DLR Extension To Thamesmead: Public Consultation Gives Thumbs Up

It's all happening with the DLR right now.

With fresh stock being rolled out in the coming months (plus fake front seat control panels fitted out on current trains), 2024 seems to be a year in which things are moving forwards for east/south-east London's light railway.

Now some more good news: a public consultation on the long-awaited DLR extension to Thamesmead shows that the majority of respondents are supportive of such a plan.

The riverside community of Thamesmead has been infamously lacking in decent public transport links since it was constructed as a 'town of the future' in the mid 1960s. TfL is finally getting serious about extending the DLR line from Beckton to a new station at Thamesmead, via another new station at Beckton Riverside, and a tunnel running beneath the Thames.

The extension itself has been in the offing for a while, but now TfL reports that a public consultation which ran earlier in 2024 shows that 58% of respondents said the extension would make their journeys quicker around their local area and 75% said it would make journeys into wider east and southeast London easier. The consultation, says TfL, received 1,254 responses from members of the public and 29 from a range of stakeholders including "pan-London transport user groups, local businesses, environmental groups, politicians and adjacent boroughs."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, 85% of respondents from Beckton, Gallions Reach, Thamesmead and Abbey Wood strongly support the proposals.

So, what next?

Alex Williams, TfL's Chief Customer and Strategy Officer, says: "We will now progress work on plans for the cross-river extension of the DLR, which could see customers benefit from the early 2030s, and continue to discuss funding options with all parties."

This extension is still not a done deal, but it does seem to be inching closer to reality. TfL has previously said that construction of the extension could begin as early as 2028, with opening mooted — as Alex Williams says above — for the early 2030s. There's also scope for further southward extension in the future.