The main station serving Greenwich’s historic town centre is to close for up to 10 months, Transport for London has announced.
Cutty Sark DLR station will close on May 31 until “spring 2026” to allow all four of the station’s broken escalators to be replaced at a cost of £4m.
These have suffered “shocking reliability” problems for at least three years – meaning passengers have had to climb 121 stairs to exit the station or face a lengthy queue to use a small lift.
Cutty Sark is the third busiest station on the DLR network, after Canary Wharf and Limehouse, with more than 7.6m entries and exits a year.
It is the main access point for millions of visitors to the Maritime Greenwich world heritage site and the National Maritime Museum.
It had initially been thought that the station would be shut for about six months. But last week TfL commissioner Andy Lord warned the TfL board that it would be closed for a “prolonged period of time”.
TfL sources say they hope the work can be completed in less than 10 months. But TfL is wary of being over-optimistic after similar escalator replacement work at Kentish Town Tube station took far longer than planned.
The target is to get Cutty Sark reopened in time for the 2026 London Marathon.
The replacement of the escalators is said to be particularly complex as they were installed before the “roof” was put on the station. In addition, the station is located in a narrow pedestrianised shopping parade.
The work has been timed to avoid this year’s marathon, which is being held on Sunday April 27.
However the station is likely to have restricted or one-way access because the escalators are not working.
Greenwich is the start point for the marathon and many spectators watch the race as it passes through Greenwich’s historic town centre.
TfL decided to replace all the escalators after a series of botched escalator repairs – costing £695,000 - failed to eradicate repeated breakdowns.
The nearest alternative to Cutty Sark is Greenwich DLR and rail station, which is a 10-minute walk away from the town centre. Extra signs have been added to guide pedestrians to Greenwich town centre.
The new escalators will be “state-of-the-art” and energy efficient. TfL says that replacing all four at the same time will minimise the disruption to passengers. Each escalator weighs around 40 tonnes and has 15,000 parts.
In addition, the limited space at the station meant keeping it open during the works was not possible.
Ben Grellier, TfL’s head of operations for the DLR, said: “We know Cutty Sark’s escalators have been causing disruption and frustration for our customers and we would like to thank them for their patience during this period.
“We apologise for any further disruption the station closure may cause, but it is not possible to replace these escalators with the station in operation. Once installed, the new state-of-the-art escalators will provide customers with reliable and easier access to DLR services at the station.”
TfL assumed responsibility for the maintenance of the station in 2021. Prior to that, the lifts and escalators had been maintained by a private company, PFI City Greenwich Lewisham (CGL) Rail.
Len Duvall, the London Assembly member for Greenwich and Lewisham, said: “Whilst the temporary station closure is unfortunate, I welcome news that TfL have secured funding for a lasting resolution to the problems of the Cutty Sark station escalators and look forward to seeing the station reopened and fully functioning.”
DLR passengers travelling between Greenwich, Cutty Sark and Island Gardens can have their fares refunded for at least a year from April 7 as part of the scheme being brought in alongside the opening of the Silvertown tunnel.
