Back to the future: Ditch DLR Thamesmead extension for previous TfL Dagenham proposal?

Plans to double proposed homes at Barking Riverside to 20,000 submitted this month have brought to mind previously cancelled transport options to serve the area – and how maybe it’s time to dust them off.

In recent years the first few thousands homes have begun to be built in Barking Riverside under a prior 10,000 target. To assist, the area saw a London Overground extension open in recent years.

Though even before doubling planned housing to 20,000 it was looking shaky as to whether four trains per hour of five carriages – that didn’t even head into central London – would be sufficient for 10,000 homes, let alone now.

Which also brought to mind a Transport for London plan in the 2000s for the DLR to be extended from Beckton to Dagenham serving this area. A number of stations (Creekmouth, Barking Riverside and Goresbrook before terminating at Dagenham Dock c2c station) would have assisted new housing development across a substantial area of land.

As a 2008 TfL report notes, “The proposed route of the DLR extension passes through the heart of the Barking Riverside development which would be served by three new DLR stations”.

If it wasn’t axed it could have opened by 2017.

Meanwhile south of the river a high capacity, high frequency Greenwich Waterfront Transit service was also proposed during the 2000s connecting various parts of Thamesmead to Abbey Wood and Woolwich stations – and beyond.

Boris Johnson scrapped both shortly after being elected which hampered housebuilding ever since.

So could it come back. Or does the Thamesmead extension risk blocking it?

Khan changes tack

When DLR extension plans to the east of Beckton were revived under current Mayor Sadiq Khan, a decision was made to no longer serve many areas in line for new housing in Barking and instead head south on a short stump to north Thamesmead.

The thinking was London Overground’s four trains per hour and buses would suffice for the then-expected 10k homes. That of course has now doubled.

As for the DLR to Thamesmead, I’ve written my thoughts on that before. I’m not keen and I say that as someone who has lived and worked in the area for a very long time. There’s just too many flaws that fail to outweigh the positives.

No link onwards to Abbey Wood station, no benefit to most residents given one station some distance from much of the town and limited onward extension capability.

However TfL seem wedded to the idea – but how long will that last given developments at Barking?

Thamesmead

A bus plan does still appears in Transport for London’s DLR Thamesmead extension proposals but nothing suggests a high capacity, high frequency link as once mooted. Your standard buses seem about the extent of it. Hardly transformative.

But what of poor old Thamesmead? It was supposed to have the Jubilee line, a railway station (sort of) and a road bridge. Surely it still needs a Thames crossing?

Well, back then before Crossrail was confirmed perhaps so but now much of the town is five to ten minutes from Abbey Wood station with Elizabeth line services complimenting Southeastern Metro and Thameslink services. In effect, far better than for decades.

The Superloop route SL3 has started the process of quicker links but trams would be a massive boon and facilitate thousands of new homes in the north of the town – as well as benefitting areas to the west, east, centre and south which the DLR plan fails to do.

And what does it even serve north of the Thames once crossing? It doesn’t link to Barking station with c2c trains, London Overground and tube lines. No, it trundles around areas of relatively minimal employment and leisure.

For most in Thamesmead it’ll be no quicker heading to a Thamesmead station than to reach Abbey Wood station – which offers far more destinations and faster journeys even before accounting via a modern Greenwich Waterfront Transit-like network.

Back to the past

Ah, the Greenwich Waterfront Transit. Back in the 2000s this was another TfL project which pushed to better connect. Thamesmead to nearby stations. Plans came and went but funding was lacking.

The tram idea became a trolleybus before it was eventually scrapped. The kernel of a good idea was so watered down by the late 2000s it became an easy target for cuts.

But that initial idea was sound. North Thamesmead has ample land for development. New transport can greatly assist the housing crises. Dedicated high capacity, high frequency services (so not just a branded bus) would be key to enable mass housing.

With news that Barking is to see a doubling of homes, it’s opportune to go back to those 2000s TfL plans for both sides of the river to enable mass housebuilding on either bank of the Thames.

The current idea of ignoring vast development areas in Barking to send to Thamesmead appears a bodge job to do *something*.

The fact is Thamesmead is now far better connected than previously and the GWT idea would greatly build on that serving all the existing town rather than just a fraction as seen in the DLR proposal.

Yet the DLR plan as flawed as it is seems to have support in high places. Peabody own land across Thamesmead, are close to various politicians and have had close links with Labour. It’s former Chair Lord Bob Kerslake was working with Labour on election plans before his death in 2023.

But what’s best for Peabody isn’t best for all. After all, they’re building at a snail’s pace in Abbey Wood and south Thamesmead even with the Elizabeth line now running for over two years within walking distance.

Should we trust them with building around the DLR if it reaches north Thamesmead?

While my ramblings about the DLR,  Thamesmead and advocacy for a tram (perhaps in time after a bus rapid transit) may seem all a bit crayonista the reality is they were Transport for London plans. As was the DLR extension to Dagenham. They were in various Transport Strategies for some time under Boris Johnson was elected Mayor.

The merit of those ideas hasn’t disappeared. It’s actually grown as London’s population rose yet further and housing issues worsened.

The current idea is the worst of all worlds for either side of the river and enabling housing at scale. Those post-millennial 2000s plans offered the best.

It’s also been asked whether sending everyone in Thamesmead’s future housing to Abbey Wood or Woolwich stations is wise. Well, even that could possibly be mitigated in terms of increased services with the recent order of 10 extra Class 345 trains.

For now it offers trains every five minutes in the peak (12 trains per hour) towards central London. Southeastern Metro and Thameslink offer eight trains per hour to various areas of central London plus busy towns such as Lewisham, Charlton and Greenwich.

If you’re an existing Thamesmead resident (and even a potential future resident in a new home) would you want to reach those numerous services to many destinations in 5-10 minutes or the DLR on one line via a slow trundle offering little to no time saving – and often slower journeys to major areas of employment and leisure?

Cost

And so we get to the big question. Cost. A Thamesmead DLR is cheaper than to Dagenham Dock despite needing a tunnel under the Thames. Dagenham Dock would see three stations more as it benefits and serves a far wider area.

But then what of this new government’s stated desire for many more homes and supporting infrastructure? Surely the project which enables the most homes quickly – and we are talking many thousands – are worth pursuing?

This is capital investment and not day to day spend therefore Treasury rules and talk of bond markets needn’t be the obstacle some assume.

Borrowing to invest for long term growth is exactly what government claim they want and what business groups and economists the world over state is needed.

Scrap the limited and flawed DLR to Thamesmead plan and instead have it go to Dagenham via Barking Riverside to serve tens of thousands of new homes.

And then south of the river bring back plans for moving mass amounts quickly and efficiently to excellent public transport mere minutes away. Ideally, a tram network that can also link to nearby growth areas such as Belvedere and Erith.

There may even be some tentative realisation of that now at TfL. This summer they said Barking Riverside may be served by the DLR in time as well as Thamesmead.

That would mean though a grand total of three separate branches on the line (Beckton, Dagenham Dock/Barking AND Thamesmead).

That appears a nonsense.

TfL had it right in the 2000s. They don’t now. Time to think again for both sides of the river.

 

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