Docklands Light Railway Rolling Stock - P86 and P89 Rolling Stock

P86 and P89 Rolling Stock

The fleet for the 1987 opening consisted of 11 light-rail vehicles (LRVs) built in 1986 by Linke-Hofmann-Busch (LHB, now Alstom) in Germany and numbered 01 to 11. These were referred to as P86 stock, the 'P' referring to Poplar depot, where they were maintained. These cars had folding doors, which proved to be problematic; later cars had sliding doors. Vehicle 11 made history several times. It was part of a light rail demonstration at Debdale Park, Manchester for which it had a pantograph fitted by Balfour Beatty. The demonstration took place on 9 February 1987 as evaluation trials for a potential tram system in Manchester. P11 was the last unit to be delivered to the DLR at Poplar on 30 March 1987, without the pantograph. It was also the vehicle used by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh during the royal opening of the railway on 30 July 1987: the train ran from Island Gardens (when originally above ground) to Poplar and then to Tower Gateway. P11 also formed the first revenue-earning DLR vehicle and was the first vehicle to be moved to Essen in 1991.

There were 84 seats in each car with most arranged in transverse bays of four to take advantage of the large windows. There were two wheelchair bays, and twelve longitudinal seats increased the circulation area. An emergency console for the Train Captain was provided but locked when out of use. These cars were built for the initial above-ground system and, because of failing to meet safety requirements, were not allowed to operate on the tunnelled extension to Bank. Because of this, and because adaptation to a new signalling system was too costly, these cars were sold in 1991 to Essener Verkehrs-AG of Essen, Germany, where they were extensively rebuilt and put into service on its Stadtbahn between 1994 and 1998. Originally, they retained DLR colours and were limited to route U11, but after a further modification programme started in 2005, trains are appearing in a yellow livery and are used on all routes.

In 1989–1990, BREL in Derby, UK, supplied another ten LRVs, numbered 12 to 21. These share the characteristics of the original P86 stock. They were, though, equipped with sufficient fire-proofing to operate through the tunnels of the Bank extension. These were designated P89 stock and remained in operation on the DLR until 1995. The two initial car types were effectively identical in appearance; apart from the car numbers one difference was the red livery underneath the end window was notably more orange and reflective on the P89 cars than on the original P86 ones. The P89s were rebuilt with sliding doors. They were also sold to Essen, where they entered service between 1999 and 2004 after major modifications had been carried out. They are now painted yellow and blue and are used on all routes of the Essen Stadtbahn network.

As the Essen Stadtbahn does not use fully automated driving, and uses overhead line rather than third rail power collection, the modifications to both sets of cars involved fitting driver's cabs and pantographs. Today, the P89 operates on U17 and U18 lines.