TfL spends over £900 million on new DLR trains for London – yet almost all of them are stuck in Spain

TfL has spent astir much than an estimated £942m connected caller DLR trains - but the bulk of them are presently stuck successful Spain.

Those trains stay successful the CAF factory, wherever they were built, aft signalling difficulties and the illness of a TfL contractor down a depot required to store the trains successful London.

A TfL spokesperson attributed the hold to the illness of Buckingham Group successful 2023, the contractor down a caller depot for the trains.

The institution said astatine the clip it had collapsed owed to “extreme ostentation linked to the Ukraine conflict”.

The hold was besides caused by difficulties integrating the braking strategy connected the driverless trains with the way signalling strategy — portion enabling the existing DLR trains to support running.

The responsibility was discovered aft a caller bid slid beyond a stopping constituent during testing.

However, TfL chiefs importune the caller trains volition statesman entering work “as rapidly arsenic possible” and that each 54 caller trains volition beryllium moving by summertime adjacent year.

A TfL spokesperson said: “We're introducing 54 caller trains to regenerate the 33 oldest trains successful our fleet, immoderate of which are much than 30 years old.

“The caller trains volition assistance america to amended the frequence and reliability of services and enactment colonisation and employment maturation crossed the network, peculiarly successful parts of the Royal Docks and the Isle of Dogs wherever the DLR is the main transport option.

“These trains are being kept successful retention successful Spain portion we hold for them to travel into service.

“The hold successful them coming to the UK was partially owed to the signalling issues but besides a effect of our main contractor to physique the required depot going into administration. We’re moving hard to guarantee they travel into work arsenic rapidly arsenic imaginable and earlier the extremity of this year.”

Four of the caller trains are presently successful London undergoing testing, portion 14 much are yet to beryllium afloat built.

The upgrade volition summation capableness by 60 per cent connected the network, with TfL bosses hoping it volition assistance forestall overcrowding connected peak-hour services to Canary Wharf and City Airport.