New DLR trains unveiled, serving London City Airport and the rest of the network from 2024

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• Bosco1979 says:

  11 Feb11 February 05:28

  The colour scheme screams soviet-era eastern bloc. It’s not for me I’m afraid.

  • Thywillbedone says:

    11 Feb11 February 06:23

    +1
    Dreadful colour. But I will forgive all such sins for aircon in public transportation. It is one of the reasons I never use TFL when travelling with lots of luggage or the whole family: the thought of arriving at my STARTING point in a sticky dishevelled mess is too much to bear …

    • Andrew J says:

      11 Feb11 February 07:17

      Many TFL services have AC including the Elizabeth line.

      • DaveJ says:

        11 Feb11 February 08:01

        Yep. The Hammersmith and city line and cross rail have air con

        • ChrisBCN says:

          11 Feb11 February 08:13

          Plus District, Circle, Metropolitan

  • Rich says:

    11 Feb11 February 08:07

    I care more that a train gets me from A to B safely, on time and in comfort thanks. We all have different views on colour, but frankly most won’t care.

  • Alex Sm says:

    11 Feb11 February 08:26

    It’s official DLR colour! What can one do about that?

    • Alan says:

      12 Feb12 February 10:04

      Indeed, looks spot on to me!

  • RussellH says:

    11 Feb11 February 14:19

    Looks just like the RATP (Paris Metro) livery to me.

  • Londonsteve says:

    11 Feb11 February 15:15

    Why? RATP uses a similar colour scheme. It’s bright and jolly in my opinion.

• BJ says:

  11 Feb11 February 06:20

  Was this funded by the levelling up programme?

  • Dubious says:

    11 Feb11 February 06:45

    Clearly not – the tracks have not changed. These trains will run on the same elevations as the ones they are replacing.

    • Rob says:

      11 Feb11 February 07:36

      It was funded by the levelling up programme, yes. That’s why there are 20+ more trains than there were before – half of those have been funded by a levelling up grant.

      • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

        11 Feb11 February 12:05

        These weren’t funded by “levelling up” at all because funding was obtained and they were ordered before that phrase and grants for it came about!

        The original order was for 43 new train sets (33 replacement and 10 for expansion).

        There are an additional 11 more which are are being funded from a Housing Infrastructure Fund which pump primes transport schemes that facilitate housing developments. This also predates levelling up.

• Dev says:

  11 Feb11 February 06:45

  They could not come with something less “boxy” and more modernist to represent the new prosperous docklands area?

• Paul Stevens says:

  11 Feb11 February 07:02

  The thing that annoys me most about the dlr is how jerky its movement is. I wonder if these new trains will smooth that out. Maybe it’s the track and nothing can be done ..

  • Alex Sm says:

    11 Feb11 February 08:31

    It’s because they are driverless

    • ChrisBCN says:

      11 Feb11 February 08:37

      No, it’s not

    • The Jetset Boyz says:

      11 Feb11 February 09:02

      It’s because the current train sets are ‘light rail’. Can’t remember the correct name for new train sets – they’re not ‘light rail’, and because of this they’ll have a smoother ride.

  • RussellH says:

    11 Feb11 February 14:23

    A ,lot of the DLR was built on what had become redundant infrastructure. Add to that some very tight curves. And I suspect (I do not know) that the short original cars may only have primary suspension.

    • Rob says:

      11 Feb11 February 19:56

      Yes – I think the original DLR network cost about £75m, which was peanuts even back in the late 1980s. It was Tower Hill to Island Gardens, with all stations above ground and, as you say, the bulk of the track already existing. There was a disused railway line running south from Canary Wharf to the Greenwich foot tunnel which was converted and of course the Tower Hill to Limehouse bit was next to existing track.

  • riku says:

    11 Feb11 February 19:51

    it is because of the tight curves on the DLR, especially at Canary Wharf. The wheels of trains on the DLR (old and new trains) have a different curve cut into them compared to other UK trains because of the tight curves, but this means the trains bounce from side to side more.

  • Alan says:

    12 Feb12 February 10:05

    It’s meant to be better, was mentioned in Geoff’s review (see YT link I posted on p3 of comments)

• lonjams says:

  11 Feb11 February 07:39

  These trains will not age as badly as other rolling stock as they arrive already aged out of the box.

• Froggitt says:

  11 Feb11 February 07:44

  Now the Lizzy Line connects Farringdon with Canary Wharf in like 5 minutes, no longer have any need to use the trundling DLR

• flyforfun says:

  11 Feb11 February 08:07

  Nice! Fresh colour scheme and sleek looking units. Should make the journey to City Airport more comfortable.

• ChrisBCN says:

  11 Feb11 February 08:19

  It will help a little but not a lot; it’s mostly jerky due to the tighter curves, undulations, and that it’s not designed as a regular heavy railway.

  • ChrisBCN says:

    11 Feb11 February 08:19

    Response to Paul

    • Alex Sm says:

      11 Feb11 February 08:33

      You forgot to use the HFP-recommended reply link! No bonus for you today

      • ChrisBCN says:

        11 Feb11 February 08:38

        In sure I clicked it but I must have had a LadyLondon moment!

        • DaveJ says:

          11 Feb11 February 08:45

          😂

        • Peter K says:

          11 Feb11 February 09:14

          😂

        • Lady London says:

          11 Feb11 February 11:46

          🙂

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