Skip to main content

KeolisAmey reappointed to operate London's automated rail system

New eight-year €140m deal from Transport for London to run Docklands Light Railway
By Adam Hill October 7, 2024 Read time: 2 mins
The DLR has 40km of track and 45 stations and carries around 100 million passengers per year (© Anizza | Dreamstime.com)

Transport for London (TfL) has reappointed KeolisAmey to operate and maintain its automated metro network in the UK capital. 

The driverless Docklands Light Railway (DLR) opened in 1987 to cover a redeveloped docks area in the east of the city, and KeolisAmey - a joint venture between Keolis and Amey - began operating it in December 2014.

The new eight-year contract is worth around €140 million in revenue and will begin on 1 April 2025.

The DLR has 40km of track and 45 stations and carries around 100 million passengers per year.

Marie-Ange Debon, chairwoman of the Keolis Executive Board, says she is "proud of the role we have played over the past decade, setting records for ridership and customer satisfaction".

“The new DLR contract allows us to build on our work, operating one of the capital’s busiest rail networks, bringing new technologies onboard to improve passengers’ experiences and give back to local communities," adds Andy Milner, CEO of Amey.

"With new trains, greater innovation, a core commitment to decarbonising and a focus on safety for both customers and colleagues, it’s a really important time for the DLR," comments Tom Page, TfL’s general manager for DLR.

KeolisAmey says it will support TfL in introducing 54 new trains to the network, adding new timetables with increased service frequency, and deploying AI-based tech to improve passenger safety in stations and manage footfall during major events.

Keolis operates a dozen automated metro networks, including the world’s longest - in Dubai - which has 280km of lines in operation or under construction.

The first automated metro launched in 1983 in Lille, France.

Related Content

  • November 13, 2014
    A future vision for transport in Wales
    A new report by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) Cymru Wales, Vision 2035: Cymru Wales, looks to the future and visualises how transport and logistics in Wales would develop, taking account of population changes, technological developments and social and political change. By 2035, Wales will be making decisions on all aspects of transport, including air passenger duty, rail franchising and road policy. There will also be greater government involvement in public transport operatio
  • July 18, 2014
    Contracts awarded for London’s traffic signals upgrade
    Transport for London (TfL) has awarded new traffic signals maintenance contracts, worth around US$542 million for up to eight years, which will see the capital’s 6,000 traffic signals upgraded and maintained to the latest, greenest standards. Awarded to Telent Technology Services for west and south-west London, Siemens for north and north-west London and Cubic Transportation Systems for south-east London, the new Traffic Control Management Services contracts will help expand the use of intelligent traf
  • April 27, 2020
    7,000 TfL staff furloughed today
    Transport for London (TfL)’s main source of income “has almost disappeared”.
  • July 26, 2012
    Personal Rapid Transit, clear benefits for European cities
    David Crawford watches the race to get the world's first PRT system up and running. To paraphrase the old joke about buses bunching, you seem to have to wait several decades for a Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system, and then half a dozen come along together. Currently, in fact, there are well over that number of schemes for driverless electric passenger-carrying 'pod' networks at various stages of planning, design and implementation around the world. Locations range from a straight-off-the-drawing board ne