Aldgate East tube station

Not to be confused with Aldgate tube station.

Aldgate East London Underground
Brick building with leaded windows above entrance. Internally, the walls are tiled in bright cream and blue. A sign above the entrance reads "Aldgate East Station". A blue disk is on the wall next to the station with the name "Isaac Rosenberg" on it.
The northeastern entrance is part of the Whitechapel Gallery building
Aldgate East is located in Central London
Aldgate East
Aldgate East
Location of Aldgate East in Central London
LocationWhitechapel
Local authorityLondon Borough of Tower Hamlets
Managed byLondon Underground
Owner
Number of platforms2
Fare zone1
OSIAldgate London Underground[1]
London Underground annual entry and exit
2020Decrease 3.14 million[2]
2021Increase 5.61 million[3]
2022Increase 10.23 million[4]
2023Increase 10.95 million[5]
2024Increase 11.80 million[6]
Key dates
6 October 1884 (1884-10-06)Opened
31 October 1938Resited
Other information
External links
Coordinates51°30′55″N 0°04′20″W / 51.5152°N 0.0722°W / 51.5152; -0.0722
London transport portal

Aldgate East (/ˈɔːldɡeɪt ˈiːst/) is a London Underground station located on Whitechapel High Street in the Whitechapel neighbourhood of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, East London. It is on the District and Hammersmith & City lines, between Whitechapel to the east, and Tower Hill and Liverpool Street to the west. The station was opened on 6 October 1884 on a new route connecting the District Railway and Metropolitan Railway with Whitechapel and the East London Railway. Steam trains were replaced by electric in 1905 and 1906. The station was rebuilt and resited in 1938. It is in London fare zone 1.

History

The original Aldgate East station opened on 6 October 1884.[7] It was located on an eastern spur of the Metropolitan and Metropolitan District Joint Railway, a line that connected the eastern end of the District Railway (DR) at Mansion House to the Metropolitan Railway (the Met) at Aldgate and completed the Circle line.[8][a] During planning for the station, the name "Commercial Road" was considered.[10] The railway through Aldgate East permitted the DR to reach their new eastern terminus at Whitechapel, the DR and the Met to route trains onto the East London Railway (ELR) and for the South Eastern Railway to access the Met via the ELR.[11] DR services were extended eastwards from Whitechapel in 1902.[12] Fourth-rail electric services replaced steam trains run by the DR in 1905 and the Met in 1906.[13]

By 1912 the DR was running eight-car trains that were too long for the platforms. As well as causing problems for passengers alighting from the eighth carriage, DR trains in the eastbound platform could block the points and prevent westbound Met trains from departing.[14] The DR and the Met drew up plans to extend the platforms but could not agree on how to share the costs and no progress was made.[15] In 1914, a larger Harry Wharton Ford-designed station building was opened.[16] The DR and the Met were incorporated into London Transport on 1 July 1933 and became known as the District and Metropolitan lines.[17]

The eastern section of the District line was very overcrowded by the mid 1930s. Capacity was constrained by the flat junctions west of the station.[18] Most Metropolitan line passengers interchanged to District line services at Aldgate East, which was increasing dwell times.[19] In order to relieve this, the peak-hours Metropolitan line service was diverted to Barking in 1936.[20] With the station now under single ownership, a number of improvements could be made as part of the 1935 New Works Plan.[10] This included providing a replacement station slightly to the east of the old one, a subway connection to an additional exit on the south side of Whitechapel High Street, adding entrances at the east end of the platforms to improve circulation, and remodelling the junctions to the west of the station to allow longer eight-car Metropolitan line trains to operate to Barking.[16]

Black and white photo of station with workmen attending track. In the background the track is raised on wooden trestles at the same level as the new platforms and in the foreground it has been lowered to the correct level.
Tracks being lowered into place at the replacement station

The new eastern entrances would be very near to St Mary's (Whitechapel Road), the next station along the line, and as it was much less well used it was abandoned.[10] It closed to passengers on 1 May 1938.[21] In order to accommodate the subterranean ticket offices at either end of the platforms, the track through the station had to be lowered by seven feet (2 m) and gradients built at either end. This was achieved by building the enlarged tunnel around the old one.[16] The tracks were held at their original level by wooden trestles.[22] The line remained open throughout the works, which took place mostly at night.[16] The line was closed only on Sunday 30 October 1938 to allow the changeover to take place.[23] The engineers and 900 workers lowered 1,400 feet (430 m) of track. The new station opened on 31 October 1938.[22] The track and signalling was then remodelled, with the new layout coming in to service on 27 November 1938.[20] Eight-car Metropolitan line service commenced on 17 July 1939, with eight trains per hour at peak times between Uxbridge and Barking. This service was suspended on 6 October 1941 and reverted to the shorter Hammersmith trains.[24]

On 30 July 1990, the Hammersmith–Barking service of the Metropolitan line gained a separate identity as the Hammersmith & City line.[25] In 2006, a campaign was launched by a Tower Hamlets councillor to change the name of the station to "Brick Lane" by 2012, but this was not supported.[26] The same councillor campaigned to have Shoreditch High Street station renamed "Banglatown".[27]

Design

Platform rear wall with bright cream tiles and blue tiles used sparingly to mark details. A few relief tiles show icons and simple designs. There are two wooden bench seat recessed into alcoves and a large "Aldgate East" roundel with way-finding to the two station ends.
Cream and blue tilework with Stabler-designed relief tiles and alcove seating

There is little trace of the 1884 station, with the above-ground Ford-designed building from 1914 and the old underground platforms now demolished. The former platform columns and the remains of the footbridge can be seen from passing trains.[28] The station consists of two subterranean side platforms—numbered 1 for westbound and 2 for eastbound—either side of the tracks.[29] Metal eye bolts can been seen in the ceiling that were used to temporarily suspend the track during the station relocation. The station is finished in bright cream and blue tiled walls. The platform walls include Harold Stabler-designed relief tiles representing locations around London, commissioned by the London Passenger Transport Board in 1936.[22] The tilework was replaced with replicas in 2009 and 2010. The station has four entrances that are incorporated into buildings, except for the southeastern subway entrance. The northern entrances are from 1938, with the northeastern one part of the Whitechapel Gallery building. The southwestern 1938 entrance was demolished c. 2012 with a modern replacement.[28]

Location

The station is located on Whitechapel High Street in the Whitechapel neighbourhood of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is served by London Buses routes 15, 25, 115, 135, 205, 242, 254, D3,[30] and night routes N15, N25, N205, N253 and N550.[31]

Whitechapel is 0.82 kilometres (0.51 mi) to the east of the station. Liverpool Street is 0.92 kilometres (0.57 mi) to the northwest and Tower Hill is 0.8 kilometres (0.50 mi) to the southwest. It is 23.88 kilometres (14.84 mi) from the eastern terminus at Upminster.[32][33]

Services

The station is managed by London Underground.[34] It is in London fare zone 1.[35] The typical off-peak service from the station is twelve District line trains per hour to Upminster with a further three trains to Barking. There are fifteen trains westbound to Earl's Court, of which six continue to Ealing Broadway, six continue to Richmond and three to Wimbledon.[32] At peak periods the number of trains per hour increases.[32] There are six Hammersmith & City line trains an hour to Barking and six to Hammersmith at all times.[33]

Services towards central London operate from approximately 05:20 to 00:20 and services to Upminster operate from approximately 05:40 to 01:00.[36] With 11.80 million entries and exits in 2024, it was ranked the 53rd busiest London Underground station.[6]

Notes

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  1. ^ Authorised as the Metropolitan and District (City Lines and Extensions) Railway and also known as the "City Lines".[9]

References

Citations

  1. ^ "Out-of-Station Interchanges". Transport for London. 2 January 2016. Archived from the original (Microsoft Excel) on 3 June 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  2. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2020. Transport for London. 16 April 2021. Archived from the original on 11 April 2025. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  3. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2021. Transport for London. 12 July 2022. Archived from the original on 6 April 2025. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  4. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2022. Transport for London. 4 October 2023. Archived from the original on 19 March 2025. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  5. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2023. Transport for London. 8 August 2024. Archived from the original on 31 May 2025. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
  6. ^ a b "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2024. Transport for London. 20 January 2026 [8 October 2025]. Archived from the original on 27 March 2026. Retrieved 27 March 2026.
  7. ^ Horne 2018, p. 149.
  8. ^ Horne 2018, p. 148.
  9. ^ Horne 2018, p. 141.
  10. ^ a b c Connor 1996, p. 2.
  11. ^ Horne 2018, pp. 144, 149, 151.
  12. ^ Horne 2018, p. 167.
  13. ^ Connor 1996, p. 5.
  14. ^ Connor 1996, pp. 6–7.
  15. ^ Connor 1996, pp. 6–8.
  16. ^ a b c d Connor 1996, p. 8.
  17. ^ Horne 2019, p. 344.
  18. ^ Horne 2019, p. 353.
  19. ^ Horne 2019, pp. 353–354.
  20. ^ a b Horne 2019, p. 354.
  21. ^ Connor 1996, p. 4.
  22. ^ a b c Connor 1996, p. 10.
  23. ^ Connor 1996, p. 9.
  24. ^ Horne 2006, p. 68.
  25. ^ "Salmon pink for new LUL line". The Railway Magazine. Vol. 136, no. 1074. October 1990. p. 646.
  26. ^ "Bid to name Tube stop Brick Lane". BBC News. BBC. 15 December 2006. Archived from the original on 16 January 2007. Retrieved 10 January 2007.
  27. ^ "Calls to rename East End station". BBC News. BBC. 20 May 2008. Archived from the original on 17 September 2008. Retrieved 10 June 2008.
  28. ^ a b Kay 2012, p. 36.
  29. ^ Padgett, David; Kelman, Leanne (2024) [1994]. Munsey, Myles (ed.). Railway Track Diagrams 5: Southern & TfL (5th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. map 44A. ISBN 1999627172.
  30. ^ "Buses from Aldgate East" (PDF). Transport for London. June 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 May 2025. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  31. ^ "Night buses from Aldgate East" (PDF). Transport for London. June 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 May 2025. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  32. ^ a b c "District line working timetable 156" (PDF). Transport for London. 12 January 2026. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 January 2026. Retrieved 24 January 2026.
  33. ^ a b "Circle and Hammersmith & City line working timetable 39" (PDF). Transport for London. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 December 2025. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
  34. ^ "Station list by line". Transport of London. Archived from the original on 8 May 2025. Retrieved 27 June 2025.
  35. ^ Standard Tube Map (PDF) (Map). Not to scale. Transport for London. February 2025. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 March 2025. Retrieved 6 March 2025.
  36. ^ "District line" (PDF). First and Last Trains. Transport for London. 12 January 2026. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 January 2026. Retrieved 24 January 2026.

Sources

  • Connor, J. E. (January 1996). "Moving Aldgate East". London Railway Record. No. 6. Colchester: Connor & Butler. pp. 2–12. ISSN 1355-8013.
  • Horne, Mike (2006). The District Line. Capital Transport. ISBN 1-85414-292-5.
  • Horne, Mike (2018). London's District Railway: A History of the Metropolitan District Railway Company. Twentieth Century. Volume one. Capital Transport Publishing. ISBN 978-1854144256.
  • Horne, Mike (2019). London's District Railway: A History of the Metropolitan District Railway Company. Twentieth Century. Volume two. Capital Transport Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85414-430-0.
  • Kay, Peter (2012). London's Railway Heritage: Volume One: East. P. Kay. ISBN 978-1899890453.
Preceding station London Underground Following station
Tower Hill
towards Wimbledon, Richmond or Ealing Broadway
 District line
 Whitechapel
towards Upminster
Liverpool Street
towards Hammersmith
 Hammersmith & City line Whitechapel
towards Barking
Former services
Preceding station London Underground Following station
Mark Lane
towards Wimbledon, Richmond or Ealing Broadway
 District line
(1884–1938)
 St Mary's (Whitechapel Road)
towards Upminster
District line
(1938–1967)
 Whitechapel
towards Upminster
Liverpool Street
towards Hammersmith
 Metropolitan line
(1884–1938)
 St Mary's (Whitechapel Road)
towards New Cross
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