewisham.
A disappointing day for the DLR's reputation and question marks against our transport system at major events once again. - Gareth