Leytonstone tube station

"Leytonstone station" redirects here. For the London Overground station, see Leytonstone High Road railway station.
Leytonstone London Underground

Eastern entrance on Church Lane
Leytonstone
Location of Leytonstone in Greater London
Location Leytonstone
Local authority London Borough of Waltham Forest
Managed by London Underground
Number of platforms 3
Fare zone 3 and 4
OSI Leytonstone High Road London Overground [1]
London Underground annual entry and exit
2012 Decrease 10.10 million[2]
2013 Increase 10.38 million[2]
2014 Increase 11.05 million[2]
2015 Increase 11.24 million[2]
Key dates
22 August 1856 Opened
1 September 1955 Goods yard closed[3]
Other information
Lists of stations
WGS84 51°34′06″N 0°00′30″E / 51.5683°N 0.0083°E / 51.5683; 0.0083Coordinates: 51°34′06″N 0°00′30″E / 51.5683°N 0.0083°E / 51.5683; 0.0083
London Transport portal

Leytonstone is a London Underground station on the Central line, on the boundary of Zones 3 and 4. Towards London the next station is Leyton, while going east from Leytonstone, the line divides into two branches. On the direct route to Woodford and Epping the next stop is Snaresbrook, and on the Hainault loop it is Wanstead.

History

The station was opened by the Eastern Counties Railway on 22 August 1856. In turn it became, from 1862, part of the Great Eastern Railway system and then in 1923 part of the London & North Eastern Railway before being transferred to London Transport in 1947. This formed part of the "New Works Programme 1935 – 1940" that was to see major changes at Leytonstone with the station becoming the junction of the existing Epping branch, newly electrified, with the new tube tunnel running under Eastern Avenue towards Newbury Park. This work saw a complete reconstruction of the station along with the removal of the level crossing at Church Lane and its replacement by an underbridge. The work stopped in May 1940 due to wartime priorities; further delays were caused by the station buildings being hit by a German bomb in January 1944. During the war, the new tunnels were used as an aircraft component factory; the part closest to Leytonstone was a public air-raid shelter.[4]

The station was first served by the Central line on 5 May 1947 when it became the temporary terminus of the line, passengers changing on to steam shuttle onwards to Epping. This ceased on 14 December 1947 with the extension of Underground services to Woodford and Newbury Park.

Notable events

In honour of the centenary of the birth of film director Sir Alfred Hitchcock (born 13 August 1899 in Leytonstone), the London Borough of Waltham Forest commissioned the Greenwich Mural Workshop to create a series of mosaics of Hitchcock's life and works in the tube station. Work was started in June 2000 and the mosaics were unveiled on 3 May 2001.

Three people were stabbed inside the station's ticket hall during the evening of 5 December 2015, with one person suffering serious knife injuries. The Metropolitan Police arrested the attacker inside the station after using Tasers against him. They subsequently announced that the stabbings were being treated as a 'terrorist incident' and a counter-terrorism operation had been launched.[5] Video footage later emerged of the attacker repeatedly shouting "this is for Syria", in reference to the Royal Air Force's bombing of ISIL targets in Syria, which began on 3 December following parliamentary approval.[6]

The station today

The station has three platforms. The centre platform is generally used for through services going westbound, but can be used to terminate trains from both directions. However, due to the configuration of the tracks, trains going eastbound from this platform can only access the Epping branch. Trains needing access to the Hainault branch can do so by shunting west of the station, and then running into the normal eastbound platform via a crossover.

Connections

London Buses routes 66, 145, 257, 339, W13, W14, W15, W16 and W19 and night route N8 serve the station and bus station.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Leytonstone tube station.

References

  1. ↑ "Out-of-Station Interchanges" (Microsoft Excel). Transport for London. 2 January 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Multi-year station entry-and-exit figures" (XLS). London Underground station passenger usage data. Transport for London. April 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  3. ↑ Hardy, Brian, ed. (March 2011). "How it used to be – freight on The Underground 50 years ago". Underground News. London Underground Railway Society (591): 175–183. ISSN 0306-8617.
  4. ↑ How the Railway Came to Leytonstone, Alan Simpson, Leyton & Leytonstone Historical Society 2006
  5. ↑ "Leytonstone Tube station stabbing a 'terrorist incident'". BBC News.
  6. ↑ "Syria air strikes: RAF Tornado jets carry out bombing". BBC News.
Preceding station   London Underground   Following station
Central line
Epping Branch
towards Epping
Central line
towards Hainault or
Woodford (via Hainault)
  Out of system interchange  
Preceding station   London Overground   Following station
towards Gospel Oak
Gospel Oak to Barking Line
towards Barking
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