Dagenham East is a London Underground station located on the eastern side of the town of

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Forest ...

in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, east London. It is on the District line between to the west and Elm Park to the east. It is along the line from the eastern terminus at and to in central London where the line divides into numerous branches. The station has moderate usage for a suburban station, with approximately 3 million exits/entrances per year. It was opened as a main line station in 1885 and was called Dagenham. The current station buildings date from the introduction of electric services in 1932 and of typical railway architectural style for the period, with little trace remaining of the station's Victorian origins. In 2006 the station was extensively refurbished by Metronet.

History

The station was initially opened as a main line station on the

London, Tilbury and Southend Railway The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR), was a British railway company, whose network connected Fenchurch Street railway station, Fenchurch Street station, in central London, with destinations in east London and Essex, including , , , T ...

in 1885, on a new branch connecting London with Southend by a more direct route than the existing service via Rainham. Dagenham was already served by a station on the original route at Dagenham Dock, to the south. The new station was opened as ''Dagenham'', with the main station buildings on the up platform, which is now disused. From 1902 to 1905 the station was served by trains of the

District Railway The Metropolitan District Railway, also known as the District Railway, was a passenger railway that served London from 1868 to 1933. Established in 1864 to complete an " inner circle" of lines connecting railway termini in London, the first par ...

, who connected to the main line at a junction at Bow. The station was in a rural location until the building of the Becontree estate, of which it was on the eastern perimeter. London, Tilbury and Southend Railway operation passed to the

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally u ...

in 1912, and in 1932 an additional set of tracks were constructed between Barking and Upminster. The current station structures originate from this period. The new tracks were electrified and permitted the District line to operate as far Upminster for the first time since 1905. An additional station was opened at Heathway in 1932 and Dagenham East was renamed to its current name in 1949.Rose, D., ''The London Underground: A diagrammatic history'', (1999) The station was predominantly served by the electric London Underground services and the main line platforms were eventually decommissioned in 1962, when those lines were overhead electrified. After nationalisation of the railways in 1948 management of the station passed to

British Rail 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 rai ...

ways and in 1969 ownership transferred to the London Underground.

Design

The station was refurbished by Metronet in 2006 as part of a series of improvements to the London Underground. These works included the installation of

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...

, provision of customer help points connected to a control room, a new public address system, electronic customer information displays on platforms and in the ticket hall, and the erection of new enclosed waiting areas. Ticket barriers are in operation. The station has three working platforms that are used by the District line, one for each direction of travel and another for terminating trains from central London during peak times.

Location

The station serves

Eastbrookend Country Park Eastbrookend Country Park is an 84-hectare park and Local Nature Reserve in Dagenham in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, in England. Together with the neighbouring Chase Nature Reserve it is also designated a Site of Metropolitan Impor ...

to the east. North of the station is an industrial estate and the Victoria Road stadium. To the south is predominantly residential, including the historic Dagenham village.

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 se ...

routes

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and

364 __NOTOC__ Year 364 ( CCCLXIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Varronianus (or, less frequently, year 11 ...

serve the station.

Services

The station is in

London fare zone 5 Fare zone 5 is an outer zone of Transport for London's zonal fare system used for calculating the price of tickets for travel on the London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway and, since 2007, on National Rail services. The ...

. The typical off-peak service from the station is twelve District line trains per hour to Upminster and twelve to Earl's Court, of which six continue to Ealing Broadway and six continue to

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

. At peak periods some trains continue from Earl's Court to

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

. Services towards central London operate from approximately 05:00 to 23:45 and services to Upminster operate from approximately 06:00 to 01:30. The journey time to Upminster is ten minutes; to Barking is ten minutes, and to Tower Hill is approximately 34 minutes. During 2011 there were 2.22 million passenger entries and exits at the station, higher than the annual usage over the preceding two years, and typical for a suburban station.

Railway station proposal

In 2015,

Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London, the capital of the United Kingdom. It provides a b ...

proposed the platforms on the National Rail route should be re-opened to provide interchange with c2c services, in connection with the Barking Riverside redevelopment to the south of the station. In 2022 Barking and Dagenham Council restated its aspirations for the reinstated platforms at Dagenham East as well as a new station at Castle Green.

References