Originally Posted by
Fairdealfrank
It's more stupid than one can imagine as the crossrail tunnel passes directly below the LCY terminal building.
Why should one have to do all this nonsense when it should be possible to just take an escalator/lift/stairs between the terminal and station.
Why is the concept of an integrated transport so difficult to understand and implement?
The DLR is not an issue at LCY, the station is very convenient. The lack of a future crossrail station is.
I don't think the line does pass directly below the terminal building. I think it cuts the corner at the furthest west portion of the LCY site, beyond the terminal, beyond the western pier, underneath the Jet Centre.
Both from a cost and physical geography point-of-view I think a new "underground" Crossrail station to link to the terminal would not be feasible.
I suspect the straight stretch near the old Silvertown station is the most practical option but that suffers from distance to the terminal plus having to cross a residential area.
The DLR links LCY to Canary Wharf/Bank to the west and Woolwich to the east, both of which are useful catchment areas for point-to-point traffic - which is what LCY is primarily concerned with - both Canary Wharf & Woolwich will be served by Crossrail. It's not as if there are realistically going to be a large number of people who want to transfer between LCY and LHR even if there was a Crossrail station at LCY.
Also relatively unlikely that pax from west of London would take Crossrail to use LCY when LHR is much closer for them.
In short I don't think the problems of Crossrail connectivity is a huge issue for LCY. It would be nice undoubtedly for some customers but of no benefit for most.
Personally I could see advantages of a domestic terminal, served by one of the DLR stations, and an international terminal, served by the other DLR station, but that would very much be determined by any new stand layout that might come if expansion is finally granted.