Canary Wharf DLR station

It's the most impressive station on the Docklands Light Railway. Three through lines - each with a platform face on either side making six platforms in total. Already three-car length, with a barrel-vaulted overall roof and marble finishings.

But did you know that the station was originally built exactly the same as the prototypical DLR station in 1987 - then completely demolished and rebuilt before it saw a single passenger?

When the DLR was being planned it was felt important to have an elevated route across the middle of the abandoned West India Docks as a highly-visible 'statement of intent' about the Docklands regeneration project. As constructed the viaduct (really a series of three cross-dock steel and concrete bridges) had three near-identical stations at West India Quay, Canary Wharf and Heron Quays.

Courtesy of a friendly Train Captain* I had a tour across the entire DLR network in August 1987, a couple of weeks before the public opening. From Stratford to Island Gardens (the red route), then to Tower Gateway (the green route), back to Island Gardens and Stratford again on 1986 German-built unit number 10.

Originally the developments on the Isle of Dogs were planned as low-key, low-rise light industrial, residential and small business units. However, a couple of months prior to opening the game plan had changed, with the unveiling of plans by an American developer for a aspirant version of the City of London on Canary Wharf.

By the time of my tour the railway was of course structurally complete, and test trains were running daily service on both routes. The computer control system was being tweaked for reliability before public service started. Originally the system was planned to open to the public immediately after the ceremonial opening by HM The Queen, at the end of July 1987.

The week prior to scheduled opening however it was decided to defer public service for an unspecified period, because a reliable service could not be assured. The royal opening went ahead as scheduled, with well-publicised "breakdowns". In actual fact there were two issues, neither of which was a technical failure.

Firstly The Queen arrived at Island Gardens earlier than scheduled, so rather than stick to the planned timetable the Royal Train was manually despatched ahead of schedule. When the train arrived at Mudchute the automatic train regulation system noted this, and held it there to regain the timetable held on the computer.

The second issue - HM being 'trapped' on the train when it arrived at Poplar - was actually caused by one of Her Majesty's over-eager security men using the emergency door release to get out while the train was still moving. This (correctly) caused the train to make an emergency stop before reaching the stopping mark and preventing the doors being released normally.

The original signalling system was fairly inflexible - while there were no lineside signals it still worked on the fixed block basis, with block sections marked by a red circle with a red diagonal cross. When trains stopped at stations a box of tricks between the rails (DDL - Docking Data Link) provided a link between the train and the control centre computers.

My tour passed quite uneventfully, with the train stopping at all stations - Canary Wharf included. At this time an agreement in principle had been reached with the developers that a much larger station would be provided at Canary Wharf in scale with their office development plans.

As a result when the DLR for passengers opened on Bank Holiday Monday 31 August 1987 Canary Wharf station remained closed - and was already in the process of being dismantled! Because of the modular construction of DLR stations it was quite easy to unbolt the parts above platform level and they were stored on South Quay for a long while afterwards.

The platform structure itself was then demolished and by October virtually no sign of the station remained - except that, in the northbound direction there was a block marker. Because of the fairly rigid computer signalling system described earlier it was easier to leave the stopping instruction in the control computer though, leading to misconceptions from passengers that 'Not finished building this station yet' or later 'Why have we stopped here, the train has broken down'.

After demolition of the platforms loops were built on either side of the original twin track line, forming today's outer platforms. Trains diverted onto these new tracks, allowing the original viaduct through the centre station site to be demolished and replaced with a new dead-end single track in the centre.

The station opened in a half-finshed state in mid-1991, the flank platforms first via temporary entrances, followed by the centre islands and the lower concourse, and finally the terminating centre track was commissioned. It wasn't long however before the centre road was extended southwards giving three through roads to Heron Quays and increasing flexibility, and the line north to West India Quay was quadrupled.

Since then the station has remained remarkably unchanged. Apart from signage it looks pretty much as it did in 1993, and there aren't many DLR stations you can say that about...

* the original title of what now has the mundane name of Passenger Service Agent