The Neutralston DLR

## Neutralston DLR

The Neutralston DLR is an extensive Light Rail Network connecting various Districts and Suburbs along the Outskirts of Neutralston City. The system began operation in 2004 with the opening of the line between Cocaine Mall and Pine Village. The line is operated by Transport for Neutralston, a subsidiary of the Blaufuchs Transport Group.

The DLR Consists of 12 stations across a 11.2km (7mi) network of various branches that roughly follow the boundary of Outer-Neutralston, on a mixture of Elevated and Underground tracks.

**History**

Plans for a extensive Light Rail system in Neutralston date back to as early as 1976, when the existing railway networks within the City were coming up to their limits, due to a raise in passenger numbers during the early 70s. The Neutralston City Assembly initially proposed an elevated monorail line that would encircle the city centre stopping at Key Locations such as: Neutralston Central and Lake Pomerania, However due to the uncertainty of what using Monorail Technology in a city setting would bring about and the costs of building such an extensive Monorail network, this idea was rejected. The idea for a Light Rail System would be revived in 1989 however when plans for a small tram line to be constructed within the Central Areas were approved by the Assembly. In these plans included a short line running from Lake Pomerania to Neutralston Central, and a elevated line running from Cocaine Mall to Pinewood County Forest (Now Pine Village). Whilst the plans for the small tram line remained relatively the same, the elevated line plans would eventually be re-evaluated.

The Neutralston City Assembly vowed that running trams on such high lines would pose dangers such as possible tipped when there were high winds, so the City Assembly instead requested that TFN (Transport for Neutralston) change the plans or they'll be rejected. TFN would later submit new plans which stated that this new line would not be a tram line anymore but rather a new Metro Line. The City Assembly would reject this again on the grounds that Noise Pollution would be too high from the trains, in response TFN stated that they would not build the line unless it is approved with the current plans. This went on for years until in 1994, TFN and The City Assembly reached a compromise, the line would instead be built as a Light Rail system similar in the style of the already existing and successful Docklands Light Railway and Toronto Sky-Train which would not only run on the initial elevated line but also various other lines spanning across the outskirts of the city. These plans were approved in 1995 and construction of the Neutralston DLR commenced the same year.

**Phase 1 (Initial Line) 1995-2004**

The Neutralston DLR was constructed in 3 phases over the course of 13 years.

Phase 1 began construction in 1995 after plans were approved, this involved brand new platforms being constructed at Cocaine Mall and a temporary depot being built just next to the station, brand new High Level Platforms were also constructed at Ice Cove in order for the DLR to interchange with the existing Northern Line. 2 brand new stations was built as part of Phase 1, these stations being: Pudding Drill Lane and Pine Village.

Whilst Pudding Drill Lane was constructed fairly quickly due to its roughly flat location and overall station design, Pine Village ended up being delayed right up until Late 2004, delaying the opening of the DLR. This was due to the terrain in the Pine Village area being hilly and full of clay-beds, as a result equipment needed for the necessary deforestation and land transformation would take long to arrive, Eco-Rights protestors would also block a lorry arriving into the building site in July 1998, on the grounds that the forest was listed and they were cutting down trees illegally, even though The Pinewood County Forest Trust had given the necessary planning permissions to Transport for Neutralston the year prior. However Pine Village Station would eventually be completed and handed over to Transport for Neutralston in October 2004, the initial design of the station was a basic ticket hall building with 2 platforms, with futureproofing in place to allow for a 2 more platforms to be built if needed.

The Neutralston DLR would then commence operations in November 2004, with services running from Cocaine Mall to Pine Village.

**Phase 2 (Lake Pomerania Extension) 2005-2007**

Phase 2 commenced just after Phase 1's completion, this was done in order to save resources and due to the fact the Cocaine Mall Depot was already nearing capacity due to being constructed as a mere few sidings. Phase 2 involved the construction of a brand new permanent depot at Trividale just outside Pine Village Station, and the construction of 3 brand new stations these being: Trividale-Broadwell, Broadwell Gateway and Lake Pomerania. Trividale-Broadwell was built to interchange with Broadwell Tube Station as well as service the surrounding Trividale area. Lake Pomerania acted as the interim terminus station until Phase 3 was commenced as well as a interchange station with the Neutralston Tramlink. Broadwell Gateway was constructed as interchange station with the Ferry Terminal. Trividale Depot was completed in August 2006 with Cocaine Mall Depot closing down operations in September 2006 and all rolling stock being relocated to Trividale Depot.

Lake Pomerania and Broadwell Gateway services would commence in February 2007 with the first train running from Cocaine Mall to Lake Pomerania, onboard was the Mayor of Neutralston who boarded the first train at Pine Village as well as higher ups from Transport For Neutralston and various press.

**Phase 3 (Neut. High St Extension/Pine Village Rebuilding Works) 2006-2008**

Construction of Phase 3 began in 2006, this involved building a new viaduct from Lake Pomerania and building 2 new stations: Dublin Avenue and Neutralston High Street. Dublin Avenue was designed using the same material as the viaduct, this was done in order to save costs and allow the station to be built rather quickly. Neutralston High Street acted as the actual northern terminus of the DLR and was constructed over the course of 1 year.

As well as the new extension from Lake Pomerania, a new branch entirely would be built from Pine Village station to Wavier Hill. This extension was funded entirely by the World Expo Legacy Corp, who also funded a short shuttle branch from Wavier Hill to the Expo Site. To cope with the added congestion and traffic from trains using the new branch it was decided that the DLR platforms at Pine Village station would be extensively rebuilt. Pine Village station would close temporarily in April 2007 to allow for works to begin, these works included the addition of a 3rd Platform terminating for trains on the Wavier Hill branch, Platform 2 would become an island platform with Platform 3 being for terminating trains. New canopies on Platform 1 and Platform 2 would also be added.

In addition to the rebuilding works at Pine Village, the branch would include 3 new stations being built, these being: Pine Museum, Wavier Hill and EXPO 2008. Pine Museum was constructed in an island platform formation and was the first entirely underground station on the DLR Network, it was built using a cut and cover method and broke ground in June 2006, as part of a push for safer travel on the DLR, TFN added PEGs (Platform Edge Gates) to the platforms, this made the DLR the first railway in Neutralston to utilise Platform Edge Door technology. Pine Museum was originally going to be named East Pine Village in the initial plans for this branch, station signs using the name were also produced during this time in preparation for the station's completion, however late into the stations construction, TFN would change the name to Pine Museum as they thought that passengers would confuse East Pine Village station with the nearby Pine Village Station, another reason they changed the name to Pine Museum was because of the local museum with the same name, that documented the history of the town. Wavier Hill was constructed quickly in order to meet the opening day of the World Expo Site. The platforms here were built in wide configurations, this was done to ensure that crowds from the World Expo site would be able to roam safely through the station without overcrowding. EXPO 2008 was designed to be a cheap efficient station. As a result it only featured one platform which was built in a station box that was partially underground, the platforms here were also built wide in order to prevent overcrowding from people attending the World Expo.

Phase 3 would be completed in May 2008 in time for the World Expo, services to Neutralston High Street would commence in May 2008 and services to Wavier Hill would commence in August 2008, EXPO 2008 shuttle services would also run frequently during the World Expo Event which ran from August 2008 to September 2008. After the World Expo Event concluded, Shuttle services no longer ran during the week and instead only ran on Weekends and Public Holidays.

**Phase 4a (DLR Improvement Works) 2021-2024 (Planned Completion)**

Phase 4 of the DLR was not part of the original plans and instead was part of a new set of plans put forward by the Neutralston City Assembly in 2019 in order to better connect various towns in Outer-Neutralston, This phase originally was to commence in 2020 however due to the COVID-19 Pandemic works were pushed back to mid 2021. Phase 4 is split into 2 parts: Phase 4a which involves the replacement of old tracks and the cleaning up of stations and Phase 4b which involves a brand new extension to Retford.

Phase 4a commenced in October 2021, this involved the complete closure of the line from Pine Village to Ice Cove, as part of this phase, track sleepers would be completely switched out, signals would be upgraded and brick-work in the cuttings between Pine Village and Pine Museum stations would be repaired due to neglect. As of 2024, this phase is nearing completion with works on the brick-work finally reaching their final stages of restoration.

**Phase 4b (Retford Extension) 2024-2027 (Planned)**

Phase 4b is to commence later this year, which involves new tracks being constructed at Ice Cove and a new branch which would run up to Neutralston-Retford and Interchange with National Rail and The Elizabeth Line, this phase will commence after Phase 4a is complete.