Docklands Light Railway extension to Thamesmead

Thamesmead, former marshland on the banks of the River Thames, was developed by the Greater London Council from the 1960s onwards to meet the demand for social housing by Londoners.[8] As part of the initial development of the area in the 1970s, the area was intended to be served by the (then) Fleet line. However, this never came to fruition, and instead the Jubilee line was extended to Stratford in 1999.[9] As a result of this, the area is not directly served by railway services of any kind, with the closest stations being Plumstead, Abbey Wood and Belvedere. Furthermore, the area is in the centre of a 22 kilometres (14 mi) gap in major road crossings of the River Thames - with planned road crossings never built.[10]

In the mid 2010s, Transport for London (TfL) considered a number of options to assist with the redevelopment of the area, estimated to have the potential of 10,500 new homes.[1] These included an extension of Crossrail east of Abbey Wood, dedicated high frequency bus services, an extension of Gospel Oak to Barking line south from Barking Riverside[11][12] and an extension of the DLR east from Beckton.[13]

In 2016, TfL consulted on a variety of proposed river crossings including the Silvertown Tunnel, Gallions Reach Crossing and Belvedere Crossing, due to the lack of crossings in the area. An option included the extension of the DLR from Beckton to Thamesmead as part of the Gallions Reach Crossing.[14][15]

In February 2019, Peabody and Lendlease announced an £8bn Thamesmead regeneration project with over 11,500 new homes to be built.[16] Following this, the DLR extension to Thamesmead was first formally proposed in December 2019 by Transport for London as part of the draft Thamesmead and Abbey Wood Opportunity Area Planning Framework,[4][5] with proposed stations at Armada Riverside in Beckton and Thamesmead.[17][6] An extension of the DLR was proposed instead of an extension of the Overground from Barking Riverside[5], as an Overground extension would have lower connectivity benefits, the line would have a low frequency of trains (4 per hour) and a construction cost twice as much as a DLR extension, as the gradients required to cross the River Thames would require large scale tunnelling works when compared to the DLR.[17]

As of April 2020, the proposed route of DLR extension diverges from the Beckton branch just after Gallions Reach, turning east to pass by Beckton DLR depot before Armada Riverside station in Beckton. The route then continues southeast, crossing the river (the consultation does not specify bridge or tunnel) before arriving at Thamesmead Central.[17][6] The consultation also noted that the line could be extended further to Belvedere, Abbey Wood or elsewhere in Bexley in the future.[6] via two other stations [18]