The Anonymous Widower

Could The Silvertown Tunnel Handle More Buses?

In A Return Journey Through The Silvertown Tunnel On A 129 Bus, I took these pictures inside the Silvertown Tunnel when the bus was coming North.

Note.

1. The left lane is marked Bus Lane.
2. Only one car is visible in the right lane.
3. The tunnel seems well-lit.

I have some thoughts

Where’s The Traffic?

It does appear that two apparently empty lanes in each direction, don’t carry a large number of vehicles.

• Have the tolls and arguments frightened traffic away?
• Are the tolls too high?
• From the full set of pictures in the linked post, it would appear more vehicles were using the Blackwall Tunnel.
• Could it be that drivers are frightened of getting a speeding ticket?
• Are drivers frightened of sharing the tunnel with buses and heavy trucks?

Both bores of the Silvertown Tunnel seem to have similar traffic levels.

What’s The Capacity Of A Bus Lane?

In the Wikipedia entry for bus lane, this is said.

The busiest bus lane in the United States is the Lincoln Tunnel XBL (exclusive bus lane) along the Lincoln Tunnel Approach and Helix in Hudson County, New Jersey, which carries approximately 700 buses per hour during morning peak times an average of one bus every 5.1 seconds.[ In contrast, the Cross-Harbour Tunnel in Hong Kong carries 14,500 buses per day, or an average of about 605 an hour all day (not just peak times), but the bus lane must give way to all the other road users resulting in long queues of buses.

Perhaps a more realistic example of tunnel capacity from the UK, would be the Victoria Line, which handles thirty-six * eight-car trains per hour (tph) in both directions in two tunnels.

I would certainly expect that if Dear Old Vicky can manage 36 x 8-car trains per hour, then the Silvertown tunnel could handle thirty-six buses per hour.

Especially, if the buses had a distance keeping capability, as many trains do.

How Many Buses Per Hour Are Planned to Use The Silvertown And Blackwall Tunnels?

This handy map from Transport for London, shows the three bus routes passing through the Silvertown and Blackwall Tunnels.

Click the map to show it to a larger scale.

The map gives these frequencies for the three bus routes using the tunnels.

Bus Route SL4

Operates once every 8 minutes or at seven buses per hour.

Bus Route 108

Operates once every 10 minutes or at six buses per hour.

Bus Route 129

Operates once every 8 minutes or at seven buses per hour.

Silvertown Tunnel Bicycle Shuttle

Google AI says this.

The Silvertown Tunnel cycle shuttle bus runs approximately every 12 minutes, operating daily from 6:30 am to 9:30 pm, except for Christmas Day, offering a safe and quick way for cyclists to cross the Thames.

This operates at five buses per hour.

Number Of Buses Through The Tunnels

There will be around nineteen buses per hour, through the Silvertown Tunnel and six through the Blackwall.

The Silvertown Tunnel looks like it has been designed to accept more buses.

One thing this means, is that if the Blackwall gets shut, then the 108 can use some of the spare capacity in the Silvertown Tunnel.

Could A Coach Station For Europe Use Some Of The Spare Capacity?

In Development To The West Of The North Entrance Of The Silvertown Tunnel, I displayed this.

This Google Map shows the site to the West of the North entrance of the Silvertown Tunnel.

Note.

1. The red arrow indicates City Hall.
2. There is a large site between the DLR and the river.
3. The Docklands Light Railway separates the site from the North entrance of the Silvertown Tunnel.
4. The CEMEX Thames Aggregate Wharf seems to occupy part of the site.

This picture shows the North entrance of the Silvertown Tunnel from the cable-car.

It is surely a site with development potential, as Roy Brooks would say.

It will probably be used for more tower blocks along the Thames.

But could it be used for a coach station to handle the increasing number of coaches between London and the Continent?

• A Docklands Light Railway station could be built to serve the site.
• Thames Clippers could also serve the site.
• Coaches could use the Silvertown Tunnel to  start their journey out of the capital.

It is certainly a possibility.

Could The Silvertown Tunnel Be Used For Route-Proving For The Docklands Light Railway?

In TfL Considering Extending DLR As Far As Abbey Wood, I discussed extending the Docklands Light Railway to Thamesmead or Abbey Wood.

This map from Ian Visits shows the area.

Running a four buses per hour service through the Silvertown Tunnel, would be an ideal way of proving what is the best route.

Extending The Docklands Light Railway To The West

No matter how the Docklands Railway is extended to the East, either by physical means like extra branches or by virtual means like connecting to bus routes, this will mean that there will need to be more terminal capacity in the West, to take the pressure off Bank and Tower Gateway stations.

In A Connection Between City Thameslink Station And The Docklands Light Railway, I described a proposal to extend the Docklands Light Railway to Euston, St. Pancras and Victoria.

In the Wikipedia entry for the Docklands Light Railway, there is a section describing a proposed Euston/St. Pancras Extension.

This is said.

In 2011, strategy documents proposed a DLR extension to Euston and St Pancras. Transport for London have considered driving a line from City Thameslink via Holborn north to the rail termini. The main benefit of such an extension would be to broaden the available direct transport links to the Canary Wharf site. It would create a new artery in central London and help relieve the Northern and Circle lines and provide another metro line to serve the High Speed line into Euston.

This map from Transport for London, shows the possible Western extension of the DLR.

With all the problems of the funding of Crossrail 2, that I wrote about in Crossrail 2 Review Prompts Fresh Delays, could this extension of the DLR, be a good idea?

Consider.

• Victoria, Euston and St. Pancras are prosposed Crossrail 2 stations.
• It would link Canary Wharf and the City of London to Eurostar, Northern and Scottish services and High Speed Two.
• It would give all of the Docklands Light Railway network access to Thameslink.
• A pair of well-designed termini at Euston and St. Pancras would probably increase frequency and capacity on the Bank branch of the system.
• The DLR is getting new higher capacity trains.
• Bank station is being upgraded with forty percent more passenger capacity.
• Holborn station is being upgraded and hopefully will be future-proofed for this extension.
• One big advantage at City Thameslink, is that Thameslink and the proposed DLR extension will cross at right-angles, thus probably making designing a good step-free interchange easier.
• The Bank Branch of the DLR currently handles 15 tph, but could probably handle more, if they went on to two terminal stations at St Pancras and Victoria..
• Waterloo and City Line can run at twenty-four tph.

Cinderella she may be, but then she always delivers, when there is a desperate need, just as she did magnificently at the 2012 Olympics.

Something is needed to handle the extra passengers at Euston, that will be brought to London by High Speed Two. Cinderella is the only way to deliver a connection in a reasonable time.

The only problem with this extension of the DLR, is that compared to the rest of the system, the views will be terrible.

For myself and all the others living along the East London Line, with a step-free change at Shadwell, we would get excellent access to Euston, St. Pancras and Victoria.

But could the line still be called the Docklands Light Railway, as it spreads its tentacles further?

April 9, 2025 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Blackwall Tunnel, Buses, Coaches, Docklands Light Railway, Docklands Light Railway Western Extension, Good Design, High Speed Two, Housing, Silvertown Tunnel, Transport for London, Victoria Line