Bethnal Green Station (BET)

Address: Three Colts Lane, Bethnal Green, London E2 6JL
Opened: 27 May 1872
Station Code: BET
Fare Zone: 2

London Overground Line(s) Served:

Lea Valley Lines (Cheshunt & Enfield Town Branches)

Service Pattern(s):

Four trains per hour to London Liverpool Street
Two trains per hour to Cheshunt
Two trains per hour to Enfield Town

Station History

Although a line from Romford to Spitalfields passing through the site was opened by the Eastern Counties Railway in July 1840, no station was provided at Bethnal Green.

Indeed, it was not until the Great Eastern Railway, who had taken over the ECR, opened Bethnal Green Junction station on their new lines from Bishopsgate (Low level) to Enfield Town in May 1872 and Chingford a month later.

This was altered on 1 November 1875 when the new GER terminus at Liverpool Street opened, and the low-level Bishopsgate station was closed.

On opening, Bethnal Green Junction consisted of four platforms with two each serving the Enfield/Chingford line and the Great Eastern Main Line toward Stratford. This arrangement lasted until 1891 when, via Parliamentary approval, another pair of tracks was added to the GEML, and the line’s platforms were moved to accommodate these.

In 1894, a further pair of tracks was added between Bethnal Green Junction and Hackney Downs, although these bypassed the existing platforms.

After a downturn in traffic, Bethnal Green Junction (along with Bishopsgate & Cambridge Heath) were proposed for closure during World War I. However, due to its location, Bethnal Green Junction was saved while the other two stations closed in 1916.

Following the passing of the Railways Act 1921, the GER lines were amalgamated with other companies to become the London & North Eastern Railway in 1923. The new company continued to operate services as is until, on 8 December 1946, stopping services on the GEML ceased and the platforms were closed with the London bound platform being demolished and the tracks rearranged. Also at this time, the station was renamed to Bethnal Green.

Nationalisation in 1948 saw the LNER become part of British Railways Eastern Region under whose ownership electrification of the Great Eastern Main Line to Chadwell Heath was accomplished in 1949, although the Hackney lines did not follow suit until operations commenced on 21 November 1960.

Operation under British Railways continued as normal, although the station received very little in the way of regular maintenance and upkeep, with the original station & platform buildings falling into a state of disrepair.

It was not until Network Southeast took over operation of the line and its stations in 1982 that this was rectified, with the platform structures being demolished and smaller brick structures built in their place between 1985 & 1986.

The final changes of ownership for the line and its stations occurred upon privatisation in 1994 when West Anglia Great Northern took the reins, followed by National Express East Anglia in April 2004, Abellio Greater Anglia in February 2012, and finally to current operator London Overground in May 2015.