Shoreditch tube station
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| Shoreditch | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Location | |
| Place | Brick Lane |
| History | |
| Opened by | East London Railway |
| Platforms | 1 |
| Key dates | Opened 1869 Closed 2006 |
| Replaced by | Shoreditch High Street (not yet open) |
Shoreditch tube station is a former London Underground station located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London. It is located in Zone 2. Despite its name, it is not in Shoreditch itself; the district of that name is located nearby in the London Borough of Hackney. The station closed permanently at the end of traffic on 9 June 2006.
It was the northern terminus of the East London Line, constituting a single platform alongside a single track that runs next to the disused Bishopsgate Goods Yard. Until the late 1960s the East London Line connected with the mainline railway just north of Shoreditch station for services to Liverpool Street; the site of the former link is still visible from the end of the platform, and can also be briefly seen from 'one' mainline trains running from Stratford. The station was one of only a handful on the network with a single platform, single track layout (though it originally had two tracks and platforms). The preceding station on the line was Whitechapel which will serve as the northern terminus until the East London Line extension opens in 2010.
Contents |
[edit] History
Shoreditch tube station was originally opened in 1869 as a stop on the mainline East London Railway from Liverpool Street to points south. However, the passenger service between Shoreditch and Liverpool Street was withdrawn only 16 years later, in 1885. The station joined the Underground network on 31 March 1913 as part of the Metropolitan Railway in conjunction with an electrification of the entire line.
Goods services from Liverpool Street continued to pass through Shoreditch until as late as April 1966, following which the track connection was severed in order to improve access to Liverpool Street for other trains. The station was closed from March 1995 to September 1998 during the renovation of the East London Line, only reopening six months after the rest of the line.
At least one other station has used the name Shoreditch: see Shoreditch railway station, which was located some distance further north on the North London Railway.
[edit] Usage
Before its final closure, the station was one of the less used stations on the network (with only about 1,130 passengers a day), as a result of which it had limited opening hours. During weekdays it was open for the early morning and late afternoon/early evening rush hours. It was closed all day Saturday, and open on Sunday mornings or afternoons for the nearby Brick Lane Market. This was actually an improvement on the situation prior to the 1990s, when the station was only open during weekday rush hours.
[edit] Total annual entry + exit (in millions)
[edit] Future plans
Shoreditch tube station closed permanently on 9 June 2006, to allow work to begin on the East London Line extension. A new station, provisionally called Shoreditch High Street, will replace it when the extended line is opened.
Unlike other permanently closed stations (such as Aldwych, for example), London Rail is continuing to provide a service to Shoreditch. Until the new station opens in 2010, a non-stop rail replacement bus will connect Shoreditch with Whitechapel using the limited opening hours used by the previous tube service.
Some commentators have suggested that it might be possible to reinstate the Shoreditch link to Liverpool Street to provide mainline services from there to south London, but this seems an unlikely prospect. Liverpool Street station is already heavily congested and would require major modifications to take third rail trains such as those used on the East London Line and south London railways. Transport for London has stated that the Shoreditch cutting will be filled in, presumably so that the land can be reused for buildings. [1]
[edit] External links
- LU's information leaflet about Shoreditch station closure and East London Line extension
- London's Transport Museum Photographic Archive
- Some photos from around the time the station faced closure.
- A informative website about Shoreditch station
