£291 million funding for Docklands Light Railway in autumn budget

The Docklands Light Railway emerged as the biggest railway winner in Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond’s 2018 budget on October 29, with £291 million awarded for upgrades.

Although the details of the upgrade were not explained, the railway will receive £291m from the Housing Infrastructure Fund to ‘unlock’ 18,000 new homes in East London via upgrades.

Elsewhere in the country, Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) is to receive £37m to support its development, building on £300m already committed to ensure HS2 infrastructure can accommodate future potential NPR and Midlands Engine Rail services.

The Government is providing a further £20m to the central section of East West Rail, to develop the strategic outline business case for the railway. This will explore which routes best support its vision to ‘unlock’ up to a million new homes by 2050. The Government is also considering the recommendations of the Independent Affordability Review of Crossrail 2.

Elsewhere, Hammond confirmed that delay-repay compensation will be introduced as a requirement for future rail franchises, and will be available to passengers with Advance and season tickets.

The Railway Industry Association (RIA) welcomed the additional funding for the DLR and NPR, although Chief Executive Darren Caplan added: “RIA is concerned that the Government did not use this opportunity to deliver on the key asks of the rail industry - namely smoothing out ‘boom and bust’ rail funding, providing a visible pipeline of enhancements, ensuring electrification remains on the table when decarbonising the rail network, providing matchfunding for rolling stock research and development in Control Period 6, and ensuring the Rail Review does not stall investment in the rail network.”