Physical Characteristics
The East London Line was the only Underground line not to penetrate Travelcard Zone 1. It was the second shortest line (after the Waterloo & City Line), with an end-to-end journey time of 14 minutes. Its length was 9 km (5.6 mi), with nine stations. At the time of its closure in 2007 it ran in a continuous tunnel from Whitechapel to Surrey Quays, with the remainder on the surface or in cutting. Much of the line was built as cut-and-cover. The deepest point is at Wapping station, constructed in the Thames Tunnel's original entrance shaft 18.29 m (60 ft) below the surface.
At time of closure, the line connected with Southeastern mainline services at New Cross and Southern at New Cross Gate. Underground connections were at Canada Water (Jubilee line) and Whitechapel (District and Hammersmith & City Lines). A non-contiguous connection with the Docklands Light Railway was at Shadwell, with a separate DLR station some 50 m (150 ft) away. Although the interchange was via the street, through ticketing was permitted at time of closure in 2007.
A link with the Metropolitan and District lines was made just south of Whitechapel via St Mary's Curve. This has been out of passenger use since 1941 but was still used to transfer rolling stock to and from the Metropolitan line's main depot at Neasden. The curve can easily be seen on the northbound and eastbound approaches to Whitechapel station, although a temporary wall was built across the line in January 2008, close to the junction with the District line.
Most of the line was double-tracked, with Shoreditch station and the final sections into the southern termini single-tracked, the latter because of lack of space. This required trains to alternate between the two southern termini.
Read more about this topic: East London Line, History, The London Underground Era
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