Hackney Central railway station

Hackney Central
Hackney Central Location of Hackney Central in Greater London
Location	Hackney
Local authority	London Borough of Hackney
Managed by	London Overground
Owner	Network Rail
Station code	HKC
DfT category	D
Number of platforms	2
Accessible	Yes [1]
Fare zone	2
OSI	Hackney Downs [2]
National Rail annual entry and exit
2018–19	4.183 million [3]
– interchange	4.170 million [3]
2019–20	4.688 million [3]
– interchange	3.703 million [3]
2020–21	1.110 million [3]
– interchange	1.576 million [3]
2021–22	3.394 million [3]
– interchange	1.496 million [3]
2022–23	4.206 million [3]
– interchange	1.467 million [3]
Key dates
26 September 1850	Opened as Hackney
1 December 1870	Relocated west
1944	Closed
12 May 1980	Reopened as Hackney Central
Other information
External links	Departures Layout Facilities Buses
WGS84	51°32′49″N0°03′21″W / 51.547°N 0.0559°W / 51.547; -0.0559
London transportportal

Hackney Central is a London Overground station on the North London line in Hackney Central, north-east London. It lies between Dalston Kingsland and Homerton and is in Travelcard Zone 2. ^[4] The station and all trains serving it are operated by London Overground services which are managed by Transport for London.

The station is connected to Hackney Downs by a direct passenger walkway linking the two stations (replacing an earlier such link) that was opened in July 2015. This walkway means passengers do not have to exit on to the street in order to continue their onward journey. ^[5]

v t e London Overground
Cheshunt Theobalds Grove Enfield Town Turkey Street Romford Bush Hill Park Southbury Emerson Park Upminster Edmonton Green Silver Street Chingford White Hart Lane Highams Park Watford Junction Bruce Grove Wood Street Watford Seven Sisters Walthamstow Central High Street Harringay Blackhorse Road Walthamstow Queen's Road Bushey Green Lanes Carpenders Park Crouch Hill South Tottenham St. James Leyton Midland Road Hatch End Upper ( ) Stamford Hill Street Leytonstone Headstone Lane Holloway Stoke Newington Clapton High Road Harrow & Kentish Town West Rectory Road Wanstead Park ( ) Wealdstone Gospel Oak Camden Road ( ) Hackney Woodgrange Park Kenton ( ) Caledonian Road Canonbury Downs Barking South Kenton & Barnsbury Barking Riverside ( ) North Highbury & Islington Dalston Kingsland Hackney Central Wembley Hampstead Heath Dalston Wembley Finchley Road & Frognal ( ) Junction London Fields Central West Hampstead ( ) Haggerston Cambridge Homerton Stonebridge Brondesbury Hoxton Heath Hackney Wick Park Brondesbury Park Shoreditch High Street Bethnal Green Stratford Harlesden Kensal Rise Kensal Green Liverpool Whitechapel Willesden Queen's Park Street Shadwell ( ) Junction Kilburn High Road Wapping South Hampstead Rotherhithe Shepherd's Bush ( ) Euston ( ) Canada Water Kensington (Olympia) Surrey Quays West Brompton Battersea Park Imperial Wharf ( ) (limited service) New Cross Clapham Queens Road Peckham New Cross Gate Junction Peckham Rye Brockley Acton Central Wandsworth Road Denmark Hill Honor Oak Park South Acton ( ) Clapham Forest Hill Gunnersbury High Street Sydenham Kew Gardens Richmond Crystal Palace Penge West Anerley Norwood Junction West Croydon ( )
Legend
Station National Rail Liberty line Accessible station Thameslink Lioness line Interchange station Elizabeth line Mildmay line Accessible interchange Docklands Light Railway Suffragette line London Underground Weaver line Internal interchange London Trams Windrush line Out-of-station interchange London River Services The new London Overground line names and colours are to be introduced across the London rail network in autumn 2024

History

Early years

The original Edwin Henry Horne building

The North London Railway opened a station named Hackney on 26 September 1850, to the east of Mare Street, then in the county of Middlesex. It closed on 1 December 1870 and was replaced the same day by a station to the west of Mare Street, designed by Edwin Henry Horne and also named Hackney. This station passed in due course to the London and North Western Railway and later on to the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, which closed the entire North London line east of Dalston Junction to passenger traffic in 1944. ^[6]

Just to the west of the station a goods yard called Graham Road was opened by the Great Eastern Railway in 1894. Located just west of the GER Hackney Downs railway viaduct the depot consisted of seven sidings dealing with coal and general goods. The land had originally been purchased for a rail link between the North London and Great Eastern Railways.

Graham Road goods yard closed in October 1965. ^[7] The site was finally used to link the North London and Great Eastern lines when in anticipation of the closure of Broad Street railway station in 1985 the "Graham Road Curve" was opened to traffic.

Reopening

On 12 May 1980, the station was reopened by British Rail as part of the Crosstown Linkline service, this time named Hackney Central, a little to the west of the 1870 station. The 1870 station building designed by Edwin Henry Horne is no longer in use by the railway, but is one of only two examples of North London Railway architecture still in situ, the other being Camden Road station, which is still open. Access to the modern Hackney Central station is from an alleyway adjacent to the 1870 building on Mare Street, as well as a more direct access from Amhurst Road.

The former station building is now a bar and music venue. ^[8]

Line improvement

As part of the programme to introduce four-car trains on the London Overground network, the North London Line between Gospel Oak and Stratford closed in February 2010 to enable the installation of a new signalling system and the extension of platforms across the network. The line reopened on 1 June 2010, initially with a reduced service and none on Sundays. ^[9] The full seven-day service resumed on 22 May 2011, with extra services running all day in place of the additional shuttle trains which had previously run between Camden Road and Stratford stations in the morning and evening peaks. ^[10]

Opening of second entrance

A new entrance from the south in Graham Road with ticket office and footbridge was opened in 2022. ^{[11] [12]}

Services

London Overground Class 378 Capitalstar unit 378005 approaches Hackney Central. Units such as this operate most services at the station. Others are operated by Class 710 "Aventra" units.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour (tph) is:

• 4 tph westbound to Richmond via Highbury & Islington, Camden Road and Willesden Junction ^[10]
• 4 tph westbound to Clapham Junction ^[10]
• 8 tph eastbound to Stratford ^[10]

Future proposals

Crossrail 2

Hackney Central is a proposed stop on Crossrail 2. It would be between Angel and Tottenham Hale or Seven Sisters. ^[13] The platforms would be underground, with a connection to the existing surface station.

Docklands Light Railway

In February 2006 the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) Horizon 2020 report, had suggested that the DLR be extended here from Bow Church via Old Ford and Homerton, taking over the old parts of the North London line to link up Poplar and Canary Wharf. ^[14] However, most of the former North London line between Hackney Wick and Bow Church has been built on. ^{[ citation needed ]}.

Connections

London Bus routes 30, 38, 55, 106, 236, 242, 253, 254, 276, 277, 394 and W15 and night routes N38, N55, N242, N253 and N277 serve the station. ^{[15] [16]}

References

1. "Step free Tube Guide" (PDF). Transport for London . April 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 May 2021.
2. "Out of Station Interchanges" (XLSX). Transport for London. 16 June 2020. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
3. "Estimates of station usage". Rail statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Please note: Some methodology may vary year on year.
4. Standard Tube Map (PDF) (Map). Not to scale. Transport for London. November 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 November 2022. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
5. Vyas, Shekha (22 August 2015). "New bridge to cut commute between Hackney Downs and Central". Hackney Gazette. London.
6. Brown, Joe (2009). London Railway Atlas. Hersham: Ian Allan. ISBN   978-0-7110-3397-9.
7. Watling, John (April 1985). "The London goods stations of the GER Part 4". Great Eastern Journal. 42: 4.
8. "Hackney gets a new music venue, restaurant and bar in Oslo". TimeOut London. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
9. "London Overground to close from Gospel Oak to Stratford as part of £326m upgrade to deliver longer, more frequent trains". TfL. 18 December 2009. Archived from the original on 25 April 2010. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
10. "Richmond and Clapham Junction to Stratford route" (PDF). 15 May 2022.
11. London Borough of Hackney (19 May 2021). "A fair recovery for Hackney Central".
12. Smith, Roger (4 July 2022). "Second entrance opened at Hackney Central station". RailAdvent.
13. "Crossrail 2 June 2014". TfL Consultations Portal. Transport for London. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
14. Docklands Light Railway Ltd. - DLR Horizon 2020 Study Business Case Appraisal
15. "Buses from Hackney Central" (PDF). Transport for London. June 2022. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 May 2023. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
16. "Night buses from Hackney Central" (PDF). Transport for London. June 2022. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 May 2023. Retrieved 12 May 2023.

External links

• Excel file displaying National Rail station usage information for 2005/06 Archived 22 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine
• Train times and station information for Hackney Central railway station from National Rail

Preceding station	London Overground			Following station
Dalston Kingsland towards Richmond or Clapham Junction		North London line		Homerton towards Stratford