is the DLR westferry to West India Quay section of track ever used

[popeter45]

DLR Bank to Lewisham trains bypass West India Quay via a flyunder but there is a section of track that would allow then to go via West India Quay Platform 2
is that ever used for passenger services?

 

[Mojo]

I note that West India Quay has a dagger, which indicates that there is some kind of special service pattern in force. Unfortunately for some reason TfL no longer publicise on the map what this dagger means, and instead tell you to use the journey planner. Even the stations list page doesn’t tell you what the dagger means (although it does tell you what it means for Cambridge Heath & London Fields).

In the older maps the dagger said “Not served by DLR trains from Bank towards Lewisham before 1900 on Mondays to Fridays.” I note from the step free access guide it says that the direct trains don’t run at all.

 

[TheManWho]

I note that West India Quay has a dagger, which indicates that there is some kind of special service pattern in force. Unfortunately for some reason TfL no longer publicise on the map what this dagger means, and instead tell you to use the journey planner. Even the stations list page doesn’t tell you what the dagger means (although it does tell you what it means for Cambridge Heath & London Fields).

In the older maps the dagger said “Not served by DLR trains from Bank towards Lewisham before 1900 on Mondays to Fridays.” I note from the step free access guide it says that the direct trains don’t run at all.

The dagger now means "not served by trains from Bank to Lewisham"

 

[TheManWho]

I note that West India Quay has a dagger, which indicates that there is some kind of special service pattern in force. Unfortunately for some reason TfL no longer publicise on the map what this dagger means, and instead tell you to use the journey planner. Even the stations list page doesn’t tell you what the dagger means (although it does tell you what it means for Cambridge Heath & London Fields).

In the older maps the dagger said “Not served by DLR trains from Bank towards Lewisham before 1900 on Mondays to Fridays.” I note from the step free access guide it says that the direct trains don’t run at all.

It is only used for trains coming from Bank/Tower Gateway that would terminate at Canary Wharf, for example, during disruption or engineering blockades.

 

[Lewlew]

Looking at Carto Metro, it looks like the trains from Bank towards Canary Wharf would cross over a flat junction with trains from Poplar towards Bank potentially causing a conflict. So looks like the flyover is a way to increase services.

Detailled London transport map (track, depot, ...)

cartometro.com

 

[D365]

Looking at Carto Metro, it looks like the trains from Bank towards Canary Wharf would cross over a flat junction with trains from Poplar towards Bank potentially causing a conflict. So looks like the flyover is a way to increase services.

Yep, that is the purpose of the bypass line. It's a bit difficult to make out, but the series of flyovers and dive-under acts as a fully grade separated T-junction.

 

[Taunton]

Initially it continued to be used at evenings/weekends, but more recently trains use the new grade separated line (which is the nearest to a fast Big Dipper ride you can get on any UK public rail system - sit at the front) at all times. It is an inconvenience for anyone coming from central London to the restaurants/hotels/museum etc around West India Quay, for whom the recommended route is to double back from Canary Wharf.

The principal operating benefit is it allows the Stratford-Canary Wharf line to run completely isolated from other DLR lines, at a headway which suits its several single line sections rather than tying in with multiples of the mainstream system frequency. As the Canary Wharf terminus is a single track centre road, any waits for the Stratford line there are performed at West India Quay platform, only a few hundred yards beforehand though across water, and often (even at evenings/weekends) a main Bank-Lewisham train can be seen to overtake alongside, which would otherwise be delayed.

The convergence of the two lines coming in to West India Quay is also the site of the only two collisions that have happened on the DLR, both during emergency manual driving, and one of which I happened to witness from the road below, though I didn't know so until that evening when I read about it. So there was probably a bit of a feeling of it being an unlucky point.

 

[jopsuk]

As originally built it was "Delta Junction", a fully flat three way triangular junction.

I'd be fairly sure they tried to design so they could retain platform 1 at West India Quay, but were defeated by spatial geometry. Likewise, were it done from scratch I'd envisage West India Quay, Poplar and Westferry all being the same four platform layout at the corners of a simpler looking grade separated triangle (much as Canning Town is not how you would lay it out if you could close the DLR and Jubilee for a couple of years and fundamentally rebuild it)

 

[popeter45]

As originally built it was "Delta Junction", a fully flat three way triangular junction.

I'd be fairly sure they tried to design so they could retain platform 1 at West India Quay, but were defeated by spatial geometry. Likewise, were it done from scratch I'd envisage West India Quay, Poplar and Westferry all being the same four platform layout at the corners of a simpler looking grade separated triangle (much as Canning Town is not how you would lay it out if you could close the DLR and Jubilee for a couple of years and fundamentally rebuild it)

yea i can see where the old Westferry to Poplar part used to be, suppised they only lifted that of it when the obviously remodelled when they added the flying junction, would think they remove entire junction or keep it in full for same functionality as current curve of track from west ferry to west India Quay

 

[Ianno87]

yea i can see where the old Westferry to Poplar part used to be, suppised they only lifted that of it when the obviously remodelled when they added the flying junction, would think they remove entire junction or keep it in full for same functionality as current curve of track from west ferry to west India Quay

The Westferry-Poplar side was closed in 1994 when the East-West flyover was added for the Beckton extension.

The west-south rollercoaster was added in 2009 as part of the system capacity upgrade then. Presume in this case the flat route was still retained to keep the option of serving West India Quay open.

 

[popeter45]

The Westferry-Poplar side was closed in 1994 when the East-West flyover was added for the Beckton extension.

The west-south rollercoaster was added in 2009 as part of the system capacity upgrade then. Presume in this case the flat route was still retained to keep the option of serving West India Quay open.

that explains it
i was under the impression both flyovers where built it same time but glad to be corrected on that