Stratford

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Stratford station is in Stratford, Newham, East London on National Rail, London Underground, London Overground and Docklands Light Railway (DLR) lines.

It is served by the Underground Central and Jubilee lines, and by London Overground, National Express East Anglia and c2c. It is in Travelcard Zone 3.

To distinguish the station from Stratford-upon-Avon this station is called Stratford (London) by National Rail, and is sometimes referred to as Stratford Regional to distinguish it from Stratford International station 400 yards away.

Stratford station was opened on 20 June 1839 by the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR). As well as a station, a railway works was also built, and much of this has since been turned into a freight terminal.

Central Line services started on 4 December 1946, extended from Liverpool Street station in new tunnels after being delayed due to the Second World War. Services were extended to Leyton on 5 May 1947 and then on to the former London and North Eastern Railway branch lines to Epping, Ongar and Hainault progressively until 1957.

The Docklands Light Railway opened on 31 August 1987 reusing redundant rail routes through the Bow and Poplar areas to reach the new Docklands developments on the Isle of Dogs.

The Low Level station underwent a major rebuilding programme in the late 1990s as part of the Jubilee Line Extension works. This saw the construction of an enormous steel and glass building designed by Wilkinson Eyre that encloses much of the Low Level station, and a new ticket hall. The old ticket hall, which lay at the eastern end of the station and was connected via a subway, has since been demolished. The Jubilee Line opened to passengers on 14 May 1999, initially only as far as North Greenwich tube station, before opening to Green Park and Stanmore in November 1999.

With the massive increase of services and passengers since the Second World War, Stratford station has changed from being a fairly busy junction to one of the country’s major rail interchanges. This is set to continue in the future with the opening of the Crossrail line across London and the nearby Stratford International station.