Island Gardens DLR station

Island Gardens is a Docklands Light Railway (DLR) station next to Island Gardens on the Isle of Dogs, East London. It is just north of the River Thames and is close to the southern tip of the Isle of Dogs and the River Thames.

Island Gardens
Station entrance
Island Gardens Location of Island Gardens in Greater London
Location	Island Gardens, Isle of Dogs
Local authority	Tower Hamlets
Managed by	Docklands Light Railway
Number of platforms	2
Accessible	Yes[1]
Fare zone	2
DLR annual boardings and alightings
2019	2.709 million[2]
2020	1.329 million[3]
2021	1.514 million[4]
2022	2.190 million[5]
2023	2.360 million[6]
Railway companies
Original company	Docklands Light Railway
Key dates
31 August 1987	Opened
9 March 1992	Closed temporarily
5 April 1992	Reopened
8 January 1999[7]	Original station closed permanently
20 November 1999	New station on Lewisham extension opened
Other information
Coordinates	51.4881°N 0.0104°W / 51.4881; -0.0104
London transport portal

Island Gardens is a public park with a notable view across the river to the classical buildings of the former Greenwich Hospital and the National Maritime Museum, with Greenwich Park forming a backdrop. The northern entrance of the Greenwich foot tunnel is within the park.

History

Island Gardens DLR station before being rebuilt

The original Island Gardens DLR station was opened on 31 August 1987 as the southern terminus of the initial system. It was built adjacent to the site of the old North Greenwich railway station, which had been the southern terminus of the former Millwall Extension Railway, which had closed to passengers in 1926.^[8] The new station was elevated with two platforms, each capable of accommodating a single-car train. The design incorporated false arches to match the existing single-track viaduct.^[9] The station required significant rebuilding to allow the platforms to take two-car trains.^{[citation needed]}

Pre-opening incident

On 10 March 1987, before the system opened, a test train crashed through buffer stops at the original high-level terminus and was left hanging from the end of the elevated track. The accident was caused by unauthorised tests being run before the correct installation of the wayside safety system had been verified; an omission in the wayside system allowed the train to travel too fast on the approach to the terminus. The train was being driven manually at the time.^[10][11][12]

Extension to Lewisham

In the mid 1990s, construction began to extend the DLR south by 4.2-kilometre (3 mi) to Lewisham.^[13][14] As the line would pass under the River Thames in deep tube tunnel, a new station would have to be built slightly further away from the river, north of Manchester Road, and underground. The new station and tunnel to Mudchute was built using the cut and cover method, with Millwall Park reinstated on top of the tunnel. In January 1999, the original Island Gardens station was closed, to allow construction of the connection to the extension to continue.^[15]

Island Gardens station reopened in November 1999 as part of the opening of the DLR extension to Lewisham.^[16] As with other stations on the extension, the station was designed by consultant W S Atkins.^[17] Ducts for the tunnel ventilation system are integrated into the architecture of the station.^[18]

The original 1987 station and the southern end of the connecting viaduct were subsequently demolished.^[19][15]

Station layout

One of only four completely underground stations on the DLR network, Island Gardens station has an island platform with a track each side of it.^[20] Located just below the surface, the platform is accessed by stairs, with a lift making the station accessible.^[18]

Connections

Island Gardens in 1987

London Buses routes 135, the D prefix route D7 and night route N550 serve the station.

Services

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour from Island Gardens is:^[21]

• 12 tph to Bank
• 12 tph to Lewisham

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
Mudchute towards Bank or Stratford		Docklands Light Railway		Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich towards Lewisham