Transport for London (TfL) has temporarily withdrawn new B23 DLR trains from service as a precautionary measure, following an issue with braking performance during wet weather on one train. An investigation is now underway to fully understand the cause and return the trains to service.
Safety is TfL’s top priority so, although there has only been one isolated incident with a single train, all three new trains have been temporarily withdrawn from customer service.
Engineering teams from TfL, KeolisAmey Docklands (the operator of the DLR), and CAF (the manufacturer) are working hard together to understand and resolve this issue, which occurred when a train did not stop in the planned position at a platform because of low adhesion due to wet weather. This is not an issue with the existing fleet.
Until investigations are complete, it is not possible to confirm when the new trains will return to service, however teams are working hard to reintroduce the trains as quickly and safely as possible. Once the new trains are re-introduced, they will bring significant benefits to customers, including greater capacity, improved accessibility, air-conditioning, modern customer information systems and other features.
Stuart Harvey, Chief Capital Officer at TfL, said: “I’m sorry that we’ve had to withdraw the new DLR trains from service, but safety is always our top priority and we need to understand what happened before returning them to service. Introducing new trains is never without challenges and until our engineering teams complete their investigations, we will continue to operate DLR services using our existing fleet. I know customers are keen to see these new trains on the network, but we must get this right to deliver the safe reliable service that Londoners expect.”
Currently service levels remain unchanged, and customer journeys remain unaffected. Once the root cause is identified and mitigations are in place, a review will be made whether this affects the overall delivery timescale for the project.
