West India Quay DLR station

West India Quay DLR station is a station on the Docklands Light Railway in London, England. It is situated at the point where the line from Lewisham splits into branches to Tower Gateway/Bank and Stratford. The next stations on each line are Canary Wharf DLR station (to Lewisham), Westferry (to Tower Gateway/Bank) and Poplar DLR station (to Stratford). The station is in Travelcard Zone 2.

Location
West India Quay station is located over the northern half of the dock of the same name in the central portion of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Situated to the south of Billingsgate Road and Aspen Way (A1261), the station is near the edge of the main Docklands re-development area.

The distance from West India Quay DLR to Canary Wharf DLR is just 199 m, the shortest distance on the entire London Underground and Docklands Light Railway system. Indeed, while standing at the station, the platforms for Canary Wharf are clearly visible just down the line. This can also be seen at Heron Quays station.

West India Quay will be the closest DLR station to the Canary Wharf Crossrail station when it opens in 2018.

History
The station opened in 1987, but was closed from 1991 to 1993 as the surrounding area was rebuilt. The station is near to the Museum in Docklands and the adjoining hotel and leisure facilities on the north quay of West India Docks, and indeed the platforms of the station extend over part of the dock.

Late 2000s upgrades
Between March and October 2007 the station's canopy was replaced in a £1.85m project funded by Transport for London. Throughout the project, TfL highlighted the sustainable nature of the project through its use of recycled materials while justifying the replacement as necessary due to the increasingly windy conditions as a result of taller developments nearby.

Construction was completed in May 2009 of a new dive-under as part of the current capacity upgrades. A ramp takes trains from Bank to Canary Wharf under the current Canary Wharf to Poplar track. The new track bypasses West India Quay, before coming back up to rejoin the route to Canary Wharf. In order to construct the new track next to West India Quay the easternmost platform (Platform 1) has been demolished. A consequence of this is that, during construction, trains from Canary Wharf to Poplar and trains from Bank to Canary Wharf had to cross each other at the same level which limits junction capacity.

The work was completed in May 2009 but the bypass track was not commissioned until 24 August. It is used Monday-Friday until 1900 by all trains running from Bank to Lewisham.

Station layout
Until the Delta Junction upgrade in 2009, West India Quay was contained four platforms with four tracks. From west to east (platform 4 to 1) these platforms served trains to Westferry, to Poplar, from Westferry, and from Poplar. After reconstruction, the old platform 1 ceased to exist, but re-numbering occurred and trains from Poplar now arrive on the eastern track.