simple simon
Member
Riding London Docklands Light Railway (DLR) B23 Train No. 209 on the first day that any of these trains entered passenger service - Tuesday 30th September 2025.
My instant first impression after boarding was to notice just how quiet the train is (announcements and door alert noises excepted). My camcorder seems to make the onboard fans sound much louder then they are.
These fully walk-through, air-conditioned, five-carriage urban metro trains were designed for short distance travel, and except for just two transverse seats at each end all seating is longitudinal, as this maximises space for standing passengers. Passengers can still enjoy forward facing views of the train as is travels through part of east London, its just that only four people (instead of eight people on previous DLR trains) will be seated facing the correct direction of travel.
Other features include spoken word and visual real-time information (the latter using full colour digital display screens), DLR network maps over the passenger doors, differently-coloured priority seating next to the passenger doors, wheelchair spaces (each space also includes a priority seat for the carer) and extra digital display screens which at present are not used. There are also multi-use areas with tip-up / folding seats. The trains are supposed to have some USB power sockets but I did not see any, also in short supply are armrests between the seats. i suppose though this will make it easier to lay down if feeling tired (and the train is not very crowded).
These trains have an unusual mix of passenger door configurations:
Carriages 1 , 3 , 5 have two pairs of doors on each side
Carriages 2 and 4 have three pairs of doors on each side.
The passenger doors have green lights over them which illuminate when open and red lights when closing. There are also doorway floor lights, which only illuminate at the same time as the green lights.
To help keep winter warmth and summer cooling inside the train the doors auto-close after 45 seconds, but can be reopened using the passenger door buttons. A digital display on one side of the doors shows a 45 second countdown before that specific pair of doors close.
Some people have used words like 'austere', 'spartan' to describe their interiors, but this is how things are done nowadays
