New trains that were due to be introduced on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) from the end of the year have been delayed indefinitely.
Transport for London said that signalling problems that meant the existing fleet of DLR trains had been going “too fast” made it impossible to keep to timetable for the phased introduction of the new fleet of trains, which boast air conditioning and walk-through carriages.
No new date has been set for the arrival of the new trains, which Mayor Sadiq Khan saw when he visited the DLR’s Beckton depot in February 2023.
The Standard revealed in June that the £880m new fleet of trains, which is being built in Spain, had run over budget by £61m and was facing delays.
Transport for London had hoped to launch the first new trains in April, increasing capacity and frequency on the network that carries 99million passengers a year across south and east London.
That delay was caused by difficulties integrating the braking system on the new trains with the track signalling system — while enabling the existing DLR trains to keep running.
Last week it emerged that speed restrictions had been put in place across the DLR network for safety reasons.
Trains were slowed in 5kmph in some sections because of problems with the signalling system that meant the trains were getting close to the maximum speed permitted.
Stuart Harvey, TfL's chief capital officer, said on Thursday: "We are sorry that we will not start introducing the new DLR trains later this year following the discovery of a pre-existing technical issue with the signalling system.
“While there had been earlier challenges discovered during the testing of the new trains, we were implementing a plan to address these.
“But the discovery of the signalling issue means that further detailed analysis and software modifications need to take place. We are working hard to bring the new trains into service as soon as possible.”
The delay means that theDLR’s existing fleet, some of which is 30 years old, is having to remain in service for longer than expected.
The direct Stratford to Lewisham service has also been suspended.
All 54 new trains, which are being built by CAF and have five carriages, were meant to be operational by the end of “summer 2026”. Eleven of the new trains were funded by the Government.
About half of the new fleet of trains is thought to be in London.
The existing and new DLR trains are “driverless” but have a train operator on board to make passenger announcements and open and close the doors.
