Whitechapel | |
---|---|
Location | Whitechapel |
Local authority | London Borough of Tower Hamlets |
Managed by | London Underground |
Owner | Transport for London |
Station code | ZLW |
Number of platforms | 6 |
Accessible | Yes |
Fare zone | 2 |
National Rail annual entry and exit | |
2018–19 | 14.413 million [1] |
2019–20 | 13.312 million [1] |
2020–21 | 4.142 million [1] |
2021–22 | 9.273 million [1] |
2022–23 | 23.307 million [1] |
Key dates | |
10 April 1876 | Opening of ELR station |
6 October 1884 | Opening of DR station |
2 June 1902 | Rebuilding of DR station |
1995–1998 | East London line closed |
2007–2010 | East London line closed |
27 April 2010 [2] | East London line reopened |
24 May 2022 | Elizabeth line opened |
Other information | |
External links | |
Coordinates | 51°31′10″N0°03′40″W / 51.5195°N 0.0612°W |
London transportportal |
Whitechapel is an interchange station in Whitechapel, East London for London Underground, London Overground and Elizabeth line services. [3] The station is located behind a street market of the same name and opposite Tower Hamlets Town Hall. It lies between Aldgate East and Stepney Green stations on the District and Hammersmith & City lines, between Shoreditch High Street and Shadwell stations on the East London Line. To the West of Whitechapel on the Elizabeth Line is Liverpool Street, to the East the line splits with one branch going to Stratford and one to Canary Wharf. It is in Travelcard Zone 2.
The station was comprehensively rebuilt in the late 2010s and early 2020s as part of the Crossrail project.
This section needs additional citations for verification .(March 2015) |
Whitechapel station was originally opened in 1876 when the East London Railway (ELR, now the East London Line) was extended north from Wapping to Liverpool Street station. The ELR owned the tracks and stations but did not operate trains. From the beginning, various railway companies provided services through Whitechapel including the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR), the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LC&DR), Great Eastern Railway (GER) and the South Eastern Railway (SER). [4]
On 6 October 1884, the District Railway (DR, now the District line) opened a new station adjacent to the deeper ELR station as the terminus of an extension from Mansion House [5] (part of the extension also formed the final section of the Circle line [5] [6] ). The new station was given the name "Whitechapel (Mile End)". The ELR passenger service between Whitechapel and Liverpool Street was withdrawn in 1885. The station received its present name on 13 November 1901.
On 1 February 1902, the DR station was temporarily closed for rebuilding. It reopened on 2 June 1902, when the DR opened the Whitechapel & Bow Railway, a joint venture with the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR). [5] The new extension ran eastwards to Bromley-by-Bow where it joined the LT&SR's tracks. [5] DR services then operated regularly to Upminster and as far as Southend-on-Sea in the summer. [5]
The DR tracks were electrified in 1905 and electric trains replaced steam trains. [5] Services going eastwards were cut back to the limit of electrification at East Ham; later they were re-extended to Barking in 1908, and to Upminster in 1932. [5] [7]
On 3 December 1906, the Metropolitan Railway (MR, which in 1933 became the Metropolitan line) extended its service to Whitechapel as the eastern terminus of its service. [8] The MR also ran trains over the southern section of ELR via a connection (St Mary's Curve) between the DR tracks west of Whitechapel and the ELR tracks north of Shadwell station. When the tracks of the ELR were electrified in 1913, the MR ended services to the DR station and extended its ELR service through Whitechapel to Shoreditch (at that time the terminus of the line, but now closed). The change of service took place on 31 March 1913.
On 30 March 1936, the Metropolitan line began operating again through the District line station as far as Barking. [8]
During the 1980s, the London Transport considered converting the East London line into a light railway similar to the Docklands Light Railway, or restoring the then-disused connection to Liverpool Street reconnecting Whitechapel to Liverpool Street via Shoreditch. [9] [ full citation needed ] [10]
The line had also become a line in its own right (though it was still grouped operationally with the Metropolitan line) and, from 1990, its colour on the map changed to orange. At the same time, the Hammersmith-Barking section of the Metropolitan line has also been operated separately as the Hammersmith & City line after it appeared as a completely separate line and it colour changed to pink on the tube map. [8] [11]
On 25 March 1995, during the construction of the Jubilee Line Extension, the East London Line was closed to allow repair works on the Thames Tunnel. General renovations and new signalling works were undertaken at the same time. The line reopened south from Whitechapel on 25 March 1998 and north from Whitechapel on 27 September 1998.
Throughout its life, Whitechapel has been used extensively as an eastern terminus; however, since the timetable change in December 2009, trains have reversed at Plaistow instead of Whitechapel. This is owing to operational changes related to the construction work to build one large island platform.
In preparation for the extension of the East London Line to Dalston Junction and Highbury & Islington, the line north of Whitechapel to Shoreditch was closed on 9 June 2006. Services to Shoreditch had previously been run during peak hours and Sunday mornings only; these were replaced by a bus link.
Work on the extension of the East London line commenced and the line was closed on 22 December 2007. It reopened on 27 April 2010 when tracks on a new alignment were connected to a disused North London Line viaduct from Shoreditch to Dalston, making Whitechapel part of the London Overground network. Temporary bus services operated during the closure, of which rail replacement route ELW remained in service until the ELL fully opened on 23 May 2010. [12] The southern extension of phase 1 from New Cross Gate to Crystal Palace and West Croydon was completed simultaneously with that to Dalston in 2010 and a full service began in May 2010. [13]
In early 2015, because there were no services running on the Hammersmith & City and Circle lines between Edgware Road and Aldgate East/Tower Hill, a revised Circle line service operated between Edgware Road and Barking via Victoria. This occurred because of track drainage replacement and station works at Euston Square, Moorgate and Liverpool Street. It was the first time a regular Circle line service had called at Whitechapel.[ citation needed ]
Owing to Crossrail work that took place at Whitechapel station, Night Overground services initially did not stop at that station until works were complete. [14] From December 2019, Night Overground began to stop additionally at Whitechapel. [15]
In the 2010s and early 2020s, the station was comprehensively rebuilt as part of the Crossrail project. [16] The work was undertaken by a joint venture of Balfour Beatty, Morgan Sindall and Taylor Woodrow Construction. [17]
The work involved restoring the historic station entrance, building a new station concourse and ticket hall above the Underground and Overground tracks, widening the sub-surface line platforms, and providing an intermediate concourse above the Overground tracks – as well as platforms and other infrastructure for Elizabeth line services. [16] [18] 10 lifts provide step free access to all platforms, with 3 escalators providing access down to the Elizabeth line platforms. [19] A new north-south, free public access route through the station is also provided, shortening journeys for local residents. [16]
Originally forecast in the early 2010s to cost £110m, the work at Whitechapel is estimated to have cost around £830m. [20] Crossrail CEO Mark Wild stated that Whitechapel was “one of the most challenging Elizabeth Line stations to construct”, [18] with challenges including building the new concourse above live railway lines, as well as ensuring continued use of the station by passengers. [19] A temporary ticket hall off Court Street maintained access into the station during the 5 year period that the main entrance was closed. [21] [16]
The revamped original entrance reopened on 23 August 2021. [18]
When opened on 24 May 2022, [3] services initially ran between Paddington and Abbey Wood only. Since 6 November 2022, the line splits into two branches just east of the station: one towards Shenfield, joining the Great Eastern Main Line just south of Stratford, and the other continuing to Abbey Wood [22] The Elizabeth Line platforms lie to the north of the station, with access via escalators down from the intermediate concourse above the Overground tracks.
Whitechapel station has bilingual station signage, owing to the large Bengali community in the local area. In March 2022, station signs on the platforms bear "Whitechapel" and also "হোয়াইটচ্যাপেল" in Bengali. [23] It is one of the relatively few stations in England to have bilingual signage, others being Southall (Punjabi), Wallsend (Latin), Hereford (Welsh), Moreton-in-Marsh (Japanese) and St Pancras International, Ebbsfleet International and Ashford International (all French). Mayor of London Sadiq Khan stated that he was "delighted" that the signage was installed ahead of Bangladesh Independence Day on 26 March. [23] The installation was applauded by not only Bangladeshi diplomats, but also Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal. [24]
This section needs additional citations for verification .(March 2015) |
Whitechapel has the unusual situation where the District and Hammersmith & City line London Underground platforms are located above the East London Line London Overground platforms.
The station used to have six platforms in open cuttings north of Whitechapel Road. The Hammersmith & City and District lines had two eastbound and two westbound (although trains could have reversed direction from any platform during times of disruption or engineering work). There was a siding beside platform 4 track accessed from the east side of the station which could accept a 6-car C or D stock train. There was another siding from platform 1 eastbound. This was of sufficient length and signalled to hold only a six car C stock train and when it was holding a train the platform (one) could only be used as a terminal, to reverse trains east to west, not as a through platform. The East London line (now part of London Overground) has one northbound and one southbound platform. They are sited at the eastern end of the station and are in a deeper cutting.
In September 2011 the track was permanently removed from platforms 2, 3, and 4. Platform 4 has been extended over the trackbed and westbound trains use the route of the old siding which has been connected to the main line at the western end to provide a through route. This platform is renumbered platform 2. Trailing crossovers are provided at each end of the station. The two island platforms were combined to form one large island platform with a central circulating area. A new double-ended centre reversing siding has been constructed beyond West Ham to compensate for the loss of reversing facilities from Whitechapel. Since December 2009 Hammersmith & City line trains have not been scheduled to reverse at Whitechapel. Outside peak hours they currently reverse alternately at Plaistow and Barking.
The St Mary's curve connection between the District line track and the East London Line [25] was used for passenger traffic until 1941, but was subsequently only used to transfer empty trains to and from the other sub-surface lines. The curve was often lit and could easily be seen from the left-hand side of East London line trains entering Whitechapel station from the south, prior to the refurbishment of the East London line that commenced in late December 2007. The points on the District line, connecting it to the curve, were removed in summer 2008. Just west of Whitechapel is the site of the former St Mary's station, one of the many closed London Underground stations. [25]
In 1997, Vitreous enamel panels designed by Doug Patterson were installed on the East London line (now part of the London Overground) platforms. [26]
On the Elizabeth line platforms, colourful paper collages of local residents by Chantal Joffe have been recreated in aluminium. This work is titled "A Sunday afternoon in Whitechapel". [27] [28]
Services at Whitechapel are operated by the Elizabeth line, London Overground and London Underground's District and Hammersmith & City lines.
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour (tph) is:
Operator/line | Frequency to destination |
---|---|
London Underground District line [29] | Eastbound 3 tph to Barking 12 tph to Upminster |
Westbound 3 tph to Wimbledon 6 tph to Richmond 6 tph to Ealing Broadway | |
London Underground Hammersmith & City line [30] | Eastbound 6 tph to Barking |
Westbound 6 tph to Hammersmith | |
London Overground [31] | Northbound 8 tph to Dalston Junction 8 tph to Highbury & Islington |
Southbound 4 tph to New Cross 4 tph to Crystal Palace 4 tph to West Croydon 4 tph to Clapham Junction | |
Elizabeth line [32] | Eastbound 8 tph to Abbey Wood 8 tph to Shenfield |
Westbound 6 tph to London Paddington 4 tph to Heathrow Terminal 4 2 tph to Heathrow Terminal 5 2 tph to Maidenhead 2 tph to Reading |
London Buses routes 25, 205, 254, D3 and night routes N25, N205 and N253 serve the station. [33]
The District line is a London Underground line running from Upminster in the east and Edgware Road in the west to Earl's Court in west London, where it splits into multiple branches. One branch runs to Wimbledon in south-west London and a short branch, with a limited service, only runs for one stop to Kensington (Olympia). The main route continues west from Earl's Court to Turnham Green after which it divides again into two western branches, to Richmond and Ealing Broadway.
The East London line is part of the London Overground, running north to south through the East, Docklands and South areas of London. It was previously a line of the London Underground.
The Hammersmith & City line is a London Underground line that runs between Hammersmith in west London and Barking in east London. Coloured pink on the Tube map, it serves 29 stations over 15.8 miles (25.5 km). Between Farringdon and Aldgate East it skirts the City of London, the capital's financial heart, hence the line's name. Its tunnels are just below the surface and are a similar size to those on British main lines. Most of the track and all stations are shared with the District, Circle or Metropolitan lines. Over 141 million passenger journeys are made each year on the Hammersmith & City and Circle lines.
Liverpool Street station, also known as London Liverpool Street, is a major central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, in the ward of Bishopsgate Without. It is the terminus of the West Anglia Main Line to Cambridge, the Great Eastern Main Line to Norwich, commuter trains serving east London and destinations in the East of England, and the Stansted Express service to Stansted Airport.
Richmond, also known as Richmond (London), is a National Rail station in Richmond, Greater London on the Waterloo to Reading and North London Lines. South Western Railway services on the Waterloo to Reading Line are routed through Richmond, which is between North Sheen and St Margarets stations, 9 miles 57 chains (15.6 km) down the line from London Waterloo. For London Overground and London Underground services, the next station is Kew Gardens.
West Ham is a London Underground, Docklands Light Railway (DLR) and National Rail intermodal interchange station in West Ham, London, United Kingdom. The station is served by London Underground's District, Hammersmith & City and Jubilee lines, the Stratford International branch of the DLR, and c2c National Rail services.
Farringdon is an interchange station located in Clerkenwell, London, England, in the London Borough of Islington, just outside the boundary of the City of London for London Underground, Elizabeth line and National Rail services.
Aldgate East is a London Underground station on Whitechapel High Street in Whitechapel, in London, England. It takes its name from the City of London ward of Aldgate, the station lying to the east of the ward. It is on the Hammersmith & City line between Liverpool Street and Whitechapel, and on the District line between Tower Hill and Whitechapel, in Travelcard Zone 1.
Barbican is a London Underground station situated near the Barbican Estate, on the edge of the ward of Farringdon Within, in the City of London in Central London. It has been known by various names since its opening in 1865, mostly in reference to the neighbouring ward of Aldersgate.
Shoreditch was a London Underground station located in Shoreditch in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in east London. Originally opened by the East London Railway in 1876, the station was permanently closed in 2006 being replaced directly to the west of the site by Shoreditch High Street station in 2010.
New Cross Gate is a railway station in New Cross, London, on the Brighton Main Line and the London Overground. It is 2 miles 70 chains down the line from London Bridge and is about 600 m (660 yd) west of New Cross station. It is in Travelcard Zone 2, and is operated by London Overground.
St. Mary's was a station on the District and Metropolitan lines of the London Underground. It was located between Whitechapel and Aldgate East stations, in the East End of London.
Barking is an interchange station serving the town of Barking, east London. It is served by London Underground, London Overground and National Rail main line services. It is located on Station Parade, in the town centre.
Romford railway station is an interchange station on the Great Eastern Main Line, serving the town of Romford in the London Borough of Havering, east London. It is 12 miles 30 chains (19.9 km) down the line from London Liverpool Street and is situated between Chadwell Heath and Gidea Park. It is also the northern terminus of a branch line to Upminster operated by London Overground. Its three-letter station code is RMF and it is in Travelcard Zone 6.
Honor Oak Park railway station serves the suburban area of Honor Oak in the London Borough of Lewisham. It is 4 miles 59 chains down the line from London Bridge, between Brockley and Forest Hill.
Shoreditch High Street is a London Overground station located on Bethnal Green Road in Shoreditch in East London. It is served by the East London Line between Whitechapel and Hoxton with services running either to Dalston Junction, Highbury & Islington or New Cross, New Cross Gate, West Croydon, Crystal Palace, and is in Travelcard Zone 1.
Old Oak Common (OOC) is a railway station under construction on the site of the Old Oak Common traction maintenance depot to the west of London in Old Oak Common, approximately 500 m (1,600 ft) south of Willesden Junction station. When built, it is expected to be one of the largest rail hubs in London, at about 800 m (2,600 ft) in length and 20 m (66 ft) below surface level.
The East London line extension (ELLX) project was a British railway engineering project in London, managed by Transport for London. The project involved extending the East London Line and making it part of the mainline London Overground network. This was done by re-opening sections of disused railway line and by converting track electrified by the third-rail system, signalling, lineside signage and communication systems, etc. to mainline standards. New rolling stock was introduced and four new stations built along the route, with a fifth scheduled to be added in the future at New Bermondsey.
The transport system now known as the London Underground began in 1863 with the Metropolitan Railway, the world's first underground railway. Over the next forty years, the early sub-surface lines reached out from the urban centre of the capital into the surrounding rural margins, leading to the development of new commuter suburbs. At the turn of the nineteenth century, new technology—including electric locomotives and improvements to the tunnelling shield—enabled new companies to construct a series of "tube" lines deeper underground. Initially rivals, the tube railway companies began to co-operate in advertising and through shared branding, eventually consolidating under the single ownership of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL), with lines stretching across London.
The Elizabeth line is a high-frequency hybrid urban–suburban rail service in London and its suburbs. It runs services on dedicated infrastructure in central London from the Great Western Main Line west of Paddington station to Abbey Wood and via Whitechapel to the Great Eastern Main Line near Stratford; along the Great Western Main Line to Reading and Heathrow Airport in the west; and along the Great Eastern Main Line to Shenfield in the east. The service is named after Queen Elizabeth II, who officially opened the line on 17 May 2022 during her Platinum Jubilee year; passenger services started on 24 May 2022. Despite being named under the same system as London Underground lines, and having sections which are underground, the Elizabeth line is not classified as a London Underground line.
A working party set up by London Regional Transport and British Rail to examine potential sites for light railway networks in London has revealed its findings
{{cite news}}
: Missing or empty |title=
(help)