Walthamstow Central station

Walthamstow Central /ˈwɔːlθəmstoʊ, ˈwɒl-/ is a London Underground and National Rail interchange station in the town of Walthamstow in north-east London, England. It is the northern terminus of the Victoria line and is the second of five stations on the Chingford branch of the Lea Valley lines operated by London Overground since 2015, 6 miles 16 chains (10.0 km) from London Liverpool Street between St. James Street and Wood Street. The two lines have separate platforms at different levels.

Walthamstow Central
Walthamstow Central
Location of Walthamstow Central in Greater London
LocationWalthamstow
Local authorityLondon Borough of Waltham Forest
Managed byLondon Overground
London Underground
OwnerNetwork Rail
London Underground
Station codeWHC
DfT categoryC2
Number of platforms4
AccessibleYes(London Overground only) [1][2]
Fare zone3
OSIWalthamstow Queen's Road [3]
London Underground annual entry and exit
2015 18.33 million[4]
2016 22.77 million[4]
2017 9.59 million[4]
2018 17.12 million[5]
2019 18.92 million[6]
National Rail annual entry and exit
2015–16 3.432 million[7]
2016–17 4.021 million[7]
2017–18 4.358 million[7]
2018–19 4.719 million[7]
2019–20 4.396 million[7]
Key dates
26 April 1870[8]Opened (GER)
1 September 1968Opened (Victoria line)
Other information
External links
WGS8451.583056°N 0.019722°W / 51.583056; -0.019722
 London transport portal

The station is in Travelcard Zone 3. It linked to Walthamstow Queen's Road station on the Gospel Oak to Barking line by a broad footpath, Ray Dudley Way.

History

The station was opened by the Great Eastern Railway (GER) as Hoe Street in 1870 when a line was opened from Lea Bridge to a temporary station called Shern Hall Street which was east of the Hoe Street station.[9] The line to London, that the Chingford branch uses today was opened two years later in 1872 from Hall Farm Junction to Bethnal Green, with the branch also being extended north to Chingford in 1873.

The GER amalgamated with several other railways to create the London and North Eastern Railway at the beginning of 1923.

In 1948 the railways were nationalised and responsibility for operating the station fell to British Railways (Eastern Region).

The line was electrified in the late 1950s with electric services commencing on 12 November 1960. Early services were formed of Class 305 EMUs but initial technical problems with these saw replacements by Class 302 and Class 304 EMUs.[10]

The station became an interchange station and the eastern terminus of the Victoria line with London Underground services starting on 1 September 1968;[11] when station's present name was adopted. When originally approved in 1955, the terminus of the line was to be at Wood Street, a plan dropped in 1961 before construction of the line.[12] The platforms for the Victoria line (like all stations on the Victoria line) are underground.[11]

On 31 May 2015, the station's Abellio Greater Anglia services were transferred to London Overground Rail Operations.[13][14]

Description

General description

The underground station, like many stations on the Victoria line, was built to a low budget.[15] White ceiling panels were never fixed to the ceilings above the platforms; instead the steel tunnel segments were painted black and used to support the fixtures and fittings, cutting lighting levels. A concrete stairway sits between two escalators instead of a third; this economy caused a disruptive station closure for several weeks in 2004 when both escalators went out of service.

The main entrance to the above-ground station is on the down side, opposite a bus station, which was revamped in summer 2004. Until August 2015 three staffed ticket windows opened, replaced by improved ticket machines. The entrance to the tube was revamped in early 2006. A smaller entrance is on the up line, facing a car park. Its ticket office is staffed mainly in peak hours.

Major improvements

A subway was built in 2005 under Selborne Road linking a new bus station with a new Victoria line ticket office. The new subway and ticket office was scheduled for spring 2005 but problems with insufficient power capacity to supply two new lifts, planning and contractual errors, delayed the opening until 19 November 2007. The lifts began operation in late 2008 and some building work took longer to finish.

Ticket barriers control access to all platforms.

A footpath link, called Ray Dudley Way, providing a shortcut to nearby Walthamstow Queen's Road, opened in August 2014.[16]

Plans for a new entrance with step-free access to the Victoria line platforms were approved by Waltham Forest council in 2021 to be part funded by a redevelopment of the shopping mall.[17]

Services

Trains are operated by London Overground.

The typical off-peak weekday service pattern is:

  • 4 trains per hour (tph) to London Liverpool Street;
  • 4 tph to Chingford.

Connections

London Buses routes 20, 34, 55, 58, 69, 97, 212, 215, 230, 257, 275, 357, W11, W12, W15, W19 and 675 and night routes N26, N38 and N73 serve the station and bus station.

Preceding station   London Underground   Following station
towards Brixton
Victoria lineTerminus
London Overground
Chingford Line
towards Chingford
  Abandoned Plans  
Preceding station   London Underground   Following station
towards Victoria
Victoria line
Terminus
Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station
St James Street   Great Eastern Railway
(1870–1873)		   Shern Hall Street
Terminus

Victoria line (London Underground)
  • North Victoria line platform looking West towards central London
  • South Victoria line platform looking East towards the buffer
  • Victoria line platform roundel

Lea Valley lines (London Overground)
  • Walthamstow Central railway station viewed west from the A112 overbridge
  • Platforms looking eastwards
  • Platforms looking westwards
  • Original station building on the London-bound side

References

Citations

  1. "Train Station Information and Network Map". National Express East Anglia. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  2. "Step free Tube Guide" (PDF). Transport for London. May 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 August 2020.
  3. "Out of Station Interchanges" (XLSX). Transport for London. 16 June 2020. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
  4. "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.
  5. "Station Usage Data" (CSV). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2018. Transport for London. 21 August 2019. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  6. "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2019. Transport for London. 23 September 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
  7. "Station usage estimates". Rail statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Please note: Some methodology may vary year on year.
  8. Chronology of London Railways by H.V.Borley
  9. Jackson, Alan A (1999). London's Local Railways (2nd ed.). Harrow Weald: Capital Transport Publishing. p. 372.
  10. Baker, John (July 1993). "Great Eastern section Electrification part 6". Great Eastern Journal (75): 29.
  11. Day & Reed 2010, p. 166.
  12. Horne 2005, p. 26.
  13. TFL appoints London Overground operator to run additional services Transport for London 28 May 2014
  14. TfL count on LOROL for support Rail Professional 28 May 2014
  15. Martin 2012, p. 235.
  16. "Ray Dudley Way pedestrian footpath opened on Monday". The Bolton News. 13 August 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  17. "London Underground gets approval for Walthamstow Central tube station upgrade". ianVisits. 29 January 2021.

Sources

  • Day, John R; Reed, John (2010) [1963]. The Story of London's Underground. Capital Transport. ISBN 978-1-85414-341-9.
  • Horne, Mike (2005). The Victoria Line: An Illustrated History. Capital Transport. ISBN 1-85414-292-5.
  • Martin, Andrew (2012). Underground, Overground. Profile Books. ISBN 978-1-846-68478-4.
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