Lea Valley lines

The Lea Valley lines are two commuter lines and two branches in north-east London, so named because they run along the Lower Lea Valley of the River Lea. They were part of the Great Eastern Railway,[2] now part of the Anglia Route of Network Rail.

Lea Valley lines
British Rail Class 317 in Overground livery
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Network Rail (Anglia Route)
Locale	Greater London East of England
Termini	Enfield Town Cheshunt Chingford London Liverpool Street
Stations	31
Service
Type	Commuter rail, Suburban rail
System	National Rail
Services	5
Operator(s)	Greater Anglia London Overground
Depot(s)	Ilford Sidings at Chingford
Rolling stock	Class 317 Class 379 "Electrostar" Class 710 "Aventra" Class 745 "FLIRT"
Technical
Number of tracks	2–4
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	25 kV 50 Hz AC Overhead lines
Operating speed	40–50 mph (64–80 km/h)
Route map (Click to expand)

Lea Valley lines
London Overground: Liverpool Street to Cheshunt / Enfield Town via Seven Sisters, and to Chingford National Rail: Liverpool Street / Stratford to Cheshunt via Tottenham Hale
mi+ch mi+ch West Anglia Main Line 14+01 Cheshunt 14+28 13+71 Cheshunt Junction Theobalds Grove 13+45 12+63 Waltham Cross M25 motorway Turkey Street 12+16 11+65 Enfield Lock Carterhatch Lane Enfield Town 10+55 10+61 Brimsdown Southbury 10+32 10+33 Chingford Bush Hill Park 09+69 9+71 Ponders End Bury Street Junction 0 8+52 Highams Park 7+07 Wood Street Edmonton Green 08+45 0 Lower Edmonton (low level) 7+57 Angel Road Silver Street 07+75 7+47 Meridian Water White Hart Lane 07+11 6+73 Northumberland Park Bruce Grove 06+28 6+16 Walthamstow Central Seven Sisters 05+48 6+00 Tottenham Hale Palace Gates Line Gospel Oak to Barking line Seven Sisters Junction 5+55 St. James Street South Tottenham (on Gospel Oak to Barking line) 0 Tottenham South Junction Gospel Oak to Barking line 0 Coppermill Junctions Stamford Hill 05+03 Hall Farm Junction Stoke Newington 04+16 Lea Bridge Junction Clapton Junction 6+30 Lea Bridge Clapton 03+78 Loughton Branch Clapton tunnel 13 ch 260 m Loughton Branch Junction Rectory Road 03+64 Queens Road (GER) (c.1892 never opened) [1] Queens Rd tunnel 20 ch 400 m Stratford International (on High Speed 1) Hackney Downs North Jct 0 Great Eastern Main Line Hackney Downs 02+78 4+03 Stratford North London line High Meads Junction Reading Lane Junction 0 London Fields 02+35 Regent's Canal Cambridge Heath 01+61 Crossrail (under construction) Bethnal Green North Jct 0 Bethnal Green 01+10 Bishopsgate Goods East London line Bishopsgate Liverpool Street 00+00

On 31 May 2015, services between London Liverpool Street to Chingford, Cheshunt and Enfield Town were transferred to London Overground; services between London Liverpool Street and Stratford via Tottenham Hale to Hertford East and Bishops Stortford remain with Greater Anglia.

History

The first section was opened by the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) on 20 June 1839 from the London end at Devonshire Street to Romford, extended on 1 July 1840 to Bishopsgate (London end) and Brentwood. The Northern and Eastern Railway (N&ER) opened its first section from that line at Stratford to Broxbourne on 15 September 1840, and to Harlow in 1841; though it remained a separate entity, its line was leased to the ECR from 1 January 1844. A branch from Broxbourne to Hertford opened in 1843.

Enfield was reached on 1 March 1849 by the single-track Enfield Town branch from the N&ER at Angel Road via Lower Edmonton. The ECR was incorporated into the Great Eastern Railway (GER) in 1862. A shorter route to Edmonton was provided by the GER in 1872, from Bethnal Green via Hackney Downs and Stoke Newington, which opened on 27 May; the section via Seven Sisters and Lower Edmonton, at a new high-level station provided adjacent to the old low-level station, opened on 22 July. The line from there to Enfield was doubled at the same time. The old line between Angel Road and Lower Edmonton was closed to passenger trains in 1939, except for occasional diversionary traffic including the period in the 1950s when the rest of the local network was being electrified under the Eastern Region; the line closed completely in 1964 and the track was removed soon after.

Another branch, the Chingford branch line, went from Lea Bridge to Walthamstow, Shern Hall Street, in 1870, extended southwards to Hackney Downs in 1872 and northwards to Chingford in 1873.

The final section linked Lower Edmonton on the Enfield branch via Churchbury (later Southbury) with the Broxbourne line at Cheshunt, opening on 1 October 1891; it was known as the Churchbury loop until the renaming of that station in 1960, then the Southbury loop.

A station was proposed near Clapton called Queens Road but never opened.[3]

Electrification of the lines via Seven Sisters to Hertford East, Enfield Town and Bishops Stortford, plus the Chingford branch, were completed in 1960. The line via Tottenham Hale was not electrified until 1969, using Class 125 diesel multiple units between 1958 and 1969.

Route and services

All express services start at either London Liverpool Street or Stratford and are operated by Abellio Greater Anglia as part of the Greater Anglia franchise. Suburban services operating on the Southbury Loop terminating at Cheshunt, on the Enfield Town branch and on Chingford branch are operated by London Overground. Services operating via the Southbury Loop that continue beyond Cheshunt, as well as on the line via Tottenham Hale, including services originating at Stratford, are operated by Greater Anglia. The routes are:

• Southbury Loop (or Cheshunt Branch): London Liverpool Street – Cheshunt via Seven Sisters, Edmonton Green and Turkey Street, along the West Anglia Main Line to Hackney Downs Junction, rejoining it at Cheshunt Junction.
• Chingford Branch: London Liverpool Street – Chingford via Walthamstow Central, Wood Street and Highams Park, along the West Anglia Main Line to Clapton Junction.
• Enfield Town Branch: London Liverpool Street – Enfield Town via Seven Sisters, Edmonton Green and Bush Hill Park, along the West Anglia Main Line to Hackney Downs and the Southbury Loop to Edmonton Green and Edmonton Green Junction.
• Hertford East Branch: London Liverpool Street – Hertford East via Tottenham Hale, Broxbourne and Ware, along the West Anglia Main Line to Broxbourne and Rye House Junction, then the Hertford East branch line.
• Temple Mills Branch: Stratford – Tottenham Hale via Lea Bridge railway station, diverging from the Great Eastern Main Line and the North London Line at Temple Mills East Junction, joining the West Anglia Main Line at Coppermill Junction.

Until 1968 the Hall Farm Curve allowed trains from Stratford to Chingford. It may be reconstructed.[4]

The lines were historically part of the Network Rail Strategic Route 5, SRS 05.02, 05.04 and part of 05.01. This was classified as a London and South East Commuter line.[5]

A number of services to/from Liverpool Street/Enfield Town start or terminate in different places on special occasions. When Tottenham Hotspur F.C. are playing at home, additional trains run, some starting/terminating from White Hart Lane or Seven Sisters.

The lines are double track for most of its length, however between Hackney Downs and Liverpool Street it is multitrack – the suburban lines for trains stopping at Bethnal Green, Cambridge Heath and London Fields and the Main Lines for non-stop West Anglia/Stansted Express services. It is electrified at 25 kV AC using overhead line equipment and has a line speed of 40–75 mph except between Cheshunt and Coppermill junction where it is 60–85 mph. Different sections have different loading gauges. Most is W8, with the branches to Enfield Town and Chingford being W6 and the branch to Stratford W9.[5]

Future developments

The Tottenham Hale–West Anglian route is planned to become part of Crossrail 2 to Cheshunt, Broxbourne and Hertford East.

Class 710 trains are currently under construction by Bombardier; eight of these have already been deployed on the Gospel Oak to Barking line[6] and more are scheduled for release into service on other parts of the London Overground including the Romford–Upminster line during 2019, fully replacing current Class 315 and Class 317 stock.[7]

References

1. Railway Magazine December 1957 p. 891
2. White, H.P. (1987). Thomas, David St John (ed.). A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain — Volume 3: Greater London (3rd ed.). Dawlish: David & Charles.
3. Brown, Joe (2006). London Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Ian Allan Publishing. p. 23. ISBN 0-7110-3137-1.
4. "The Case for a Chingford to Stratford Rail Service". London Borough of Waltham Forest. Archived from the original on 22 October 2017. Retrieved 1 October 2012. See also Greater Anglia Route Utilisation Strategy.
5. "Route 5 – West Anglia" (PDF). Network Rail. 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 26 May 2009.
6. "A month of free travel on the London Overground". www.ianvisits.co.uk. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
7. "This is what the new London Overground trains will look like". Evening Standard. 22 July 2015. Retrieved 30 October 2016.

Brown, Joe (2006). London Railway Atlas. ISBN 978-0-7110-3137-1.