The first of the new fleet was withdrawn was withdrawn after a braking issue during rainy weather in November
A new fleet of 54 DLR trains will return to service by late summer, Transport for London (TfL) has announced. The first of the state-of-the-art trains were introduced to service in October last year, only to be withdrawn after one service failed to stop in the correct position at Canning Town station during rainy weather on November 12.
Only three new trains had been introduced by this point. Transport bosses say the phased reintroduction will follow further investigations and testing to ensure the fault does not happen again.
All new services have now had braking software upgrades to improve performance in wet conditions. The new fleet is currently being tested on test track before being tried on the DLR network.
Some network closures will take place in the coming months to facilitate this. Once fully rolled out, TfL says the new fleet will boost overall capacity by 50 per cent. The new carriages will have air-conditioning, improved accesibilty and real time travel information.
Stuart Harvey, TfL’s chief capital officer, said: “We know customers are looking forward to travelling on these new trains, and we will provide a further update in the spring, with the trains being reintroduced by summer. Our engineers, together with CAF and our franchisee KeolisAmey Docklands, have worked tirelessly to ensure they return safely and reliably. We are confident customers will welcome the extra space, improved accessibility, real‑time travel information and air‑conditioning these trains provide.”
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