Lea Valley Lines
Encyclopedia
The Lea Valley Lines are three commuter lines
Commuter rail in the United Kingdom
Urban rail, commuter rail, regional rail, or suburban rail, plays a key role in the public transport system of many of the United Kingdom's major cities. Urban rail is defined as a rail service between a central business district and suburbs or other locations that draw large numbers of people on a...

 and two branches in North East London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, so named because they run along the valley of the River Lea. They were operated for much of their history by the Great Eastern Railway
Great Eastern Railway
The Great Eastern Railway was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia...

.

History

The first section opened, by the Eastern Counties Railway
Eastern Counties Railway
The Eastern Counties Railway was an early English railway company incorporated in 1836. It was intended to link London with Ipswich via Colchester, and then on to Norwich and Yarmouth. Construction began in late March 1837 on the first nine miles, at the London end of the line.Construction was...

 (ECR) on 20 June 1839 from the London end at Devonshire Street
Devonshire Street railway station
Devonshire Street railway station was a station in the parish of Mile End Old Town, in the East End of London. It was opened on 29 June 1839 as the temporary terminus for the Eastern Counties Railway from Romford prior to the construction of Bishopsgate...

 to Romford, extended on 1 July 1840 to Bishopsgate
Bishopsgate railway station
Bishopsgate station was a railway station located on the eastern side of Shoreditch High Street in the modern London Borough of Tower Hamlets; the western edge of the East End. It was in use from 1840 to 1964 when it was destroyed by fire...

 (London end) and Brentwood. The Northern and Eastern Railway
Northern and Eastern Railway
The Northern & Eastern Railway operated one of the two main lines which eventually became the Great Eastern Railway: the other being the Eastern Counties Railway....

 (N&ER) opened its first section from the above line at Stratford to Broxbourne on 15 September 1840, and to Harlow in 1841; though it remained a separate entity the N&ER's line was leased to the EC from 1 January 1844. A branch from Broxbourne to Hertford
Hertford East railway station
Hertford East railway station is one of two stations in Hertford in Hertfordshire, England. The station is 39 km north of London Liverpool Street. It is fifteen minutes' walk from Hertford North station....

 was opened in 1843.

Enfield
Enfield Town railway station
Enfield Town railway station is the most central of several stations in Enfield . It is the terminus of the line served by National Express East Anglia from Liverpool Street, one of the Lea Valley Lines. The station, and all trains serving it, is operated by National Express East Anglia...

 was reached on 1 March 1849 by a single-line branch from the N&ER at Angel Road
Angel Road railway station
Angel Road railway station is in the London Borough of Enfield at Edmonton in north east London, and is in Travelcard Zone 4, on the Tottenham Hale branch of the Lea Valley Lines. The station, and all trains serving it, is operated by National Express East Anglia. It is partially located beneath...

 via Lower Edmonton
Edmonton Green railway station
Edmonton Green railway station is a station in the London Borough of Enfield in north east London on the White Hart Lane branch of the Lea Valley Lines. The station and all trains serving it are operated by National Express East Anglia...

. The ECR was incorporated into the Great Eastern Railway
Great Eastern Railway
The Great Eastern Railway was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia...

 (GER) in 1862. A shorter route to Edmonton was eventually provided by the GER in 1872, from Bethnal Green
Bethnal Green railway station
Bethnal Green railway station is in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in east London. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by National Express East Anglia, on the West Anglia route, and it is in Travelcard Zone 2...

 via Hackney Downs
Hackney Downs railway station
Hackney Downs railway station is in the London Borough of Hackney in east London. The station, and all trains serving it, is operated by National Express East Anglia, on the West Anglia route, and it is in Travelcard Zone 2....

 and Stoke Newington
Stoke Newington railway station
Stoke Newington railway station links Stoke Newington to Liverpool Street in central London, and to Cheshunt and Enfield Town further north. Trains generally run every fifteen minutes....

, which section 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 section of the old line between Angel Road and Lower Edmonton was closed to regular 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; the line closed completely in 1964 and the rails removed soon after.

Another branch divided off eastwards north of Hackney Downs to Walthamstow in 1870, extended to Chingford in 1873.

The final section built linked Lower Edmonton on the Enfield branch via Churchbury (later Southbury
Southbury railway station
Southbury railway station is in the London Borough of Enfield in North London, and is in Travelcard Zone 5, on the Seven Sisters branch of the Lea Valley Lines...

) with the Broxbourne line, meeting the latter at Cheshunt, opening on 1 October 1891; it was generally known as the Churchbury loop until the renaming of that station in 1960.

Route and services

All lines start at London Liverpool Street
Liverpool Street station
Liverpool Street railway station, also known as London Liverpool Street or simply Liverpool Street, is both a central London railway terminus and a connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, England...

 and are operated by National Express East Anglia. The routes are:
  • Via Tottenham Hale
    Tottenham Hale station
    Tottenham Hale, is a National Rail and London Underground Victoria Line station in Tottenham, north London. It is on Hale Road near the Tottenham Hale one-way gyratory system...

    . This line also forms the lower part of the West Anglia Main Line
    West Anglia Main Line
    The West Anglia Main Line is one of the two main lines which run from London Liverpool Street, the other being the Great Eastern Main Line. It runs generally north from London, through the towns of Cheshunt, Broxbourne, Harlow, Bishop's Stortford and Audley End station before reaching Cambridge,...

     to Cambridge.
  • Via Seven Sisters
    Seven Sisters station
    Seven Sisters station is a National Rail and London Underground Victoria Line station in the Seven Sisters area of the London Borough of Haringey, north London.The station is in Travelcard Zone 3....

    . This line has a branch via Temple Mills
    Temple Mills
    Temple Mills is a northerly part of Stratford, south of Leyton, located within the London borough of Newham in east LondonToday, Temple Mills is surrounded at present by former railway tracks and works belonging to the Great Eastern Railway...

     at the southern end to Stratford
    Stratford station
    Stratford station is a large multilevel railway station in Stratford, east London. The station is served by the National Rail services National Express East Anglia, London Overground and c2c, by London Underground's Central and Jubilee lines, and by the Docklands Light Railway . Stratford is in...

    , diverging just south of Seven Sisters. The line splits north of Edmonton Green
    Edmonton Green railway station
    Edmonton Green railway station is a station in the London Borough of Enfield in north east London on the White Hart Lane branch of the Lea Valley Lines. The station and all trains serving it are operated by National Express East Anglia...

     with one short branch to Enfield Town
    Enfield Town railway station
    Enfield Town railway station is the most central of several stations in Enfield . It is the terminus of the line served by National Express East Anglia from Liverpool Street, one of the Lea Valley Lines. The station, and all trains serving it, is operated by National Express East Anglia...

     and the Southbury Loop to Cheshunt
    Cheshunt railway station
    Cheshunt railway station serves the town of Cheshunt in Hertfordshire, England. It is on the West Anglia Main Line and the Lea Valley Lines, and train services are provided by National Express East Anglia....

    , where it rejoins the Tottenham Hale line.
  • To Chingford
    Chingford railway station
    Chingford Station stands on the edge of Epping Forest, and serves the suburb of Chingford in North-east London.- History :The Eastern Counties Railway had begun its venture into a main line railway that would head north to compete with the Great Northern...

    .


The line is part of the Network Rail Strategic Route 5
Network Rail Route 5 (West Anglia)
Strategic Route 5 - West Anglia is the designation given by Network Rail to a grouping of railway lines in the East of England that encompasses the West Anglia Main Line and its various branch lines...

, SRS 05.02, 05.04 and part of 05.01. It is classified as a London and South East Commuter line.

A minor service occurs running on from the Seven Sisters branch to Stratford via the Gospel Oak to Barking Line
Gospel Oak to Barking line
The Gospel Oak – Barking Line is a railway line in north and east London which connects Gospel Oak in North London and Barking in East London as part of the London Overground network. It is sometimes known as the Goblin , although this is a nickname rather than an official title...

 and the West Anglia Main Line
West Anglia Main Line
The West Anglia Main Line is one of the two main lines which run from London Liverpool Street, the other being the Great Eastern Main Line. It runs generally north from London, through the towns of Cheshunt, Broxbourne, Harlow, Bishop's Stortford and Audley End station before reaching Cambridge,...

. This is one of only two places on the Gospel Oak to Barking Line where it is electrified.

Infrastructure

The line is double track
Double track
A double track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single track railway where trains in both directions share the same track.- Overview :...

 for most of its length, with some multitrack between Hackney Downs and Liverpool Street. It is electrified
Railway electrification in Great Britain
Railway electrification in Great Britain started towards of the 19th century. A great range of voltages have been used in the intervening period using both overhead lines and third rails, however the most common standard for mainline services is now 25 kV AC using overhead lines and the...

 at 25 kV AC
25 kV AC
The 25 kV Alternating current railway electrification system is commonly used in railways worldwide, especially for high-speed rail.-Overview:This electrification system is ideal for railways that cover long distances and/or carry heavy traffic...

 using overhead line equipment and a line speed of between 40-75 mph except between Cheshunt and Coppermill junction where the linespeed is 60-85 mph. Different sections of the line have different loading gauges. Most of the line is W8, with the branches to Enfield Town and Chingford being W6 and the branch to Stratford being W9.
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