Commuters throughout east London should already be feeling the benefits of a new three-car route and higher frequency Docklands Light Railway trains.

They have been introduced to help meet Olympic demand and are designed to increase capacity by a third between Bank and Woolwich during the morning peak. DLR bosses also believe they will increase network capacity by 12,000 during the evening peak .

Longer and more frequent trains were introduced into service on the DLR on January 30 to help meet increasing demand and set the network on course for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

New three-car trains will run on the popular Bank to Woolwich route to carry an extra 1500 passengers per hour in the morning peak – a 50 per cent increase in capacity.

Increased frequency across the whole DLR network during the evening peak will allow trains to carry 4,000 extra passengers per hour, or 12,000 additional passengers over the three hour peak period.

On the Bank to Woolwich branch trains will run every eight minutes rather than every nine minutes. The same frequency improvement will be seen between Tower Gateway and Beckton and between Stratford International and Woolwich Arsenal. On the Bank to Lewisham route, frequency will increase from one train every 4.5 minutes to one every 4 minutes. This will mirror the frequencies already introduced in the morning peak.

DLR Director Jonathan Fox said: “Woolwich and City Airport route passengers received a boost last year when we provided a through service to Stratford International during peak hours – we are now improving the DLR service again with 50 per cent more capacity direct to the City of London. This is a significant capacity increase and particularly good news for people in the boroughs of Greenwich and Newham.

“It leaves the DLR in an excellent position ready to step up and meet the challenge of the 2012 Games. The extra capacity provided enables us to test our capability between now and July so the network will be poised ready to deliver trains when and where they are needed during the events.”