Cambridge Heath is a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

station operated by

London Overground London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, (via archive.org). it now serves a large part of Greater London as w ...

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in the East End of London northeast of Charing Cross. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heath Road. By ...

, East London. The station is down the line from

London Liverpool Street Liverpool Street station, also known as London Liverpool Street, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, in the ward of Bishopsgate Without. It is the t ...

and is situated between and on the

Lea Valley lines The Lea Valley lines are two commuter lines and two branches in north-east London, so named because they run along the Lower Lea Valley of the River Lea. They were part of the Great Eastern Railway, now part of the ''Anglia Route'' of Network ...

to and . Its three-letter station code is CBH and it is in Travelcard zone 2. The station is named after the Cambridge Heath area of Hackney across

Hackney Road Hackney Road is a London arterial route running from Shoreditch Church in London Borough of Hackney to Cambridge Heath in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The route runs along the northern edge of Bethnal Green and southern edge of Hoxton ...

History

Great Eastern Railway 1872-1922

The station was opened on 27 May 1872 by the

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

(GER) as part of a more direct route to

Enfield Town Enfield is a large town in north London, England, north of Charing Cross. It had a population of 156,858 in 2018. It includes the areas of Botany Bay, Brimsdown, Bulls Cross, Bullsmoor, Bush Hill Park, Clay Hill, Crews Hill, Enfield High ...

which before opening was accessed via Angel Road station. When built the station, which is built on a viaduct, had two platforms and a station building on the east side. In 1894, with increasing traffic, the GER opened two additional tracks on the eastern side of the station, which are known as the Fast Lines today and allow longer distance trains to pass trains that stop at Cambridge Heath. No platforms were ever built on these new lines. The 1872 station building was demolished and a new building to the east of the new tracks was built with the platforms accessed through a foot tunnel. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

the station was closed as a wartime economy measure from 22 May 1916 reopening on 5 May 1919.

London & North Eastern Railway (1923-1947)

After the

Railways Act 1921 The Railways Act 1921 (c. 55), also known as the Grouping Act, was an Act of Parliament enacted by the British government and intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, by "grouping" them into four la ...

the country's railways were grouped into four companies, with effect from 1 January 1923. At Hackney Downs the

London & North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after London, Midland and Scottish Railway, LMS) of the "Big Four (British railway companies), Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It op ...

(LNER) took over operations of the GER services. The semaphore signalling was replaced by single searchlight signals which were able to display three-aspects (Green, Yellow or Red) through different a changeable lens arrangement, in 1935. It was also in 1935 that electrification of the lines through Cambridge Heath was suggested, although many years were to pass before these plans came to fruition.

British Railways (1948-1994)

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to p ...

in 1948 responsibility for operating the station fell to

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British ...

( Eastern Region). The lines through Hackney were electrified in the late 1950s with electric services commencing operation on 21 November 1960.

The privatisation era (1994-present day)

The station, along with neighbouring London Fields, was for many years only served during weekday peak periods, with regular daytime services not restarting until 1998, and evening and Saturday services from 2001. Oyster pay as you go cards were introduced at the station in 2008. The station and all services that call were previously operated by

Abellio Greater Anglia Greater Anglia (legal name Abellio East Anglia Limited) is a train operating company in Great Britain owned as a joint venture by Abellio, the international arm of the state-owned Dutch national rail operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen, and the J ...

. In 2015 Cambridge Heath transferred to

and now appears on the tube map. As of November 2018, the station will take part in a "pay by face" facial technology trial called "Gateless Gatelines". It will be used for a trial to "nudge" passengers into ensuring they tap their payment card. In the three-month data-gathering exercise 3D mapping "stereoscopic depth sensors" resembling ceiling-mounted shower heads will track people's movements. The system will be able to analyse from a person's movement through the gate whether they have touched in on the Oyster reader."

Services

The typical weekday off-peak service from Cambridge Heath is four trains per hour southbound to

and two trains per hour northbound to Cheshunt and two to Enfield Town. Service frequency is increased at peak times. London Overground services to

Chingford Chingford is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. The town is approximately north-east of Charing Cross, with Waltham Abbey to the north, Woodford Green and Buckhurst Hill to the east, Walthamstow t ...

pass by on the fast lines. Cambridge Heath station entrance geograph-3296920-by-Ben-Brooksbank

Connections

London Buses London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus s ...

services serves the station, key routes 26, 55, 254, 388, local routes 106 and D6, night routes N26, N55 and N253.

References

External links

* {{London Overground navbox, Serving=y, SevenSisters=y Former Great Eastern Railway stations Railway stations in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1872 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1916 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1919 Railway stations served by London Overground Cambridge Heath