Transport for LondonConstruction
Building work on Docklands Light Railway started in 1984 with routes between Tower Gateway and Island Gardens, and Stratford and Island Gardens. The preference for a third rail for power supply (the LDDC were opposed to overhead cables) and automatic operation influenced the decision to serve Stratford rather than, as originally planned, Mile End. Terminating at Mile End would have involved street running, something that was incompatible with automatic operation. This option would also have risked inevitable delays to services due to traffic congestion.
The new system was completed in three years. To aid construction a new procedure was adopted: a single contractor, GEC/Mowlem Railway Group, designed, built and equipped the railway.
This way much of the contractual risk fell on the contractor rather than the clients. The winning contractors had tendered for a well-tried, conventional, standard gauge, steel wheel on steel rail technology, making extensive use of disused railway routes in the area.
Cost effectiveness was all-important. Newer technologies such as monorails, guided buses and rubber-tyred trains were considered but rejected. A network of conventional bus routes, without any rail link, was also rejected as unattractive and inadequate to meet the growing demand, which the redevelopment of Docklands was likely to generate.
