Clive's UndergrounD Line Guides

"And we trundled and jogged - the train and I
Through cuttings that cut through - who knows?
Till we stopped at a single platform
And sat there in repose."

- Shoreditch
Alan Gibley

East London Line

A Subsurface Line

[last modified 2008-04-15]

History

Dates

Features

Services

Topology

Layout

Depots

Connections

Rolling stock

History

The East London Line is the only LU line that was planned and built as a main-line railway, but its history goes much further back than that.

The first tunnel under the Thames was proposed in 1798, but nothing came of it. However, four years later the Thames Archway Company was formed to build a tunnel from Rotherhithe to Limehouse in the docklands area of London, and construction started in 1805. After initial problems, Richard Trevithick was appointed as engineer, and by the start of 1808 the initial drift - 1.5 m (5') high and 0.9 m (3') wide - reached from the southern shaft all the way to the low tide mark on the northern shore, only 60 m (200') or so short of its target. However, on 1808-01-26, a breach in the tunnel roof flooded the workings, and the project was abandoned.

Ten years later, in 1818, Marc Brunel - father of the more famous Isambard Kingdom Brunel - patented the first version of the tunneling shield. Five years later one of the Archway company's promoters learned of this, and backers were found for a new tunnel, about a kilometre west of the previous site, joining Rotherhithe to Wapping; construction started on 1825-03-02 with Marc in charge. The tunnel was intended to be used by road traffic, with 12m (40') wide spiral ramps coming down from the surface, but the first stage of the project was to dig the southern vertical access shaft and drive under the river, using a shield, to eventually meet the northern shaft (which was dug somewhat later).

Test bores in the riverbed seemed to show a good solid layer of clay a little below it, so Brunel decided to stay in the clay by placing the tunnel roof only 4.3 m (14') below the river bed. In fact, the clay was riddled with faults allowing water to leak into the tunnel, and several times breakthroughs of the Thames flooded the workings; the first such turned out to be at a point where dredging of the riverbed for gravel had brought it even closer to the tunnel.

Due to these and other problems, the project ran through a succession of engineers in charge, including Isambard Brunel at the age of 20. The company's capital was exhausted, and work had to stop completely several times - during one of these hiatuses, the tunnel gained the nickname of "the Great Bore". During the final stages of the work, a driftway was dug from the northern shaft to the almost-complete tunnel, and when they met, Isambard's 3-year-old son Isambard Kingdom Brunel III was handed through to become the first person ever to make the complete crossing under the Thames and, probably, through any tunnel under water. Meanwhile Marc Brunel was knighted in 1841 for his work on the tunnel.

The tunnel finally opened on 1843-03-25. Funding for the road access ramps was never found, so it was only accessible by walking down spiral stairways in the construction shafts. The final tunnel was 11.6m (38') wide and 6.9m (22'6") high, with a dividing wall - complete with ornamental arches - down the centre. Large enough for a good-sized road, and more than enough for a double-track railway, it was instead just carrying a trickle of pedestrians (who could easily hear ships' propellers in the river above, because of the closeness of the river bed); market stalls were also set up.

The tunnel survived as a curiosity for over 20 years. Finally, in 1865, various people involved with the tunnel formed the East London Railway, which purchased it to form part of an underground rail link between the GER at Liverpool Street (where through trains via the ELR would reverse) and the SER and LBSCR, at New Cross (1) and New Cross Gate respectively; a third connection ran to the LBSCR at Old Kent Road. The first part of the link, from the southern lines through the tunnel to Wapping, opened in December 1869 (the tunnel had remained in use as a footpath until July) while the remainder was opened 7 years later. Between Wapping and Shadwell the line ran through a second tunnel, this time along the bottom of a dock (which has since been filled in).

At Spitalfields a branch turned off into extensive sidings underneath the corresponding GER coal depot (and with a vertical hoist linking them); there were plans to tunnel to meet the GER line at Cambridge Heath, but these never came to fruition and the tunnel dead-ended only 350m from the junction.

For many years trains ran to a range of destinations south of the river, such as Croydon, Addiscombe Road, and even Brighton, as well as to a separate terminus at New Cross (2). The ELR never owned or operated its own trains, always relying on others. In 1884 the line was leased to a consortium of the five (six from 1885) companies using it, and on 1925-01-01 it was transferred to the Southern Railway (which had absorbed three of the six lessors), who immediately leased it back to the consortium.

As part of the completion of the Circle Line, a link was built from the Circle at Aldgate to the ELR, and both the Metropolitan and the Metropolitan District Railways ran trains on to the line from their respective Hammersmith termini, initially seeing it as a way to expand southeastwards (for the first 5 days trains ran in service as far east as Liverpool Street or Mansion House, then empty to St. Mary's, and then in service again on the ELR). The latter company abandoned the services in 1905 and the former in 1906, leaving the line to the main-line companies, who saw it mostly as a goods rather than passenger route. In 1913 the Metropolitan Railway came back to the line, providing passenger services throughout, something which has continued ever since (albeit under varying names). Initially trains ran from both southern termini to Shoreditch and to South Kensington via Edgware Road and High Street Kensington; the former service remains essentially unchanged, but the latter was diverted to Hammersmith on 1914-02-09, reduced to peak hours only on 1936-05-04, and ceased in 1941.

In 1939 there was concern that bomb damage could flood the under-river tunnel, after which the water would rise through the shaft at Rotherhithe station and flood the surrounding low-level ground. Therefore a double floodgate was installed at the north end of the station.

Photo [382kb] and info

The line eventually fell into LU ownership at nationalization. It remained a branch of the Metropolitan (becoming the "Metropolitan Line - East London Section" in March 1970) until the 1980s, when the separate identity was restored. The Underground companies, and later LU, never served Liverpool Street from the East London Line, as the through service had ended at electrification, but regular goods traffic came from there until 1962 and occasional passenger services were to run until 1966 when the link was severed.

The line was closed in 1995 to carry out various repair work and to construct Canada Water station. The most significant part of the work was to seal the Thames Tunnel against leaks by "shotcreting" it. A legal conflict with architectural interests wishing to preserve the tunnel's appearance (and disputing the need for the treatment anyway) extended the closure, which was originally planned to last only 6 months or so. Following an agreement to leave a short section at one end of the tunnel untreated, and more sympathetic treatment of the rest of the tunnel, the work went ahead and the route reopened in 1998. This extended closing was partly due to deterioration of other parts of the infrastructure, which in turn was partly because of the lack of regular maintenance during the extended closing and the inability to predict when such maintenance could restart - a vicious circle! Reopening of Shoreditch station was delayed several months because, at the last minute, the Railway Inspectorate required "Moorgate control" to be installed there.

Photo [402kb] and info

The line is now being integrated into the London Overground network, after which it will no longer be an LU route. Shoreditch station finally closed in June 2006, with the rest of the line following in December 2007. At the north end, the line is being extended on a new alignment from north of Whitechapel (abandoning Shoreditch) to meet the former North London Railway (NLR) trackbed from Broad Street to Dalston Junction, from where it will continue to Highbury & Islington. At the other end, the line will extend in two directions, to West Croydon (with a branch to Crystal Palace) and to Clapham Junction, which involves reinstating a link from Silwood Junction to Old Kent Road Junction.

Dates

key to symbols

1839-06-05		New Cross Gate [London & Croydon Railway, later LBSCR]
1847-09-30		New Cross Gate
1849-05-01		New Cross Gate [LBSCR]
1850-09-26	[0]	[Dalston West Junction] to Highbury & Islington opened [NLR]
1850-10-		New Cross (1) [SER]
1858-09-01		Canonbury
1865-11-01	[2]	Broad Street to [Dalston West Junction] opened [NLR]
		Hoxton
1867-09-02		Haggerston
1866-08-13		Old Kent Road [LBSCR]
1869-12-07	[2]	New Cross (2) to Wapping opened [LBSCR]
		Canada Water
1870-12-01		Canonbury
1871-03-13	0	Old Kent Road to Surrey Quays opened [LBSCR]
1872-11-04		Bishopsgate [GER]
1874-02-02	0	Bishopsgate to Liverpool Street opened [GER]
1876-04-10	3	Wapping to Bishopsgate opened [LBSCR]
		Bishopsgate to Liverpool Street started [LBSCR]
1876-07-01	0	New Cross Gate to Surrey Quays opened [LBSCR]
1876-10-31		New Cross (2) to Surrey Quays closed
1880-04-01	0	New Cross (1) to Surrey Quays opened [SER service to Liverpool Street]
1880-10-01		Mildmay Park
1884-03-02		Shadwell (1) to Liverpool Street withdrawn [SER]
1884-03-03	0	Shadwell (1) to St. Mary's opened [SER]
1884-09-30		New Cross (1) to St. Mary's withdrawn [SER]
1884-10-01		ELR leased to a consortium of Metropolitan, District, LBSCR, LCDR, and SER
		New Cross (1) to Surrey Quays started [Metropolitan]
	0	New Cross (2) to Surrey Quays reopened [District]
		Surrey Quays to St. Mary's started [Metropolitan and District]
1885-		GER joined the consortium leasing the ELR
1885-12-31		Shoreditch to Liverpool Street withdrawn [LBSCR]
1886-01-01		New Cross Gate to Liverpool Street started [GER]
1886-08-31		New Cross (2) to Surrey Quays closed
1886-09-01		New Cross Gate to Surrey Quays started [District]
1905-07-31		New Cross Gate to St. Mary's withdrawn [District]
1905-08-01		New Cross (1) to Whitechapel started [SE&CR]
1906-12-02		New Cross (1) to Shadwell (1) withdrawn [Metropolitan]
		Shadwell (1) to St. Mary's closed
1911-06-30		Old Kent Road to Surrey Quays closed
		Services to south of New Cross (1) and New Cross Gate withdrawn
1913-03-30		All existing services withdrawn
		Shoreditch to Bishopsgate closed to passenger trains
1913-03-31		New Cross (1) to St. Mary's restored
		New Cross Gate to Surrey Quays started
		Shadwell (1) to Shoreditch started
1916-05-21		Bishopsgate
1916-12-31		Old Kent Road
1934-09-30		Mildmay Park
1938-04-30		St. Mary's
1940-05-05		Haggerston
1940-10-03		Shoreditch NLR
1941-10-05		Shadwell (1) to St. Mary's closed
1948-01-01		Transferred to LU ownership
1966-04-17		Shoreditch to Liverpool Street closed to goods traffic
1986-06-27		Broad Street to [Dalston West Junction] closed
1995-03-25		New Cross (1) and New Cross Gate to Shoreditch closed
1998-03-25	[4]	New Cross (1) and New Cross Gate to Whitechapel reopened
		Canada Water
1998-09-27	0	Whitechapel to Shoreditch reopened
1999-08-19		Canada Water
2002-11-22		Wapping (firefighters' strike)
2002-11-30		Wapping
2006-06-09		Whitechapel to Shoreditch closed
2007-12-22		New Cross and New Cross Gate to Whitechapel closed
2010-07-01	? [9]	New Cross and New Cross Gate to Dalston Junction (re)opened
		Shoreditch (NLR)
	?	West Croydon and Crystal Palace to New Cross Gate started
2011-02-	?	Dalston Junction to [Dalston West Junction] reopened
	?	[Dalston West Junction] to Highbury & Islington started
2012-	?	Clapham Junction to Old Kent Road started
	? 1	Old Kent Road to Surrey Quays reopened

Features

The original line was mostly double track, though Shoreditch station and the last section into each of New Cross (1) and New Cross Gate stations were single track. The extensions, including the route into New Cross Gate, will be double track on their own alignment, though the sections from Dalston Junction to Highbury & Islington and from New Cross Gate to West Croydon mostly use two of the tracks of a four-track line. The line is in tunnel from just north of Surrey Quays to Whitechapel, though some stations are in open cuttings. North of Whitechapel it rises on to viaduct for the section to Dalston Junction; the rest of the route is mostly at surface level. The Shoreditch branch was also in cutting and the National Rail lines into Liverpool Street still run past the end of Shoreditch station, though there has not been any connection since the late 1960s.

The line was initially electrified on the standard LU system, which it retained until closing in 2007, while the extended route (and the existing lines it connects to) is electrified throughout on the NR third-rail system. Some reports of the 1998 reopening state that the electrical systems can be operated in "third rail" or "fourth rail" mode but other sources disagree.

Although Shadwell (1) on this line and Shadwell (2) on the Docklands Light Railway are completely separate stations, interchange between the two on a single ticket is permitted.

Services

Before the 2007 closure

Trains ran alternately to the two southern termini. Shoreditch was open in the peaks and on Sunday mornings, with all trains terminating alternately in the two platforms at Whitechapel at other times.

Minimum running time was 11 minutes to either southern terminus from Whitechapel.

2010 onwards

Current plans are for a service of 4 trains per hour from Dalston Junction to each of New Cross, West Croydon, and Crystal Palace, and to Clapham Junction when that route opens (thus increasing the service from 12 to 16 trains per hour). Once the line is extended to Highbury & Islington, the New Cross and Crystal Palace services would continue to there.

Topology

                <= North  South =>
          2        P                /------N
         /          \              /
   2-H--D----------*-*-J-------Z--C     /--L
              V-S-/   /         \  \   /
                     1         3-K  \-*----G-----*-----R-3
                                  \       /       \
                                   \     3         X
                                    \
                                     M

C = Canal Junction
D = Dalston Junction
G = New Cross Gate
H = Highbury & Islington
J = Whitechapel Junction
K = Old Kent Road Junction
L = New Cross (2)
M = Clapham Junction
N = New Cross (1)
P = Spitalfields Goods Yard
R = West Croydon
S = Shoreditch
V = Liverpool Street
X = Crystal Palace
Z = Surrey Quays Junction
1 = link to St. Mary's Junction
2 = North London Line
3 = selected other NR lines (not all connections are shown)

Layout

Northbound is upwards on the page and southbound is downwards.

key to notation

315847	41=54	[=1NS2=7b]	{Highbury & Islington}
319848	41=06	[-]	[Canonbury West Junction]
323850	40=62	[=NS= b]	{Canonbury}
328850	39=93	[-]	(Mildmay Park)
332850	39=65	[-]	[Dalston West Junction]
335847	39=21	[=NS=we=]	{(Dalston Junction)}
335838	38=34	[ns =NS=]	{(Haggerston)}
335830	37=5	[ns =NS=]	{{Hoxton}}
333826	37=08	[ns =ns=]	(Shoreditch NLR)
334823	36.71	[-]	[end of NLR flyover from Broad Street, start of new flyover]
335822	36.4	[OP]	{{Shoreditch High Street}}
345820	35.35	[-]	[Spitalfields Junction]
347818	35.23	[OP4]	Whitechapel
347816	34.99	[-]	[Whitechapel Junction]
349809	34.25	[OP]	Shadwell (1)
350801	33.47	[OP]	Wapping
352798	32.95	[OP]	Rotherhithe
354794	32.63	[OPX2]	Canada Water
355791	32.25	[-]	[tunnel mouth]
356789	32.08	[OP]	Surrey Quays
357785	31.63	[-]	[Surrey Quays Junction]
359779	30.98	[-]	[Canal Junction]
359779	30.98	[-]	[depot entrance]
360774	30.37	[-]	[end of present single line]
361773	30.36	[-]	[depot exit]
361770	29.90	[=Nn=sS=S X]	New Cross Gate
364757	28=57	[=NnsS=]	{Brockley}
358741	26=91	[=NnsS=]	{Honor Oak Park}
353729	25=48	[=NnsS=]	{Forest Hill}
353715	24=23	[=NnsS=]	{Sydenham}
	24=05	[-]	[Sydenham down Junction]
	23=85	[-]	[Sydenham up Junction]
349704	22=97	[=NnsS=]	{Penge West}
346699	22=32	[=NnsS=]	{Anerley}
340682	20=55	[=N2=ns=SS=]	{Norwood Junction}
335672	19=39	[-]	[Norwood Fork Junction]
331669	19=07	[-]	[Gloucester Road Junction]
321661	17=70	[V= ^=ns=]	{West Croydon}

332817	37=14	[18 bays]	{Liverpool Street}
335822	36=46	[=NS= wewe]	(Bishopsgate)
338822	36=16	[-]	[East London Junction]
339821	36.03	[=1V =]	Shoreditch
343821	35.6	[-]	[convergence with current route]

342816	35.49	[OP]	(St. Mary's)
343817	35!45	[-]	[St. Mary's Junction]
347816	34.99	[-]	[Whitechapel Junction]

359779	30.98	[-]	[Canal Junction]
363777	30.51	[-]	[end of single line]
364777	30.40	[-]	[Depot entrance]
366771	29.78	[wew'A'='B'be'C'='D'V]	New Cross (1)

360774	30.37	[-]	[approximate point of divergence from current route]
362771	30.1	[VV]	(New Cross (2))

	24=05	[-]	[Sydenham down Junction]
	23=85	[-]	[Sydenham up Junction]
341705	22=22	[=NS=du= X]	{Crystal Palace}

356789	32.08	[OP]	Surrey Quays
357785	31.63	[-]	[Surrey Quays Junction]
356782	31.07	[-]	[northbound and southbound converge]
355779	30.90	[-]	{{Surrey Canal Road}}
352774	30.14	[-]	[Old Kent Road Junction]
352773	30=0	[-]	(Old Kent Road)
350768	29=51	[IP]	{Queens Road Peckham}
341762	28=34	[=ew= N=S X]	{Peckham Rye}
339762	28=12	[-]	[Peckham Rye Junction]
331762	27=28	[-]	[Grove Tunnel east portal]
329761	27=17	[-]	[Grove Tunnel west portal]
328761	26=99	[=ew=NS= X]	{Denmark Hill}
327760	26=87	[-]	[Denmark Hill Tunnel east portal]
326760	26=81	[-]	[Denmark Hill Tunnel west portal]
305755	24=48	[-]	[Shepherds Lane Junction]
298757	23=82	[ew =NS= X]	{Clapham High Street}
294762	23=19	[ew =NS= X]	{Wandsworth Road}
293763	23=07	[-]	[Factory Junction east]
292764	22=89	[-]	[Factory Junction west]
287766	22=25	[-]	[Longhedge Junction A]
286765	22=15	[-]	[Longhedge Junction B]
285764	22=07	[-]	[Longhedge Junction C]
273757	20=64	[-]	[Ludgate GW Junction]
271756	20=29	[b=Bbw=ew=ew]	{Clapham Junction}
268754	19=93	[-]	[end of sidings]

Shadwell (2) is on the Docklands Light Railway.

Depots

The line was served by New Cross Depot, a small depot on the west side of the New Cross branch, with major work done by running trains to Neasden Depot on the Metropolitan Line. A new train servicing facility is being built just north of New Cross Gate and heavier work will be done at the existing depot at Selhurst.

Connections

Until early 2008 a double track link connected the line to the District Line just east of St. Mary's station (now closed). Eastbound District trains could run over the link to become southbound East London Line trains south of Whitechapel; similarly northbound ELL trains can become westbound District trains. Links to the main lines at Shoreditch, New Cross, and New Cross Gate were removed around 1970.

The conversion to a LO line will create new links at Dalston and Old Kent Road and restore the link at New Cross Gate.

Rolling Stock

For the last years of its life under LU the line was operated by 4-car A stock trains (using units with both cabs equipped); these were part of the Metropolitan Line fleet and exchanged with that line on a regular basis.

The only trains that were permitted to carry passengers were 4-car A stock (where both cabs are equipped), 4-car C stock, and 3 car double-ended units of 1973 Tube Stock (passengers were not allowed to board or alight from 1973 Tube Stock at Canada Water due to the higher platforms). Longer trains, including 1959, 1967, and 1972 Tube Stock could carry passengers non-stop from Aldgate East or Whitechapel to New Cross Gate, or could run directly into New Cross Depot (though limited to certain sidings there). 4-car trains of those stocks could operate empty anywhere on the line. The erstwhile link to the District Line, though double track, coluld not be used in both directions simultaneously due to insufficient clearance. Following the reconstruction of 1995-8, the line was cleared for main line "Networker" trains.

When the line re-opens, it is currently expected that it will be operated by class 378 Electrostar EMUs.

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