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| Location | Whitechapel |
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| Local authority | Tower Hamlets |
| Managed by | London Underground |
| Owner | Transport for London |
| Platforms in use | 4 (6 after 2010) |
| Fare zone | 2 |
| LUL 2004 usage | 8.858 million[1] |
| LUL 2007 usage | 12.427 million[1] |
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| 1876 1884 1902 1906 1913 1913 1936 1995 1998 2006 2007 |
Opened (ELR) Opened as terminus(MDR) Opened extension east(MDR/LT&SR) Started (MR at MDR station) Ended (MR at MDR station) Started (MR at ELR station) Restarted (Metropolitan) Closed (ELL) Opened (ELL) Becomes terminus of ELL ELL Closed until May 2010 |
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| List of stations | Underground · National Rail |
Whitechapel is a London Underground and future London Overground and Crossrail station in Whitechapel in the East London borough of Tower Hamlets. It is located on Whitechapel Road (A11) and is in Zone 2.
The station is on the Hammersmith & City and District lines between Aldgate East and Stepney Green. The station became the northern terminus of the now non-operational East London Line, when Shoreditch closed, with Shadwell being the next station south. It was the only station on the East London line with an interchange to another Underground line until 1999 when Canada Water was opened.
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History
Whitechapel station was originally opened in 1876 when the mainline East London Railway (ELR, now the East London Line) was extended north from Wapping to Liverpool Street station. The ELR owned the tracks and stations but did not operate trains. From the beginning various railway companies provided services through Whitechapel including the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR), the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LC&DR) and the South Eastern Railway (SER). Later the Great Eastern Railway (GER) added services.
On 6 October 1884 the Metropolitan District Railway (MDR, now the District Line) opened a new station adjacent to the deeper ELR station as the terminus of an extension from Mansion House (part of the extension also formed the final section of the Circle Line). The new station was given the name Whitechapel (Mile End). The ELR passenger service between Whitechapel and Liverpool Street was withdrawn in 1885. The station received its present name on 13 November 1901. On 1 February 1902 the MDR station was temporarily closed for rebuilding. It reopened on 2 June 1902 when the MDR opened the Whitechapel & Bow Railway, a joint venture with the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR). The new extension ran eastwards to Bromley-by-Bow where it joined the LT&SR's tracks. MDR services then operated regularly to Upminster and as far as Southend-on-Sea in the summer.
The MDR tracks were electrified in 1905 and electric trains replaced steam trains. Services going eastwards were cut back to the limit of electrification at East Ham and later re-extended to Barking in 1908 and Upminster 1932.[2] On 3 December 1906 the Metropolitan Railway (MR, now the Metropolitan Line/Hammersmith & City Line) extended its service to Whitechapel as the eastern terminus of its service.
The MR also ran trains over the southern section of ELR via a connection (the St Mary's curve) between the MDR tracks west of Whitechapel and the ELR tracks north of Shadwell station. When, in 1913, the tracks of the ELR were electrified it ended services to the MDR station and extended its ELR service through Whitechapel to Shoreditch (then the terminus of the line but now closed) The change of service took place on 31 March 1913.
On 30 March 1936 the Metropolitan Line began operating again through the District Line station as far as Barking. The Metropolitan Line service is now operated as the Hammersmith & City Line.
On 25 March 1995 the East London Line was closed to allow repair works on the Thames Tunnel. General renovations and new signalling works were undertaken at the same time. The line reopened south from Whitechapel on 25 March 1998 and north from Whitechapel on 27 September 1998.
In preparation for the future extension of the East London Line to Dalston Junction and Highbury & Islington, the line north of Whitechapel to Shoreditch was closed on 9 June 2006. Services to Shoreditch had previously been run during peak hours and Sunday mornings only and services have been replaced by a bus link.
Station today
The station consists of six platforms in open cuttings north of Whitechapel Road. The Hammersmith & City and District Lines have two eastbound and two westbound, and East London Line has one north and southbound (which closed at end of service on 22 December 2007). The East London Line tracks are at the eastern end of the station and are in a deeper cutting.
Whitechapel acted as the eastern terminus for some Hammersmith & City Line trains, particularly at weekends and outside peak hours but from the December 2009 timetable will reverse alternately at Plaistow and Barking.
Future plans
Work on the extension of the East London Line is underway and the line closed on 22 December 2007 and will not reopen until May 2010 when new tracks on a new alignment will connect to a disused North London Line viaduct from Shoreditch to Dalston. It will then become part of the new London Overground network. Temporary bus services will operate during the closure. Whitechapel will then have the odd situation where the District and Hammersmith & City Line platforms are above the East London Line platforms.
Crossrail line 1 will call at Whitechapel, forking into two eastbound branches after the station. Preliminary work has begun to create the interchange between Crossrail and the East London Line with subways being constructed.
The Crossrail platforms will lie to the north of the existing station, with access being via escalators down from the District and Hammersmith & City Line platforms. To widen the platforms to make this possible, the currently complex track layout will be radically simplified leaving only two simple through tracks where platform 1 and platform 4 are, and one large island platform in the middle[3]. A new centre reversing siding will be built beyond West Ham to compensate and from the December 2009 timetable Hammersmith and City trains will not reverse at Whitechapel and in the off peak will reverse alternately at Plaistow and Barking.
St Mary's Curve
The St Mary's curve connection between the District Line track and the East London Line was used for passenger traffic until 1941 but was subsequently only used to transfer empty trains to and from the other sub-surface lines. The curve was often lit and could easily be seen from the left-hand side of East London Line trains entering Whitechapel station from the south, prior to refurbishment of the East London line commencing late December 2007. The points on the District Line, connecting it to the curve, were removed in summer 2008.
Also just west of Whitechapel is the former St Mary's (Whitechapel Road) tube station, one of the many closed London Underground stations.
Local sights
Nearby places of interest include the Royal London Hospital, the Blind Beggar public house, and the former Wickham's department store. There are also many tours in this area focusing on the Jack the Ripper murders.
References
- ^ a b Transport for London - London Underground performance update
- ^ Rose, D., The London Underground: A diagrammatic history, (1999)
- ^ http://www.nce.co.uk/home/delivering-crossrail/crossrail-station-profile-whitechapel/5208745.article
External links
- London's Transport Museum Photographic Archive
- Tube Professionals' Rumour Network - Track Diagram showing layout of station and St. Mary's curve
- Google Maps - Whitechapel station satellite view
Gallery
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Whitechapel tube station |
 Whitechapel market |
 Platform 5, formerly for the northbound East London line, prior to closure for refurbishment December 2007 |
 East London line platforms looking south, prior to closure in December 2007 |
 East London line platforms looking north, prior to closure in December 2007 |
 Northern end of East London line station, prior to closure in 2007, showing disused track leading north to Shoreditch, itself closed in June 2006 |
 District and Hammersmith & City line platforms looking west. Hammersmith & City line train in platform 1 |
 District and Hammersmith & City line platforms looking east. Hammersmith & City line train in platform 1 |
 Looking west with the tracks diving under Whitechapel Road in the distance |
 Looking east with the tracks diving under Whitechapel Road in the distance |
 Siding and platform 4 looking west |
 Siding and platform 4 looking east |
 Roundel and seating on westbound platforms 3/4 |
| Preceding station |  London Underground |
Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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towards Hammersmith
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Hammersmith & City line |
towards Barking
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| District line |
towards Upminster
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Terminus
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East London line (bus replacement service until 2010) |
towards New Cross or New Cross Gate
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| Preceding station | Crossrail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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towards Maidenhead or Heathrow Airport
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Crossrail |
towards Shenfield
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| Crossrail |
towards Abbey Wood
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  London Overground |
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| Shoreditch High Street | East London Line under construction |
Shadwell | ||
Coordinates: 51°31′10″N 0°03′40″W / 51.51944°N 0.06111°W
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