Another crossover installed on the Beckton line

[Deleted]

Over the last holiday weekend a new double crossover (apparently known to you technical boys as a "scissors") has been installed between Custom House and Prince Regent stations, on the Beckton line.

Now far be it from me to decry facilities that make the system more flexible; I'm all for that. But why has there been this effort recently to install four separate crossovers (five if you count the new double crossover as two) at four consecutive stations on the DLR's most obscure outpost, on a system which doesn't really do flexibility well at all.

There are now such facilities on this route south of Canning Town, (on the new flyover, installed 2009), at Royal Victoria (installed 2008), the new ones east of Custom House, and east of Prince Regent (long been there). Apart from the one east of Prince Regent, used to turn the Excel specials round, none ever seem to be used.

We have had no service on bank holiday weekends three times now, over the last few years, to install these, so I do wonder what benefit having them brings. Would the money for one of them not have been better spent on the Jubilee at Canning Town, so when there are works, or an issue up at Stratford, the Jubilee can at least provide some service under the river from the O2 ?

[Colin]

Wasn't it you who suggested that if there were more crossovers between stations, localised shuttles could be operated on one line whilst work continues on an adjacent line?

I don't necessarily agree that the principle is practical, but surely the powers that be have actually implemented something you've advocated? If that's the case, your complaint looks very much like double standards

[Deleted]

I thought I'd actually covered at the start of paragraph 2 that I am all in favour of facilities that give full operational flexibility. Hmmmm, perhaps I wrote that bit in invisible ink .......

But having put in these facilities, they are never used. For the next two weekends there are no trains to Beckton yet again. So my question (I don't do complaints) is just why has this work been done in the first place, and if the facilities are not going to be used, is this an overprovision?

[cso]

Jun 4, 2010 11:30:20 GMT @diana said:

So my question (I don't do complaints) is just why has this work been done in the first place, and if the facilities are not going to be used, is this an overprovision?

Perhaps, before they can use them they need to be:

1) Installed fully
2) Tested fully
3) Cleared for use
4) Timetabled in to use / used for weekend engineering works

[Chris M]

Additionally, if they have been installed to give flexibility for ad-hoc workings in times of disruption, then there needs to be period of appropriate disruption in the appropriate area before they are used. Even if this sort of disruption is something that can be artificially created, I doubt it is something that you or any other passenger would advocate doing. I know I wouldn't (and I'll be using the Beckton line very frequently from September).

[Deleted]

Now that the extended Excel building has been opened, the new scissors crossover (when commissioned - not yet!) will enable extra trains for the exhibition terminating at Prince Regent to run into either platform and reverse, rather than detrain, shunt onto the top of the viaduct and reverse on the trailing crossover there, greatly improving train working at those busy times.

[franknapo]

The crossover wont be commissioned untill the end of the year when there is a big software update planned. Around the time of the Stratford extension opening.

[Deleted]

End of the year? I thought Stratford extension is scheduled for the late summer?

[Chris M]

I've seen opening dates of "Summer", "late summer", "autumn", "end of the year", "before the end of the year", "August", "September" and "November" for the Stratford International extension given in various sources (even different bits of the DLR website give different dates!). Curiously I don't remember seeing "October" given anywhere, so it's probably the most likely ;D

[Deleted]

It's so good to see that after two whole weekend shutdowns (including a 3-day Bank Holiday one) on the Beckton line, and much other work on site, that the investment in something as straightforward as this then has to sit there for another 6 months waiting for another department to get themselves organised.

Long ago an old relative of Mr Diana, who was an engineer (we have his yellowing certificate up on the wall at home) on trackwork on a branch line in the west of Somerset, put in a complete crossover on the line one Sunday, just using the regular gang. That included connecting up all the points and signals, and having it all working for first thing Monday. They only had the Sunday because there was no train service that day, so nobody was inconvenienced. Oh, and they had to do it in winter weather, because there were Sunday trains in the summer. It was just a typical, normal job.

Needless to say they had very little mechanical plant to help them along as well. I guess he checked the drawings, ordered the materials and organised the team all by himself as well. However, he didn't have to budget for Health & Safety to tell him the blindingly obvious, nor for sending all the gang on Diversity Empathy courses.

Progress, supposedly.