User:Hammersfan/Railway Adjustment and Intervention Bureau/London Broad Street railway station

Broad Street
London Broad Street
Exchange Square entrance
Location	Bishopsgate
Local authority	City of London
Managed by	London Overground
Owner	Transport for London
Station code	LBS
Number of platforms	8
Accessible	Yes
Key dates
1865 (1865)	Opened
1986 (1986)	Original station demolished
1993 (1993)	New station opened
Other information
External links	Departures Layout Facilities Buses
London transport portal

London Broad Street is a railway terminus in London. The station serves as the terminal for services operated by London Overground as part of the Outer Circle. Broad Street will also a station on the Crossrail Line 1, directly connected to the adjacent Liverpool Street station.

History

Opening

The extension of the North London Railway (NLR) to Broad Street (via the Kingsland Viaduct) was authorised by the North London Railway Act of 22 July 1861. The station was opened on 1 November 1865. It was the terminus of a network of commuter railways linking east and west London via the looping route of the NLR, originally with 7 platforms, and three approach lines. Broad Street goods station was next to the passenger station, and opened for traffic on 18 May 1868. It was built on a deck, and a lift was provided to move wagons down to warehouses below. The deck was not strong enough to carry locomotives, so shunting was done by rope and capstan.

Expansion and development

A fourth approach line was added in 1874, a further (eighth) platform in 1891, and a final (ninth) platform in 1913. At its peak, it became the third busiest London station (after Liverpool Street, immediately adjacent, and Victoria). At the start of the 20th century, more than one train a minute arrived or left the station during the morning rush hour, with over 27 million passengers in 1902. The Great Northern Railway also used Broad Street, as a supplement to its King's Cross terminal some miles to the west.

Broad Street railway station in 1961

Rundown

North London Line (City Branch)
North London line to Willesden Junction Highbury & Islington to East Coast Main Line via Finsbury Park Canonbury Curve Canonbury Mildmay Park North London line to Stratford Dalston Junction Haggerston Kingsland Viaduct Hoxton Shoreditch East London line via Whitechapel Great Eastern Main Line via Stratford Broad Street Liverpool Street

Looking into the station in 1983.

Class 501 train waiting for departure at Broad Street

In the early years of the 20th century the North London Line suffered a drastic loss in passengers and, especially, revenue, owing to the expansion of the bus, tram and Tube networks. For example, from 1900 to 1905, passengers dropped by 4 percent and 13.4 percent; by 1913 numbers had dropped to 44.6 percent of the 1900 total, and by 1921 to only 23.3 percent. The patronage of Broad Street station declined accordingly. This was not helped by the fact that on 8 September 1915 the station was damaged by a Zeppelin attack.

In the face of the competition, the governing board finally decided to electrify the NLR, on the two conductor rail at 600DC system, and electrified services started on 1 October 1916, using Oerlikon stock, though the Watford service was not electrified until 10 July 1922. At the terminus only the western five lines were ever electrified. After 1922 the NLR was fully absorbed into the London and North Western Company, and disaggregated figures are not available; however, electrification appears to have at least stemmed the tide of passenger losses.

The station was badly damaged in World War II and was never fully repaired. Local services to Poplar were withdrawn on 14 May 1944 and never reinstated. The main station building closed in 1956, passengers being directed to a new concourse level building at the platform entrance to buy tickets.

In 1960, 41 trains carrying 6,400 passengers arrived at Broad Street in the three morning peak hours.

The line and station were earmarked for closure under the Beeching Axe of 1963, but local opposition persuaded the government to give it a reprieve. However, the station was gradually run down and the level of service was steadily reduced. In 1967 the major part of the train shed roof was removed, having become unsafe, whilst four of the nine platforms were taken out of use in 1969, the same year that the goods yard closed. In 1976, peak hour services to the Eastern Region via the Canonbury Spur, were withdrawn with the opening of the Northern City Line, and a further platform was disconnected. The station was now very dilapidated, with trees growing in between the disused platforms. The crumbling facade and the cavernous, dark interior (including a disused buffet and ticket office) were fascinating yet forbidding.

Rebirth

By 1985, only 6,000 passengers per week were using Broad Street station and only about 300 arrived daily in the morning peak. Given the money that could be generated from the sale of the land, British Rail authorised that the final services to the station be withdrawn, with first the Richmond service diverted away to North Woolwich, and finally the intention to stop the peak time Watford Junction service, once a new chord connection to Liverpool Street was constructed. However, before the terms of sale could be finalised, the incoming Sector Director of London & South Eastern chose to have a clause inserted that would see the retention of a railway station as part of the Broadgate development that would be built on the site. The rationale for this was an idea that use of the railway would increase, with a consequent pressure on neighbouring Liverpool Street. In addition, the withdrawl of services to Broad Street would mean that areas of north and south west London would have no direct rail link into the City. As a consequence, a new station was included within the second phase of building work. New, temporary platforms were installed on the planned site of the new station in mid 1986 that allowed the retention of the Watford Junction service. The creation of Network SouthEast at the same time saw an increase in the service level to all day, with one train per hour of the Watford Junction to Euston diverted instead to Broad Street. In 1987, the Richmond to North Woolwich service was also diverted back to Broad Street, with this replaced by a shuttle service between North Woolwich and Stratford. To compensate for the loss of through services along the North London Line, a new service between Stratford and Clapham Junction via the West London Line was started in 1990.

Privatisation

The new station was completed in 1993, coinciding with the proposals for the Privatisation of British Rail. The North London Line became part of the new Silverlink franchise, which was divided into two distinct sub-brands:

• Silverlink County - this was the inter-urban element of the franchise responsible for semi-fast and slow trains via the West Coast Main Line from Euston.
• Silverlink Metro - this was the London suburban element, which concentrated on services via the North London Line into Broad Street.

The start of the new franchise led to certain peak time changes in the service pattern, with some peak time Silverlink County trains, which ran via Watford Junction, diverting instead to Broad Street, which allowed direct access to the City from the Midlands. In addition, Broad Street was also used during peak hours to relieve the pressure (foreseen in 1986) on First Great Eastern services into neighbouring Liverpool Street.

Concourse level

The start of the 21st Century saw new proposals for an extension of the East London line. This plan was intended to improve transport links in Hackney by using the Kingsland Viaduct. This had been reduced from four running lines to two with the construction of the new station at Broad Street, as the service level did not justify maintaining them. As a consequence, it was decided that the eastern side of the Viaduct could be relaid and utilised for the planned London Underground trains that were intended to terminate at Dalston Junction. As time passed however, the proposal became modified and incorporated into the plan to give the Mayor of London greater control over the railways, proposals that came to a climax with the creation of London Overground, which in 2007 took on the Silverlink Metro part of Silverlink. As a consequence, the plans were altered to include Broad Street as the new terminus for these services as well. This saw a new viaduct built to create a trinagular junction on the approaches to Broad Street, that would allow trains from both the north and south to terminate there, while also providing a direct route that by-passed Broad Street. This led to Broad Street takin its place as the central/north-eastern terminus of what became known as the "Outer Circle", a new orbital railway around the edge of Central London; Clapham Junction became the equivilent terminus in the south-west. This has seen a swapping of the original North London Line services, with the Richmond service diverted to Stratford, while the Clapham Junction service has taken its place to Broad Street.

Layout

The original Broad Street had a total of nine platforms, which were steadily reduced as more services were withdrawn. When the station was rebuilt it had two island platforms in a similar configuration to that of Fenchurch Street, together with a single side platform, with a fairly low roof to the train shed owing to the buildings being constructed on top. However, thanks to the layout of the site, space was available to expand this, which saw three extra platforms (one island platform and one side) constructed as part of the East London Line extension. Platforms 1, 2 and 3 are also longer than the others, and are the ones used by London Midland trains during peak hours. Platforms 1 and 2 are also solely electrified using OHLE, while Platforms 7 and 8 have only third rail electrification and are used for services from the south. Platforms 3-6 have both 3rd rail and OHLE, and are primarily used as overload platforms during peak time for services from all directions.

Uniquely for a terminus in London, the platforms are located above the concourse. The demolition of the original station and construction of the Broadgate meant there was little room on the surface to construct a station building of the size required for such a large station. As a consequence, a new station concourse was incorporated into the basement levels of part of the development. Broad Street's main entrance is a small canopy like structure in Exchange Square, with escalators leading down to the sub-surface level. In addition to hosting Broad Street's concourse, it also serves as a hub for a network of sub-surface foot routes connecting the buildings of the development, which feeds into the subways that access Liverpool Street tube station.

Services

London Overground trains stand at Platforms 6 and 7

Today, Broad Street now serves as the terminus of London Overground services from both north and south. Primarily, Broad Street is used by trains on the "Outer Circle" from Clapham Junction; from the north these trains use the West London Line, and then the North London Line before approaching Broad Street via the City Branch. From the south trains travel using the South London Line and the East London Line. In addition, Broad Street is also the primary terminus for trains to and from Watford Junction via Primrose Hill. Broad Street also serves as an occasional terminus (usually due to engineering work) for other London Overground services (Richmond-Stratford; West Croydon/Crystal Palace-Dalston Junction).

A London Midland train at Platform 2

In addition to London Overground's services, London Midland, the operator that took over the Silverlink County operations, continues to run peak time trains via Watford Junction into Broad Street; these trains take the place of some of the London Overground services. Broad Street is also used as a diversionary terminus for services operated by National Express East Anglia when Liverpool Street is unavailable.

Preceding station	London Overground			Following station
Terminus		Outer Circle Clockwise		Shoreditch High Street towards Clapham Junction
Hoxton towards Clapham Junction		Outer Circle Anti-Clockwise		Terminus
Hoxton towards Watford Junction		Broad Street-Watford via Primrose Hill
Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Highbury & Islington		London Midland London-Milton Keynes/Northampton Peak Hours Only		Terminus