Cutty Sark DLR Station

Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich is a light metro station on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) in Greenwich, south-east London, so named for its proximity to the '' Cutty Sark'' in the Maritime Greenwich district. It is the most central of the Greenwich DLR stations, being situated in Greenwich town centre. The station was designed, built and maintained by a private contractor from opening in 1999 to 2021, with the reliability of escalators at the station criticised by passengers. From June 2025, the station is temporarily closed for 10 months for all escalators in the station to be replaced.

Location

The northernmost of the Greenwich DLR stations, Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich is located in the Maritime Greenwich district of south-eastern London. Its name comes from the clipper ship named '' Cutty Sark'' which is housed to the north of the station. A number of well-known tourist attractions are in the surrounding area, including the National Maritime Museum, Royal Observatory, Greenwich Hospital, Greenwich foot tunnel, Trinity College of Music, and the Old Royal Naval College.

It is located close to the south bank of the River Thames and is below ground. Along with all other stations on the Lewisham extension, it is in Travelcard Zones 2 and 3, with passengers charged the lower of two possible fares.

History

In the mid 1990s, Cutty Sark station was proposed as part of a southern extension of the DLR to Lewisham. The station would serve the historic Greenwich town centre and nearby tourist attractions.

However, Cutty Sark was dropped from the project owing to its high construction costs (around £50 million) for the private consortium that would design, build, finance and maintain the extension. Following protests by Greenwich Council and promises of local funding, Cutty Sark was added back to the project in 1996 – with a mixed-use development to be built on top of the station by a developer working with English Partnerships. Construction started in October 1996, with a long, three-storey deep station box built in Greenwich town centre to house the future station, with the cutter heads of the tunnel boring machines also extracted at the site.

Cutty Sark station opened on 3 December 1999 as part of the opening of the DLR extension to Lewisham. As with other stations on the extension, the station was designed by consultant W S Atkins. Since its opening, the extension has seen passenger growth as a result of it connecting, along with two National Rail connections, the Canary Wharf financial centre with Greenwich.

Escalators

The quality and reliability of the escalators at the station has been criticised, with passengers noting that escalators had been broken for years. When escalators are unavailable, passengers must use a 121-step staircase (or a small lift) to enter and leave the deep-level station. Between 1999 and 2021, the escalators were maintained by CGL Rail, the private contractor that built and maintained the Lewisham extension of the DLR. A local Labour councillor accused CGL Rail of handing the station back to TfL in a "shameful state". In April 2024, TfL stated that they planned to repair and refurbish the escalators to improve their reliability at a cost of £695,000, however this did not resolve the issue. Local residents started a petition for full replacement of the escalators. In February 2025, TfL announced that all four escalators would be replaced at a cost of £4 million. In March 2025, TfL announced that the station would be temporarily closed for 10 months from May 2025 for the works to take place.

Station layout

One of only four completely underground stations on the DLR network, Cutty Sark station has an island platform with a track each side of it. This is similar to its cross-river sister station, Island Gardens. The platforms are below street level.

The need for increased capacity has posed issues for the station. While the majority of other DLR stations have had their platforms extended as part of Transport for London's three-carriage capacity enhancement project, the two-car-long island platform at Cutty Sark cannot be lengthened due to cost (estimated at £30m) and risk of damage to the heritage site at street level. This is addressed by using selective door operation, allowing three-car trains to stop at the station by only having the doors near the centre of the train open in both end carriages; the first and last two sets of doors on each train do not open. Customers are warned of the need to move to the centre to leave the train by on-board announcements. A similar situation applies at Elverson Road.

Services

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour from Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich is:
* 12 tph to Bank
* 12 tph to

Additional services call at the station during the peak hours, increasing the service to up to 22 tph in each direction, with up to 8 tph during the peak hours running to and from instead of Bank.

Connections

London Buses routes 188 and 199, and night routes N1 and N199 serve the station.

Nearby places of interest

Gallery

Image:Cutty Sark stn southbound look south.JPG, Southbound platform 1 looking south
Image:Cutty Sark DLR station platform 1 and train.jpg, Train stopped at platform 1
Image:TBM Cutter Head at Cutty Sark DLR station.jpg, Part of the cutter head from the front of the TBM (tunnel boring machine) used to drive the twin tunnels under the river Thames from Island Gardens to Greenwich
Image:Cutty Sark stn signage.JPG, Signage on northbound platform

References

External links

Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich DLR station
– Live departures and timetables at Transport for London

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cutty Sark Dlr Station
Docklands Light Railway stations in the Royal Borough of Greenwich
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1999
Railway stations located underground in the United Kingdom