Upton Park tube station

Upton Park is a London Underground station on Green Street in the Upton Park area of the London Borough of Newham, east London. It is on the District and Hammersmith & City lines between Plaistow and East Ham stations. It is in London fare zone 3.

Upton Park
Main entrance on Green Street
Upton Park Location of Upton Park in Greater London
Location	Upton Park
Local authority	London Borough of Newham
Managed by	London Underground
Number of platforms	2
Fare zone	3
London Underground annual entry and exit
2019	9.71 million[1]
2020	6.68 million[2]
2021	4.78 million[3]
2022	7.69 million[4]
2023	8.49 million[5]
Key dates
1 September 1877	Opened by LT&SR
2 June 1902	District line started
15 June 1962	London–Southend withdrawn
Other information
External links	TfL station info page
Coordinates	51.535°N 0.0344°E / 51.535; 0.0344
London transport portal

The station was opened on 1 September 1877 by the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LTSR). District line service began in 1902, and the Hammersmith & City (at that time the Metropolitan line) followed in 1936. LTSR services were withdrawn in 1962. The station has two working platforms, one for each direction. Two other platforms used to serve the LTSR but are now disused.

Nowadays, the station serves Queens Road Market and Green Street.

History

The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LTSR) direct line between Bow and Barking was constructed east–west through the middle of the parish of West Ham with service starting on 31 March 1858.^[6] Upton Park station was not built at this time. Prior to the building of the line, trains took a longer route via Stratford and Forest Gate to the north.^[7] The new line initially also had stations at Bromley, Plaistow and East Ham, with Upton Park added between Plaistow and East Ham on 1 September 1877.

Upton Park was the first station on the LT&SR to be built by a property developer.^[8] Read was a developer who proposed the station and given approval designed and built a two platform station between the houses of Queen's Road and Harold Road. The station fronted Queen's Square on the corner of Green Street and Queen's Road.

The Whitechapel and Bow Railway opened on 2 June 1902 and allowed through services of the District Railway to operate as far as Upminster. Service began at Upton Park on 2 June 1902.^[9] The District Railway was electrified over a second pair of tracks, with electric service operating from 30 September 1905. The station was rebuilt to coincide with electrification and the District provided the majority of services at the station from this date. The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway became part of the Midland Railway in 1912. The Midland Railway was amalgamated into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) on 1 January 1923. The District Railway was incorporated into London Transport in 1933, and became known as the District line.^[10]

The eastern section of the District line was very overcrowded by the mid 1930s. In order to relieve this, the Metropolitan line service was extended to Barking.^[a] Upton Park was served by a single daily Metropolitan line train from Hammersmith from 30 March 1936. This was expanded from 4 May 1936 with an eight trains per hour service between Barking and Hammersmith at peak times.^[10] This was increased to ten trains per hour at Upton Park from 8 May 1938.^[b] The Hammersmith service was swapped for longer Uxbridge trains from 17 July 1939, at eight trains per hour at peak times. This service was suspended on 6 October 1941 with Hammersmith trains again running to Barking.^[10]

After nationalisation of the railways in 1948 management of the station passed to British Railways.^[10] The remaining Fenchurch Street–Southend services were withdrawn on 14 June 1962 with the introduction of full overhead line electric service.^[10] On 1 January 1969 ownership transferred to the London Underground.^[11] On 30 July 1990, the Hammersmith–Barking service of the Metropolitan line gained a separate identity as the Hammersmith & City line.^[9] From 13 December 2009 off-peak service was extended from Whitechapel to Barking with an all-day daily service at Upton Park.^[12]

Design

There are two ticket office windows, two touch screen ticket machines, and three of the more traditional coin-only button machines. At present there are no lifts at the station for disabled access, nor are there plans to install any.

Location

London Buses routes 58, 104, 330 and 376 serve the station.^[13]

Services

The service frequency is 15 services per hour on the District line and 6 services per hour on the Hammersmith & City line.

Trivia

• The station previously served as the local station for the Boleyn Ground, the home ground of West Ham United football club. However, this changed when in Summer 2016, West Ham United moved to the Olympic Stadium.

• Upton Park tube station appears in the English slang term, "He/She is Upton Park - two stops short of Barking", indicating that the individual in question is slightly mad.^[14]

Gallery

• 
  Side entrance
• 
  Eastbound platform looking east towards Upminster
• 
  Ticket office
• 
  Station roundel

Notes

1. This was achieved by diverting Metropolitan line trains that had previously been routed onto the East London Line at Whitechapel.
2. The two extra trains terminated at East Ham.