Stratford Station - Station Layout - High-level Platforms

High-level Platforms

The high-level platforms run at right angles to the low-level, roughly east-west. The lines to the old platforms 1 & 2 pass beneath the high-level station. Access from the main station entrance is via a subway; a second subway links the Jubilee line platforms directly to platforms 3–10. A third subway, which served the old entrance to the station, re-opened in September 2010

• Platforms 1 & 2: On 15 April 2009 the North London Line platforms at Stratford moved to new high-level platforms 1 & 2 from the old low-level platforms 1 & 2, the latter being made available for the DLR's Stratford International service (opened on 31 August 2011). Platforms 1 and 2 comprise an island platform with step-free links to platform 12 and the subway linking to platforms 3 to 11. The platforms can accommodate trains with up to 6 cars, though at present, due to short platforms elsewhere, 4-car trains are used. It had originally been planned to make this change on 2 January 2009 but it was delayed. Note: During the planning of these new platforms they were shown on plans as 12a and 12b.
• Platforms 3, 3A & 6 are used by Central line trains, which rise from their tunnels into the open air here and immediately descend back underground afterwards. Platforms 3 & 6 are 'island' platforms providing easy cross-platform interchange with National Rail services operating from platforms 5 and 8 respectively (see below), while platform 3A has a direct step-free connection at mezzanine level, facilitating easier interchange with Jubilee line trains on platforms 13-15 and Docklands Light Railway trains on platforms 4A & 4B. Westbound Central line trains travelling towards London Liverpool Street Station and Central London open their doors on both sides, so that passengers can alight and board trains from either side, reducing dwell times and peak-hour congestion in the passageways.
• Platforms 4 & 7 are abandoned. When the London to Shenfield line was electrified in the 1940s, there was an intention to run a shuttle service from Fenchurch Street to Stratford, calling at Stepney and Bow Road, which would have terminated at these bay platforms. However, this service was never introduced (despite all the works required being carried out). In the 1980s platform 4 was used as the terminus of the Docklands Light Railway while platform 7 remained abandoned. In 2007 platform 4 was abandoned again as the DLR moved to two new platforms to the south of platform 4.
• Platforms 4A & 4B are used by the Docklands Light Railway for services to Canary Wharf, Greenwich and Lewisham. They consist of a single island platform with two faces, numbered 4A and 4B.
• Platforms 5 & 8 are used by Greater Anglia services on the slow lines out of London Liverpool Street. These are mostly the 'Shenfield metro' services to Shenfield, but during the off-peak they are also used by trains to Southend Victoria. Two late-night c2c trains pass through the station each day on the way from Liverpool Street to Barking and vice versa. c2c also pass through when there are engineering works between Barking & London Fenchurch Street. Cross-platform interchange is available with Central line services running from platforms 3 and 6 respectively (see above).
• Platforms 9, 10 & 10A are used by Greater Anglia services on the fast lines out of London Liverpool Street towards Norwich and destinations served by branches off the Great Eastern Main Line, e.g. Clacton-on-Sea, Braintree, and Southend. Originally there were only two platforms here, but in the 1990s the station buildings on Platform 9 were demolished to make an island platform with faces on both sides. The new face became 9, the old 9 became 10 and the old 10 became 10A.
• Platforms 11 & 12 have been used since December 2005 for Greater Anglia services to Broxbourne and Bishop's Stortford. There is a half-hourly service Monday to Saturdays, extending to Hertford East, Stansted Airport or Cambridge in the peaks with an hourly service to Cambridge on Sundays, as of the December 2011 timetable. Most services use platform 12, since trains cannot terminate and reverse direction in platform 11.