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Londoners are going to have to wait a bit longer for the much anticipated new DLR trains. TfL has just revealed that the 30 new trains set to come into service on the Docklands Light Railway have faced ‘challenges’ during testing. Oh no.
The old trains are going to have to work for longer before they’re allowed the sweet relief of retirement (sounds like living in the UK). This means that the reduced DLR service will also go on longer than expected, with shorter trains and fewer services in place to preserve the remaining mileage of the oldies.
The TfL commissioner’s June report said that the 30 new locomotives have been built but that they are experienced difficulties during the trial phase. TfL said the 30 newbies should be in service by late 2024, but this is subject to more testing.
It will be worth the wait though. When in service, the driverless ‘state-of-the-art’ models will have air-conditioning, USB charging ports, and TfL is even putting in fake steering wheels so punters can pretend to drive the train. Isn’t that nice of them?
By 2026 the DLR is set to have 54 new trains, replacing the older ones, some of which have been operating since the ‘90s. Despite the setbacks, TfL maintained it was still on track to meet this goal.
Arran Rusling, TfL’s head of programme for DLR rolling stock replacement, said: ‘Our programme of rigorous testing continues of the new DLR fleet to ensure the trains can enter service safely and reliably. As part of this we encountered some complex challenges, which means we will introduce the new trains into passenger service later this year.
‘We are still on track to introduce all 54 of these new trains in passenger service by 2026, delivering a range of customer benefits including improved reliability and increased capacity across the DLR network.’
In more DLR news, last week TfL announced the Docklands Light Railway could extend even further than the proposed Thamesmead extension.
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