Leytonstone tube station

"Leytonstone station" redirects here. For the London Overground station, see Leytonstone High Road railway station.

Leytonstone
Eastern entrance on Church Lane
Leytonstone Location of Leytonstone in Greater London
Location	Leytonstone
Local authority	London Borough of Waltham Forest
Managed by	London Underground
Number of platforms	3
Fare zone	3 and 4
OSI	Leytonstone High Road
London Underground annual entry and exit
2011	10.45 million
2012	10.10 million
2013	10.38 million
2014	11.05 million
Key dates
22 August 1856	Opened
1 September 1955	Goods yard closed
Other information
Lists of stations	DLR Underground National Rail Tramlink
London Transport portal

Leytonstone is a London Underground station on the Central line, on the boundary of Zones 3 and 4. Towards London the next station is Leyton, while going east from Leytonstone, the line divides into two branches. On the direct route to Woodford and Epping the next stop is Snaresbrook, and on the Hainault loop it is Wanstead.

History

The station was opened by the Eastern Counties Railway on 22 August 1856. In turn it became, from 1862, part of the Great Eastern Railway system and then in 1923 part of the London & North Eastern Railway before being transferred to London Transport in 1947. This formed part of the "New Works Programme 1935 – 1940" that was to see major changes at Leytonstone with the station becoming the junction of the existing Epping branch, newly electrified, with the new tube tunnel running under Eastern Avenue towards Newbury Park. This work saw a complete reconstruction of the station along with the removal of the level crossing at Church Lane and its replacement by an underbridge. The work stopped in May 1940 due to wartime priorities; further delays were caused by the station buildings being hit by a German bomb in January 1944. During the war, the new tunnels were used as an aircraft component factory; the part closest to Leytonstone was a public air-raid shelter.

The station was first served by the Central line on 5 May 1947 when it became the temporary terminus of the line, passengers changing on to steam shuttle onwards to Epping. This ceased on 14 December 1947 with the extension of Underground services to Woodford and Newbury Park.

Notable events

In honour of the centenary of the birth of film director Alfred Hitchcock (born 13 August 1899 in Leytonstone), the London Borough of Waltham Forest commissioned the Greenwich Mural Workshop to create a series of mosaics of Hitchcock's life and works in the tube station. Work was started in June 2000 and unveiled 3 May 2001.

Three people were stabbed inside the station's ticket hall during the evening of 5 December 2015, with one person suffering serious knife injuries. The Metropolitan Police arrested the attacker inside the station after using Tasers against him. They subsequently announced that the stabbings were being treated as a 'terrorist incident' and a counter-terrorism operation had been launched. Video footage later emerged of the attacker repeatedly shouting "this is for Syria", in reference to the Royal Air Force's bombing of ISIL targets in Syria, which began on 3 December following parliamentary approval.

The station today

The station has three platforms. The centre platform is generally used for through services going westbound, but can be used to terminate trains from both directions. However, due to the configuration of the tracks, trains going eastbound from this platform can only access the Epping branch. Trains needing access to the Hainault branch can do so by shunting west of the station, and then running into the normal eastbound platform via a crossover.

Connections

London Buses routes 66, 145, 257, 339, W13, W14, W15, W16 and W19 and night route N8 serve the station and bus station.

Gallery

• 

  The westbound platforms at Leytonstone, looking west

• 

  View of platforms

• 

  Leytonstone junction, showing the diverge between Epping and Hainault branches, the latter diverging and heading underground

• 

  Western entrance facing Grove Green Road and bus stand.

External links

• YouTube video of a train arriving on the eastbound platform
• Leytonstone Underground Station: Hitchcock Mosaic
• Early photograph of the original 1856 station, from Church Lane

Preceding station		London Underground		Following station
Leyton towards Ealing Broadway or West Ruislip		Central line Epping branch		Snaresbrook towards Epping
		Central line Hainault loop		Wanstead towards Hainault or Woodford (via Hainault)
	Out of system interchange
Preceding station		London Overground		Following station
Leyton Midland Road towards Gospel Oak		Gospel Oak to Barking Line Transfer at: Leytonstone High Road		Wanstead Park towards Barking