Leyton tube station

Leyton is a London Underground station in Leyton, in London, England. Located on Leyton High Road, adjacent to the A12, the station is on the Central line between Stratford and Leytonstone. It is in zone 3.

Leyton
Entrance to Leyton High Road
Leyton Location of Leyton in Greater London
Location	Leyton
Local authority	London Borough of Waltham Forest
Managed by	London Underground
Owner	Transport for London
Number of platforms	2
Fare zone	3
London Underground annual entry and exit
2015	14.41 million[1]
2016	14.33 million[1]
2017	13.47 million[1]
2018	12.04 million[2]
2019	11.26 million[3]
Railway companies
Original company	Eastern Counties Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Eastern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
22 August 1856	Opened as Low Leyton
27 November 1867	Renamed Leyton
5 May 1947	Central line service introduced
6 May 1968	Goods yard closed[4]
Other information
External links	TfL station info page
WGS84	51.5566°N 0.0052°W
London transport portal

Location

Leyton Mills Retail Park, Leyton Library, New Spitalfields Market, Leyton Orient F.C. stadium, and St. Patrick's Catholic Cemetery are within proximity of the station. Around Leyton station, the line runs parallel to the A12 road, while the station entrance is connected by the A112. It serves the area of the name itself, situated to the north of the A12 in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. Leyton is largely residential,[5] with houses built from 1870 to 1910. The origin of its name was derived from its geographical location, being at the "tun" of the river Lea, and the ancient parish was named Low Leyton.[6][7][note 1] To the south, it covers the Cathall housing estate in Leytonstone.[5]

History

The railway line from Loughton Branch Junction (on the Lea Valley line between Stratford and Lea Bridge} to Loughton was built by the Eastern Counties Railway, and opened on 22 August 1856.[9] A station at Leyton was opened on the same day, and was originally named Low Leyton. It was renamed Leyton on 27 November 1867 by the Great Eastern Railway.[10][11][12] The current station buildings largely date from the reconstruction of 1879, which saw the original level crossing replaced by a bridge, although some alterations were carried out in connection with the transfer of the station from the London & North Eastern Railway to London Underground as part of the eastern extensions of the Central line.

When the Central line (then known as the Central London Railway) was amalgamated under the management of London Passenger Transport Board in 1933,[13] plans for major expansions to the line were developed.[14][note 2] The station was first served by the Central line on 5 May 1947, as part of the extension of the line to Leytonstone.

In the 1990s, the northern ticket office and entrance - dating from 1901 - were removed as part of the controversial M11 extension (now the A12) that was built adjacent to the station. In the mid 2000s, the station was comprehensively refurbished as part of the London Underground PPP.[15]

Planned upgrade and step free access

According to TfL, the station is severely overcrowded at peak periods, due to the small ticket hall (as a result of the station's location on top of the bridge over the tracks), and the proximity of the ticket barriers to the narrow pavement outside the station.[16] In 2011, it was announced the capacity of the station would be increased, in order to cope with the predicted additional users of the station during the 2012 Olympic Games, and to ease the existing congestion. This work would have created a new access to Goodall Road from the westbound platform.[17][18] This work never materialised.[19]

In 2019, it was announced that Waltham Forest and Transport for London would fund a £18million expansion and upgrade of the station, including step free access.[20][21] This work will involve construction of a new, larger ticket hall north of the current one, a new footbridge, wider stairs and step free access to both platforms. The existing ticket hall building would then be repurposed as a retail unit by TFL Property.[16] In 2020, a funding agreement between Waltham Forest and TFL was signed, with works estimated to begin in 2021 - with completion by 2023.[22][23]

Services and connections

Eastbound platform looking west, with the curve towards the tunnel portal in the background.

Services

Leyton is between Stratford and Leytonstone stations on the London Underground Central line. The station is registered under Fare Zone 3, and sits between two adjacent stations assigned to two zones.[24] Trains generally operate between West Ruislip and Epping, and between Ealing Broadway and Hainault. The typical off-peak services, in trains per hour (tph) is:[25]

• 12 tph eastbound to Epping or Loughton
• 9 tph eastbound to Hainault or Woodford
• 3 tph eastbound to Newbury Park
• 12 tph westbound to West Ruislip or Northolt
• 9 tph westbound to Ealing Broadway
• 3 tph westbound to White City

Night tube services also operate at this station. Trains run every 10 minutes to Hainault via Newbury Park or Loughton eastbound, and to Ealing Broadway or White City westbound.[26]

Connections

London Buses routes 58, 69, 97 and 158 serve the station with W14, 339, W15 and night route N26 nearby.[27]

Notes and references

Notes

1. The suffix was subsequently dropped in 1921.[8]
2. This was known as The 1935–40 New Works Programme.[14]

References

1. "Multi-year station entry-and-exit figures (2007–2017)" (XLSX). London Underground station passenger usage data. Transport for London. January 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
2. "Station Usage Data" (CSV). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2018. Transport for London. 21 August 2019. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
3. "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2019. Transport for London. 23 September 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
4. Hardy, Brian, ed. (March 2011). "How it used to be - freight on The Underground 50 years ago". Underground News. London Underground Railway Society (591): 175–183. ISSN 0306-8617.
5. "Google Maps" (Map). Leyton Tube Station. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
6. Ordnance Survey Map 2½" (Map) (6" ed.). 1:50000. Leyton: P.N. Essex (E.P.N.S.), 102. 1952. p. 180. § TQ 38.
7. Powell, W. R. (1973). Leyton: Introduction. A History of the County of Essex. 6. London: British History Online (Victoria County History). pp. 174–184. Archived from the original on 3 July 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
8. Census (County of Essex), 1911, 1921
9. Allen, Cecil J. (1956) [1955]. The Great Eastern Railway (2nd ed.). Hampton Court: Ian Allan. pp. 20, 216.
10. Chronology of London Railways by H.V.Borley page69
11. Forgotten Stations of Greater London by J.E.Connor and B.Halford page 124
12. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. pp. 142, 150. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
13. Day & Reed 2010, p. 212.
14. Day & Reed 2010, p. 116.
15. "Waltham Forest to benefit as Mayor unveils £10bn investment programme to transform Londons transport network". Transport for London. 12 October 2004. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
16. "Leyton Underground Station - Council funding contribution towards proposed capacity improvement and Step Free Access scheme" (PDF). London Borough of Waltham Forest. 17 January 2019.
17. Jackson-Obot, Ima (13 September 2011). "LEYTON: Station capacity to double". East London and West Essex Guardian. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
18. Binns, Daniel (26 May 2012). "LEYTON: Thousands to use station during Olympics". East London and West Essex Guardian Series. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
19. "'Our Olympics': (1) LBWF and Leyton Market - the Council wins a 'gold medal for ineptitude'". Waltham Forest Matters. 8 April 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
20. Richardson, Alice (18 January 2019). "Step-free access planned for Leyton tube station". East London and West Essex Guardian. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
21. "Cabinet decision - LEYTON UNDERGROUND STATION: CAPACITY IMPROVEMENT AND STEP FREE ACCESS SCHEME". democracy.walthamforest.gov.uk. 18 October 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
22. "Leyton Underground Station: Funding Agreement with Transport for London" (PDF). London Borough of Waltham Forest. 16 March 2020.
23. Munro, Victoria (10 March 2020). "Leyton Tube station expansion could start by August next year". East London and West Essex Guardian. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
24. Standard Tube Map (PDF) (Map). Not to scale. Transport for London. May 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
25. Clive, Feather (8 May 2020). "Central Line". Clive's Underground Line Guides. Archived from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
26. "The Night Tube". Improving the Tube – What We're Doing. Transport for London. Archived from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
27. Buses from Leyton Station (PDF) (Map). Transport for London. 19 August 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 July 2020. Retrieved 4 July 2020.

Bibliography

• Day, John R; Reed, John (2010) [1963]. The Story of London's Underground (11th ed.). Capital Transport. ISBN 978-1-85414-341-9.