Tower Gateway | |
|---|---|
 The station entrance in 2015 | |
  Tower Gateway Location of Tower Gateway in Central London | |
| Location | Minories |
| Local authority | City of London |
| Managed by | Docklands Light Railway |
| Number of platforms | 2 (facing 1 tracks) |
| Accessible | Yes[1] |
| Fare zone | 1 |
| OSI | Aldgate Fenchurch Street  Tower Hill [2] |
| Cycle parking | Yes |
| Toilet facilities | No |
| DLR annual boardings and alightings | |
| 2019 |  4.905 million[3] |
| 2020 |  1.344 million[4] |
| 2021 | 2.401 million[5] |
| 2022 | 3.130 million[6] |
| 2023 | 3.140 million[7] |
| Railway companies | |
| Original company | Docklands Light Railway |
| Key dates | |
| 31 August 1987 | Opened |
| Other information | |
| Coordinates | 51°30′37″N0°04′29″W / 51.5104°N 0.0746°W /51.5104; -0.0746 |
 London transport portal | |
Tower Gateway is aDocklands Light Railway (DLR) station in theCity of London and is located near theTower of London andTower Bridge. It adjoins the tracks toFenchurch Street station and is located on the site of a former station calledMinories. Tower Gateway is withinLondon fare zone 1.
It is a short walk from bothTower Hill Underground station and Fenchurch Street. Access at street level from theMinories is via escalator, stairs or lift at the western end of the station. A pedestrian crossing connects the station with Tower Hill station, its closest London Underground connection. A narrow secondary staircase entrance at the eastern end of the platform, improved considerably in the early 2000s, descends toMansell Street. It serves the eastern edge of the City of London financial district and development aroundSt Katharine Docks.
It was opened in 1987 as the western terminus of the initial DLR system and the station closest to central London.
The underground extension toBank, which opened in 1991, diverges from the original route between Tower Gateway andShadwell, the next station to the east. It dives down a steep ramp not far from the eastern end of the platforms, from which it is clearly visible. Tower Gateway is the terminus for the less busy service toBeckton. Journeys to other branches of the DLR normally require a change.
In keeping with the DLR's original basic lightweight philosophy, Tower Gateway is a simple elevated terminus. As built it had two tracks and a cross-over. When the extension to Bank opened, its importance was substantially reduced. Before reconstruction it had a fairly narrow central platform, and a single track leading from the main route to a set of points immediately prior to the platforms.
Further major alterations began on 30 June 2008. The station reopened on 2 March 2009, rebuilt as a single-track terminus to enable three-car trains with a platform on each side of the train, one for arriving passengers and the other for departures (theSpanish solution).
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour from Tower Gateway is 6 tph to and fromBeckton viaCanning Town. Additional services run to and from the station during the peak hours, increasing the service up to 8 tph to and from the station.[8]
| Preceding station | DLR | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terminus | Docklands Light Railway | Shadwell towardsBeckton |
A Transport Supporting Paper released by the office of the Mayor of London envisages the closure of Tower Gateway DLR station and the branch serving it, with a replacement interchange being provided via a new station on the Bank branch connected to Tower Hill station. The reasoning is given that currently, 90 per cent of DLR City passengers use Bank station, but only 75 per cent of services go there; this would increase service to Bank from 23tph to 30tph, thereby unlocking more capacity on the Bank branch.[9] In exchange, services fromFenchurch Street railway station might move to the current Tower Gateway location.
London Buses routes42,78,100,343 and night routeN551 serve the station.[10]
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