Beckton was an authorised railway station planned by

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

but never built. It was to be located in

Beckton Beckton is a suburb in east London, England, located east of Charing Cross and part of the London Borough of Newham. Adjacent to the River Thames, the area consisted of unpopulated marshland known as the East Ham Levels in the parishes of Bark ...

in the

London Borough of Newham The London Borough of Newham is a London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, authorities that were both abolished by the s ...

, in east

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

as a station on an unbuilt extension of the

Jubilee line The Jubilee line is a London Underground line that runs between in east London and in the suburban north-west, via the Docklands, South Bank and West End. Opened in 1979, it is the newest line on the Underground network, although some secti ...

. It would have been the terminus of a branch from

Custom House A custom house or customs house was traditionally a building housing the offices for a jurisdictional government whose officials oversaw the functions associated with importing and exporting goods into and out of a country, such as collecting c ...

adjacent to a planned depot for the line.

Plan

Plans for a new underground line connecting north-west and south-east London via the West End and the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

were first considered in the 1930s. They were developed during the 1950s and 1960s until a plan for the

Fleet line The Jubilee line is a London Underground line that runs between in east London and in the suburban north-west, via the Docklands, South Bank and West End. Opened in 1979, it is the newest line on the Underground network, although some secti ...

established a route to

Lewisham Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified i ...

in 1965 with permission to build the first phase to

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Clockwise from north these are: the east side of Trafalgar Square leading to St Martin's Place and then Charing Cross Road; the Strand leading to the City; ...

granted in 1969 with the second and third phases approved in 1971 and 1972. Phase 1 opened as the Jubilee line in 1979, but uncertainty as to the appropriate eastern destination of the line and shortage of funds meant that the remaining works were never begun. An alternative route for Phase 3 was planned and approved in 1980 that followed a more northern alignment to Woolwich Arsenal with a branch from

to Beckton. The line from Custom House would have followed the disused route of 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 R ...

's Beckton branch. Although preparatory works were carried out for Phase 2, neither it nor either of the Phase 3 routes were constructed. When, in the 1990s, the Jubilee line extension to Stratford was constructed, it followed a different route.

Docklands Light Railway The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is an automated light metro system serving the redeveloped Docklands area of London, England and provides a direct connection between London's two major financial districts, Canary Wharf and the City of Londo ...

services between Custom House and Beckton follow a route along the north side of Royal Albert Dock.

References

Bibliography

* {{coord missing, London Unbuilt London Underground stations Proposed London Underground stations Tube stations in the London Borough of Newham

Beckton tube station Beckton was an authorised railway station planned by London Underground but never built. It was to be located in Beckton in the London Borough of Newham, in east London as a station on an unbuilt extension of the Jubilee line. It would have be ...