New Cross Gate Station (NXG)

Address: New Cross Road, London SE14 6AR
Opened: 5th June 1839
Station Code: NXG
Fare Zone: 2

London Overground Line(s) Served:

East London Line

Service Pattern(s):

8 trains per hour to Highbury & Islington
4 trains per hour to Crystal Palace
4 trains per hour to West Croydon

Interchange(s)

Southern

OSI

New Cross – 700 metres

Station History

Thanks to the major boom in railway construction of the 1830s, the London and Croydon Railway constructed a line from West Croydon to London Bridge and opened a station named New Cross here on 1st June 1839.

Two years later in 1841, the London & Brighton Railway began using the line but did not serve the station. Following a series of financial difficulties, the London and Croydon merged with the London and Brighton to form the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway in July 1846.

Following the merger, the new entity decided that the station at New Cross was not ideally located and therefore constructed a replacement approximately a quarter of a mile north to take advantage of the planned South Eastern Railway North Kent Line. However, the move was not well received locally and the LB&SCR rebuilt the original station and it reopened on 1st May 1849.

The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway had grand expansion plans and embarked on a project to quadruple its running lines, which led to the station being rebuilt again in 1858.

In this form, the station buildings lasted approximately eleven years before, thanks to the arrival of the East London Railway in 1869, a new station was built adjacent to the LB&SCR one. This led to the LB&SCR station buildings being demolished and rebuilt to a larger footprint to accommodate the new services.

East London Railway services, which had to this point been operated by the LB&SCR were taken over by the District Railway between here and Shoreditch in 1884. On 1st September 1886, the East London Railway platforms were closed with all services diverted into the LB&SCR Station. The ELR platforms were demolished in 1900 and the area became used for stabling sidings.

The passing of The Railways Act 1921 saw the LB&SCR amalgamated with other companies to form the Southern Railway, which began operating on 1st January 1923. Under the new company, the station was renamed New Cross Gate on July 9th 1923. Also at this time, a program of electrification began, with the lines through New Cross going live in 1928, although steam services continued to operate until 1932.

With the formation of the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933, the East London Railway services now operated by the Metropolitan Railway were taken over and became part of London Underground’s Metropolitan Line.

The Transport Act 1947 being passed enabled the Nationalisation of the Big Four railway companies, with the Southern becoming British Railways Southern Region on 1st January 1948. The former East London Railway services continued to be run by London Transport.

1982 saw the Southern Region of British Railways sectorised, becoming the London & South Eastern sector, and later renamed to Network Southeast on 10 June 1986.

Privatisation of the Railways following the Railways Act 1993 saw the station and its lines franchised to Connex, who operated them under their South Central subsidiary. A further management change occurred on 26th August 2001, when the new franchisee of the line Govia bought out the remaining two years of the Connex agreement to assume services early.

East London Line services on the London Underground ceased on the 22nd December 2007 to allow the line to be converted for use by London Overground. These works to both the line and stations was completed in early 2010 with a preview service between here and Dalston Junction commencing on the 27th April.

Services toward West Croydon and Crystal Palace were added on 23rd May and at this time, London Overground took over full management of the station.