In 1852 S.W.Silver and Co moved to the area from Greenwich and established a rubber works, originally to make waterproof clothing. This subsequently developed into the works of the India Rubber, Gutta Percha and Telegraph Cable Company, which constructed and laid many submarine cables. By the 1860s a number of manure and chemical works and petroleum storage depots had been set up. Sugar refiners in the area were joined by Henry Tate in 1877 and Abram Lyle in 1881, whose companies merged in 1921 to form Tate & Lyle. Prior to the merger, which occurred after they had died, the two men were bitter business rivals, although they had never met in person. Tate & Lyle still has two large refineries in the area. On 19 January 1917 parts of Silvertown were devastated by a massive TNT explosion at the Brunner-Mond munitions factory, in what is known as the Silvertown explosion. Seventy three people died and hundreds were injured in one of the largest explosions ever experienced in the British Isles.
The station is located in the east of Silvertown in the London Borough of Newham, in the redevelopment zone known as Silvertown Quays, and is in Travelcard Zone 3. Originally DLR trains from Canning Town ran easterly to Royal Victoria and on to Beckton. On 2 December 2005 the King George V branch (since extended to Woolwich Arsenal) was opened and gave another, more southeasterly, route on which there are now four intermediate stations, West Silvertown, Pontoon Dock, London City Airport, and King George V. During the London 2012 Olympic games it was connected by a pathway over the road to the exit of the ExCeL centre. The track through Pontoon Dock parallels the (A1020) North Woolwich Road, and gives excellent views to the south across the Thames Barrier Park of the Thames Barrier. Pontoon Dock station is near the small eponymous quay and the Barrier Point residential complex. The service interval through Pontoon Dock between Bank, in the City of London and Woolwich Arsenal is ten minutes off peak. In peak hours, this decreases to every eight minutes, with an additional service to Stratford International, providing a service every four minutes between Canning Town and Woolwich Arsenal.
Connections: London Buses route 474 and school route 678 serve the station.
