I have lived in East London for three years. Working, living and studying, Newham is great for those things. But when it comes to days out, experiences and things to do, the borough is lacking, a direct result of the disproportionate levels of “affordable” accommodation being built, and not a lot else.

So, the Docklands Light Railway becomes the main artery to the city’s attractions, shows and everything else London has to offer. Within an hour from Beckton, you can be in the centre of it all. A return journey can cost a fair bit, and there seems to be little logic behind Transport for London’s fares at times.

But the artery is clogged. The DLR is struggling to catch its breath. Delays are frequent, with waits regularly stretching between seven and fifteen minutes. TfL maintains that gaps like this are “not typical” and are “likely the result of a train or infrastructure issue”, but if the explanation is the same every day, it stops feeling isolated.

The trains themselves feel dated, slow, stretched, and increasingly out of step with demand. TfL acknowledges that parts of the fleet are “more than 30 years old”, with 54 new trains intended to replace the 33 oldest units and increase capacity by more than 50 per cent.

The strange thing is that many of those trains already exist. TfL confirmed that “four new DLR trains are in London undergoing testing and 36 trains are in Spain”, with the fleet held back while issues are resolved. Their delayed arrival in the UK was attributed to signalling problems and the collapse of contractor Buckingham Group, which was building the depot needed to house them.

Technical issues have also played a role. During testing, a train “stopped beyond its intended position” in low adhesion conditions. A wider review of the signalling system identified locations where there was not enough margin between recommended speeds and what trains could reach in rare scenarios, leading TfL to introduce speed restrictions and amend timetables across parts of the network.

In February 2025, TfL said the trains would enter service “before the end of the year”. At the time, the problems were clearly defined, signalling faults, infrastructure delays, and a contractor going into administration.

A year on, the position is less precise. TfL now says the trains are expected to return by “late summer”, following “testing and assurance work”, with a phased reintroduction and no confirmed date. Further detail had been expected in the spring, but has yet to materialise.

In the meantime, the system continues to rely on the existing network. TfL says it is “working hard to ensure they come into service as quickly as possible”, but also points to train faults and infrastructure issues as the cause of delays.

And when the DLR does fail entirely, there is the bus network, winding through Newham in long, indirect routes. Overcrowded at peak, empty off it, and slow enough that a journey into central London can take up to two hours.

This is no longer occasional disruption. If the cause is the same every day, the disruption starts to look like the system itself.