From 2025, a new fleet of 54 trains built by CAF will replace older rolling stock and provide additional capacity.

The first three generations of passenger trains consist of 149 high-floor, bi-directional, single-articulated cars, each 28 metres (91 feet 10 inches) long.

[11][failed verification] The future B23 rolling stock will be a single 5-coach unit equivalent to the length of a 3-car train, with 13 doors per side.

Because of the absence of a driver's position, the fully glazed car ends provide a panoramic forward (or rear) view for passengers.

The DLR trains have a maximum speed of 100 km/h (62 mph), but the fastest possible speed reached is 80 km/h (50 mph) through the tunnel under the River Thames between Woolwich Arsenal station and King George V.[citation needed] The fleet for the 1987 opening consisted of 11 light rail vehicles (LRVs) built in 1986 by Linke-Hofmann-Busch in Germany and numbered 01 to 11.

It was part of a light rail demonstration at Debdale Park, Manchester for which it had a pantograph fitted by Balfour Beatty.

It carried Queen Elizabeth II and the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh during the opening of the DLR on 30 July 1987 from Island Gardens (when originally above ground) to Poplar and then to Tower Gateway.

These cars were built for the initial above-ground system and, because of failing to comply with safety and fire regulations (for example, not having any front and rear evacuation doors), were not allowed to operate on the tunnelled extension to Bank.

[18][19] In 1989–1990, British Rail Engineering Limited's Holgate Road carriage works, produced another ten cars, numbered 12 to 21, having the characteristics of the original P86 stock.

They were, however, equipped with sufficient fireproofing to operate through the tunnels of the Bank extension, possibly because they were designed and built by a different manufacturer.

Because the Essen Stadtbahn does not currently use fully automated driving and uses overhead line rather than third rail power collection, the modifications to both sets of cars involved fitting driver's cabs and pantographs.

Additional vehicles were required as the network expanded, and as the original P86 and P89 cars had to be replaced due to their unsuitability for the changed system conditions.

When newly introduced, the B2K stock differed from the earlier vehicles in appearance as the doors and handrails were painted in colours that contrasted with their surroundings.

These differences were all mandated by the Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations of the Disability Discrimination Act, which were not in force when the older cars were built.

The B90/B92/B2K stocks were refurbished between 2004 and 2007 with the completed trains re-entering service with a redesigned interior and in a new livery of red and blue with grey doors to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

However, a disadvantage of this technology is that they are partly responsible for violent shaking as the trains run at faster speeds on straight sections of the route, a phenomenon known as hunting oscillation.

[citation needed] In 2017, Transport for London (TfL) published a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union seeking expressions of interest from manufacturers to build a new fleet of 43 trains each 87 metres (285 ft 5 in) long.

[35] Alstom, Bombardier, Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) and a Siemens / Stadler Rail consortium were shortlisted.

On-board facilities planned include real-time information screens, air conditioning and mobile device charging points.