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Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich DLR station

Coordinates: 51°28′53″N 0°00′37″W / 51.4815°N 0.0103°W / 51.4815; -0.0103
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Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich Docklands Light Railway
Station entrance
Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich is located in Greater London
Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich
Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich
Location of Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich in Greater London
LocationGreenwich
Local authorityRoyal Borough of Greenwich
Managed byDocklands Light Railway
Number of platforms2
AccessibleYes[1]
Fare zone2 and 3
OSIGreenwich Pier London River Services
DLR annual boardings and alightings
2019Increase 7.084 million[2]
2020Decrease 2.562 million[3]
2021Increase 3.921 million[4]
2022Increase 6.430 million[5]
2023Increase 7.630 million[6]
Key dates
3 December 1999Opened
Other information
Coordinates51°28′53″N 0°00′37″W / 51.4815°N 0.0103°W / 51.4815; -0.0103
London transport portal

Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich is a light metro station on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) in Greenwich, south-east London, so named for its proximity to the Cutty Sark in the Maritime Greenwich district. It is the most central of the Greenwich DLR stations, being situated in Greenwich town centre. The station was designed, built and maintained by a private contractor from opening in 1999 to 2021, with the reliability of escalators at the station criticised by passengers.

Location

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The northernmost of the Greenwich DLR stations, Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich is located in the Maritime Greenwich district of south-eastern London. Its name comes from the clipper ship named Cutty Sark which is housed 200 metres (660 ft) to the north of the station. A number of well-known tourist attractions are in the surrounding area, including the National Maritime Museum, Royal Observatory, Greenwich Hospital, Greenwich foot tunnel, Trinity College of Music, and the Old Royal Naval College.[7]

It is located close to the south bank of the River Thames and is 20 metres (66 ft) below ground. Along with all other stations on the Lewisham extension, it is in Travelcard Zones 2 and 3, with passengers charged the lower of two possible fares.

History

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In the mid 1990s, Cutty Sark station was proposed as part of a 4.2-kilometre (3 mi) southern extension of the DLR to Lewisham. The station would serve the historic Greenwich town centre and nearby tourist attractions.[8][9]

However, Cutty Sark was dropped from the project owing to its high construction costs (around £50 million) for the private consortium that would design, build, finance and maintain the extension.[9] Following protests by Greenwich Council and promises of local funding, Cutty Sark was added back to the project in 1996 – with a mixed-use development to be built on top of the station by a developer working with English Partnerships.[9][10] Construction started in October 1996, with a 60 metres (200 ft) long, three-storey deep station box built in Greenwich town centre to house the future station, with the cutter heads of the tunnel boring machines also extracted at the site.[11]

Cutty Sark station opened on 3 December 1999 as part of the opening of the DLR extension to Lewisham.[12] As with other stations on the extension, the station was designed by consultant W S Atkins.[11] Since its opening, the extension has seen growth as a result of it connecting, along with two National Rail connections, the Canary Wharf financial centre with Greenwich.[13]

The quality and reliability of the escalators at the station has been criticised, with passengers noting that escalators had been broken for years.[14][15][16] When escalators are unavailable, passengers must use a 121-step staircase (or a small lift) to enter and leave the deep-level station.[14] Between 1999 and 2021, the escalators were maintained by CGL Rail, the private contractor that built and maintained the Lewisham extension of the DLR.[17][9] A local Labour councillor accused CGL Rail of handing the station back to TfL in a "shameful state".[17] In April 2024, TfL stated that they planned to repair and refurbish the escalators to improve their reliability.[18][19] Local residents started a petition for full replacement of the escalators.[20] In February 2025, TfL announced that the station would close temporarily to allow all four escalators to be replaced at a cost of £4 million.[21][22]

Station layout

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One of only four completely underground stations on the DLR network, Cutty Sark station has an island platform with a track each side of it. This is similar to its cross-river sister station, Island Gardens. The platforms are 20 metres (66 ft) below street level.[23]

The need for increased capacity has posed issues for the station. While most on the network have had their platforms extended as part of Transport for London's three-carriage capacity enhancement project, the two-car-long island platform at Cutty Sark cannot be lengthened due to cost (estimated at £30m) and risk of damage to the heritage site at street level. This is addressed by using selective door operation, allowing three-car trains to stop at the station by only having the doors near the centre of the train open in both end carriages; the first and last two sets of doors on each train do not open.[24] Customers are warned of the need to move to the centre to leave the train by on-board announcements. A similar situation applies at Elverson Road.

Services

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The typical off-peak service in trains per hour from Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich is:[25]

Additional services call at the station during the peak hours, increasing the service to up to 22 tph in each direction, with up to 8 tph during the peak hours running to and from Stratford instead of Bank.

Preceding station   DLR   Following station
Island Gardens
towards Bank or Stratford
   Docklands Light Railway   Greenwich
towards Lewisham

Connections

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London Buses routes 188 and 199, and night routes N1 and N199 serve the station.[26]

Nearby places of interest

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[edit]
  • Southbound platform 1 looking south
    Southbound platform 1 looking south
  • Train stopped at platform 1
    Train stopped at platform 1
  • Part of the cutter head from the front of the TBM (tunnel boring machine) used to drive the twin tunnels under the river Thames from Island Gardens to Greenwich
    Part of the cutter head from the front of the TBM (tunnel boring machine) used to drive the twin tunnels under the river Thames from Island Gardens to Greenwich
  • Signage on northbound platform
    Signage on northbound platform

References

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  1. ^ "Step free Tube Guide" (PDF). Transport for London. April 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 May 2021.
  2. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2019. Transport for London. 23 September 2020. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  3. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2020. Transport for London. 16 April 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  4. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2021. Transport for London. 12 July 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  5. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2022. Transport for London. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  6. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2023. Transport for London. 8 August 2024. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
  7. ^ "Station facilities: Cutty Sark". Transport for London. Archived from the original on 14 July 2010.
  8. ^ Wolmar, Christian (25 January 1995). "Crucial links hold key to the future: Docklands, a special report". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 26 January 2012. Retrieved 24 June 2009.
  9. ^ a b c d Butcher, Louise (4 May 2010). "Railways: Docklands Light Railway (DLR)" (PDF). House of Commons Library. pp. 2–3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 June 2015. Retrieved 7 February 2025.
  10. ^ "Shops on Cutty Sark". News Shopper. 5 February 2001. Retrieved 7 February 2025.
  11. ^ a b Aldous, Tony (12 March 1998). "Crossing the river from a different angle". The Architects’ Journal. Retrieved 7 February 2025.
  12. ^ "Development of the DLR Network" (PDF). Transport for London. December 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 June 2011.
  13. ^ "DLR toasts 10 years of the Lewisham extension". Transport for London. 23 November 2009. Archived from the original on 30 September 2011.
  14. ^ a b "Broken escalators for three years at Cutty Sark DLR an 'international disgrace'". News Shopper. 10 December 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2025. Passengers have described Greenwich Cutty Sark DLR station as "the third world" due to broken escalators that have been out of service for the last three years, forcing them to climb 121 stairs.
  15. ^ "'I feel like cleaning the Cutty Sark DLR station myself - it's soul destroying'". News Shopper. 18 April 2023. Retrieved 7 February 2025. Ms Tearle said that she remembers the escalators in the station being intermittently broken for nearly two years.
  16. ^ Marius, Callum (26 September 2022). "Escalator at DLR station was broken for 3 months as TfL deals with outages". My London. Retrieved 7 February 2025.
  17. ^ a b "Cutty Sark DLR station access is just so poor, say disgruntled commuters". South London News. 29 April 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2025. Labour councillor Calum O'Byrne Mulligan said at a Greenwich council meeting on March 27 that Cutty Sark DLR station had been left in a 'shameful' state by CGL Rail, who previously operated the service until 2021.
  18. ^ "Cutty Sark DLR station access is just so poor, say disgruntled commuters". South London News. 29 April 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2025. A TfL spokesman said that refurbishment of three of the four escalators in the station had now been completed and that plans for the refurbishment of the final escalator are being drawn up, but there is no current timeline for these works.
  19. ^ Chantler-Hicks, Lydia (5 December 2024). "DLR station where passengers forced to climb 121 steps branded a 'disgrace'". The Standard. Retrieved 7 February 2025.
  20. ^ Chamberlain, Darryl (24 December 2024). "Fix Cutty Sark DLR station's broken escalators, petition demands". The Greenwich Wire. Retrieved 7 February 2025.
  21. ^ "Broken escalators for three years at Cutty Sark DLR an 'international disgrace'". News Shopper. 10 December 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2025. TfL attempted repairs on the escalators which were installed when the station was built but the transport operator says while the "refurbishment approach, ahead of replacement, has worked successfully on many occasions across TfL operated stations, but unfortunately it wasn't the case at Cutty Sark. All four escalators have now failed, some more significantly than others."
  22. ^ "Cutty Sark DLR station to close while new escalators installed". BBC News. 7 February 2025. Retrieved 7 February 2025.
  23. ^ Pearce, Alan (2000). Docklands Light Rail : official handbook. Brian Hardy, Colin Stannard (4th ed.). Harrow: Capital Transport. p. 31. ISBN 1-85414-223-2. OCLC 456423124.
  24. ^ "DLR Public Inquiry Closes". Transport for London. 1 April 2005. Archived from the original on 8 August 2009.
  25. ^ "DLR train timetables". Transport for London. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  26. ^ "Buses and Boats from Greenwich" (PDF). Transport for London. 11 May 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 May 2022.
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