3-vehicle health monitoring on the Docklands Light Railway

Docklands Light Railway (DLR) was conceived as a low capacity, but highly automated railway, that would improve transport to the Isle of Dogs redevelopment area in London, UK. Single-car trains, with maximum capacity of approximately 200 passengers and 10-minute schedule intervals, were considered adequate for the redevelopment vision of boutique industry and low density housing with most buildings having two stories. The creation of an enterprise zone and the resultant development, notably Canary Wharf, required a tenfold increase in railway capacity. DLR, while operating the railway, also engaged in a number of large construction projects, rolling stock purchases, and equipment upgrades-including a complete replacement of the signalling. This paper discusses one aspect of the equipment upgrade programme-the development of a vehicle health monitor and incident recorder.