Whitechapel is aninterchange station inWhitechapel,East London forLondon Underground,London Overground andElizabeth line services.^[8] The station is located behind astreet market of the same name and oppositeTower Hamlets Town Hall. The station was comprehensively rebuilt in the late 2010s and early 2020s as part of theCrossrail project.

Whitechapel
Bengali:হোয়াইটচ্যাপেল
Renovated entrance building, opened August 2021
Whitechapel Location of Whitechapel in Greater London
Location	Whitechapel
Local authority	London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Managed by	London Underground
Owner	Transport for London
Station code(s)	ZLW
Number of platforms	6
Accessible	Yes
Fare zone	2
London Underground annual entry and exit
2019	13.09 million[1]
2020	7.62 million[2]
2021	6.21 million[3]
2022	14.27 million[4]
2023	17.45 million[5]
National Rail annual entry and exit
2019–20	13.312 million[6]
2020–21	4.142 million[6]
2021–22	9.273 million[6]
2022–23	23.307 million[6]
2023–24	35.247 million[6]
Key dates
10 April 1876	Opening of ELR station
6 October 1884	Opening of DR station
2 June 1902	Rebuilding of DR station
1995–1998	East London line closed
2007–2010	East London line closed
27 April 2010[7]	East London line reopened
24 May 2022	Elizabeth line opened
Other information
External links	TfL station info page Departures Facilities
Coordinates	51°31′10″N0°03′40″W / 51.5195°N 0.0612°W /51.5195; -0.0612
London transport portal

The station lies betweenAldgate East andStepney Green stations on theDistrict andHammersmith & City lines of the Underground, and betweenShoreditch High Street andShadwell stations on theWindrush line of the Overground. To the west of Whitechapel, on the Elizabeth line, isLiverpool Street; to the east the line splits, with one branch heading towards toStratford and the other toCanary Wharf. Whitechapel is infare zone 2.

Whitechapel station was originally opened in 1876 when theEast London Railway (ELR, now theEast London line) was extended north fromWapping toLiverpool 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 theLondon, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR), theLondon, Chatham and Dover Railway (LC&DR),Great Eastern Railway (GER) and theSouth Eastern Railway (SER).^[9]

On 6 October 1884, theDistrict Railway (DR, now theDistrict line) opened a new station adjacent to the deeper ELR station as the terminus of an extension fromMansion House^[10] (part of the extension also formed the final section of theCircle line^[10][11]). 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 DR station was temporarily closed for rebuilding. It reopened on 2 June 1902, when the DR opened theWhitechapel & Bow Railway, a joint venture with theLondon, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR).^[10] The new extension ran eastwards toBromley-by-Bow where it joined the LT&SR's tracks.^[10] DR services then operated regularly toUpminster and as far asSouthend-on-Sea in the summer.^[10]

The DR tracks wereelectrified in 1905 andelectric trains replacedsteam trains.^[10] Services going eastwards were cut back to the limit of electrification atEast Ham; later they were re-extended toBarking in 1908, and to Upminster in 1932.^[10][12]

On 3 December 1906, theMetropolitan Railway (MR, which in 1933 became theMetropolitan line) extended its service to Whitechapel as the eastern terminus of its service.^[13] The MR also ran trains over the southern section of ELR via a connection (St Mary's Curve) between the DR tracks west of Whitechapel and the ELR tracks north ofShadwell station. When the tracks of the ELR were electrified in 1913, the MR ended services to the DR station and extended its ELR service through Whitechapel toShoreditch (at that time 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 asBarking.^[13]

During the 1980s, theLondon Transport considered converting theEast London line into a light railway similar to theDocklands Light Railway, or restoring the then-disused connection toLiverpool Street reconnecting Whitechapel to Liverpool Street via Shoreditch.^{[14][full citation needed][15]}

The line had also become a line in its own right (though it was still grouped operationally with theMetropolitan line) and, from 1990, its colour on the map changed to orange. At the same time, the Hammersmith-Barking section of the Metropolitan line has also been operated separately as theHammersmith & City line after it appeared as a completely separate line and its colour changed to pink on the tube map.^[13]

On 25 March 1995, during the construction of theJubilee Line Extension, theEast London line was closed to allow repair works on theThames 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.

Throughout its life, Whitechapel has been used extensively as an eastern terminus; however, since the timetable change in December 2009, trains have reversed atPlaistow instead of Whitechapel. This is owing to operational changes related to the construction work to build one large island platform.

In preparation for the extension of theEast London line toDalston Junction andHighbury & Islington, the line north of Whitechapel to Shoreditch was closed on 9 June 2006. Services to Shoreditch had previously been run duringpeak hours and Sunday mornings only; these were replaced by a bus link.

Work on theextension of the East London line commenced and the line was closed on 22 December 2007. It reopened on 27 April 2010 when tracks on a new alignment were connected to a disusedNorth London line viaduct fromShoreditch toDalston, making Whitechapel part of theLondon Overground network. Temporary bus services operated during the closure, of whichrail replacement route ELW remained in service until the ELL fully opened on 23 May 2010.^[16] The southern extension of phase 1 fromNew Cross Gate toCrystal Palace andWest Croydon was completed simultaneously with that to Dalston in 2010 and a full service began in May 2010.^[17]

In early 2015, because there were no services running on the Hammersmith & City and Circle lines betweenEdgware Road andAldgate East/Tower Hill, a revised Circle line service operated between Edgware Road and Barking viaVictoria. This occurred because of track drainage replacement and station works atEuston Square,Moorgate andLiverpool Street. It was the first time a regular Circle line service had called at Whitechapel.^{[citation needed]}

Owing to Crossrail work that took place at Whitechapel station,Night Overground services initially did not stop at that station until works were complete.^[18] From December 2019, Night Overground began to stop additionally at Whitechapel.^[19]

In the 2010s and early 2020s, the station was comprehensively rebuilt as part of theCrossrail project.^[20] The work was undertaken by a joint venture ofBalfour Beatty,Morgan Sindall andTaylor Woodrow Construction.^[21]

The work involved restoring the historic station entrance, building a new station concourse and ticket hall above the Underground and Overground tracks, widening the sub-surface line platforms, and providing an intermediate concourse above the Overground tracks – as well as platforms and other infrastructure for Elizabeth line services.^[20][22] 10 lifts provide step free access to all platforms, with 3 escalators providing access down to the Elizabeth line platforms.^[23] A new north-south, free public access route through the station is also provided, shortening journeys for local residents.^[20]

Originally forecast in the early 2010s to cost £110m, the work at Whitechapel is estimated to have cost around £830m.^[24] Crossrail CEO Mark Wild stated that Whitechapel was “one of the most challenging Elizabeth Line stations to construct”,^[22] with challenges including building the new concourse above live railway lines, as well as ensuring continued use of the station by passengers.^[23] A temporary ticket hall off Court Street maintained access into the station during the 5 year period that the main entrance was closed.^[25][20]

The revamped original entrance reopened on 23 August 2021.^[22]

When opened on 24 May 2022,^[8] services initially ran between Paddington and Abbey Wood only. Since 6 November 2022, the line splits into two branches just east of the station: one towards Shenfield, joining theGreat Eastern Main Line just south of Stratford, and the other continuing to Abbey Wood^[26] The Elizabeth Line platforms lie to the north of the station, with access via escalators down from the intermediate concourse above the Overground tracks.

Whitechapel station hasbilingual station signage, owing to the largeBengali community in the local area. In March 2022, station signs on the platforms bear "Whitechapel" and its equivalent "হোয়াইটচ্যাপেল" inBengali.^[27] It is one of the relatively few stations in England to havebilingual signage, others beingSouthall (Punjabi),Wallsend (Latin),Hereford (Welsh),Moreton-in-Marsh (Japanese) andSt Pancras International,Ebbsfleet International andAshford International (all French).Mayor of LondonSadiq Khan stated that he was "delighted" that the signage was installed ahead ofBangladesh Independence Day on 26 March.^[27] The installation was applauded by not onlyBangladeshi diplomats but alsoMamata Banerjee, theChief Minister ofWest Bengal.^[28]

Whitechapel has the unusual situation where theDistrict andHammersmith & City line London Underground platforms are located above theWindrush line London Overground platforms.

The station used to have six platforms in open cuttings north of Whitechapel Road. The Hammersmith & City and District lines had two eastbound and two westbound (although trains could have reversed direction from any platform during times of disruption or engineering work). There was a siding beside platform 4 track accessed from the east side of the station which could accept a 6-car C or D stock train. There was another siding from platform 1 eastbound. This was of sufficient length and signalled to hold only a six carC stock train and when it was holding a train the platform (one) could only be used as a terminal, to reverse trains east to west, not as a through platform. The Windrush line (now part of London Overground) has one northbound and one southbound platform. They are sited at the eastern end of the station and are in a deeper cutting.

In September 2011 the track was permanently removed from platforms 2, 3, and 4. Platform 4 has been extended over the trackbed and westbound trains use the route of the old siding which has been connected to the main line at the western end to provide a through route. This platform is renumbered platform 2. Trailing crossovers are provided at each end of the station. The two island platforms were combined to form one large island platform with a central circulating area. A new double-ended centre reversing siding has been constructed beyondWest Ham to compensate for the loss of reversing facilities from Whitechapel. Since December 2009 Hammersmith & City line trains have not been scheduled to reverse at Whitechapel. Outside peak hours they currently reverse alternately at Plaistow and Barking.

The St Mary's curve connection between the District line track and theEast London line^[29] 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 the refurbishment of the East London line that commenced in late December 2007. The points on the District line, connecting it to the curve, were removed in summer 2008. Just west of Whitechapel is the site of the formerSt Mary's station, one of the manyclosed London Underground stations.^[29]

In 1997, Vitreous enamel panels designed by Doug Patterson were installed on the East London line (now part of the London Overground) platforms.^[30]

On the Elizabeth line platforms, colourful paper collages of local residents byChantal Joffe have been recreated in aluminium. This work is titled "A Sunday afternoon in Whitechapel".^[31][32]

Services at Whitechapel are operated by theElizabeth line; theWindrush line of theLondon Overground; and theDistrict andHammersmith & City lines of theLondon Underground.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour (tph) is:

London Buses routes25,205,254,D3 and night routesN25,N205 andN253 serve the station.^[37]The106 which displays Whitechapel as the destination and previously stopped outside the station entrance has been re-routed and terminates a 5 minute walk away in Cavell Street^[38]

• London Transport Museum Photographic collection
  • Whitechapel station booking hall, 1927
  • East London Line platform, 1955
  • District line platforms, 1957
• Tube Professionals' Rumour Network – Track Diagram showing layout of station and St. Mary's curve
• Google Maps – Whitechapel station satellite view
• London Overground – Clapham Junction to Surrey Quays
• Whitechapel Station Images and Info