Hackney Central railway station

Hackney Central
Hackney Central Location of Hackney Central in Greater London
Location	Hackney
Local authority	London Borough of Hackney
Managed by	London Overground
Owner	Network Rail
Station code(s)	HKC
DfT category	D
Number of platforms	2
Accessible	Yes[1]
Fare zone	2
OSI	Hackney Downs [2]
National Rail annual entry and exit
2018–19	4.183 million[3]
– interchange	4.170 million[3]
2019–20	4.688 million[3]
– interchange	3.703 million[3]
2020–21	1.110 million[3]
– interchange	1.576 million[3]
2021–22	3.394 million[3]
– interchange	1.496 million[3]
2022–23	4.206 million[3]
– interchange	1.467 million[3]
Key dates
26 September 1850	Opened as Hackney
1 December 1870	Relocated west
1944	Closed
12 May 1980	Reopened as Hackney Central
Other information
External links	Departures Facilities
Coordinates	51°32′49″N 0°03′21″W / 51.547°N 0.0559°W / 51.547; -0.0559
London transport portal

Hackney Central is a London Overground station on the North London line in the London Borough of Hackney.

It lies between Dalston Kingsland and Homerton in Travelcard Zone 2.^[4] The station and the trains serving it are operated by Transport for London.

The station is connected to Hackney Downs by a direct passenger walkway linking the two stations (replacing an earlier such link) that was opened in July 2015. This walkway means passengers do not have to exit on to the street in order to continue their onward journey and has eased congestion.^[5]

The North London Railway opened a station named Hackney on 26 September 1850, to the east of Mare Street, then in the county of Middlesex. It closed on 1 December 1870 and was replaced the same day by a station to the west of Mare Street, designed by Edwin Henry Horne and also named Hackney. This station passed in due course to the London and North Western Railway and later on to the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, which closed the entire North London line east of Dalston Junction to passenger traffic in 1944.^[6]

Just to the west of the station a goods yard called Graham Road was opened by the Great Eastern Railway in 1894. Located just west of the GER Hackney Downs railway viaduct the depot consisted of seven sidings dealing with coal and general goods. The land had originally been purchased for a rail link between the North London and Great Eastern Railways.

Graham Road goods yard closed in October 1965.^[7] The site was finally used to link the North London and Great Eastern lines when in anticipation of the closure of Broad Street railway station in 1985 the "Graham Road Curve" was opened to traffic.

On 12 May 1980, the station was reopened by British Rail as part of the Crosstown Linkline service, this time named Hackney Central, a little to the west of the 1870 station. The 1870 station building designed by Edwin Henry Horne is no longer in use by the railway, but is one of only two examples of North London Railway architecture still in situ, the other being Camden Road station, which is still open. Access to the modern Hackney Central station is from an alleyway adjacent to the 1870 building on Mare Street, as well as a more direct access from Amhurst Road.

The former station building is now a bar and music venue.^[8]

As part of the programme to introduce four-car trains on the London Overground network, the North London Line between Gospel Oak and Stratford closed in February 2010 to enable the installation of a new signalling system and the extension of platforms across the network. The line reopened on 1 June 2010, initially with a reduced service and none on Sundays.^[9] The full seven-day service resumed on 22 May 2011, with extra services running all day in place of the additional shuttle trains which had previously run between Camden Road and Stratford stations in the morning and evening peaks.^[10]

A new entrance from the south in Graham Road with ticket office and footbridge was opened in 2022.^[11][12]

v t e London Overground
Cheshunt Theobalds Grove Enfield Town Turkey Street Romford Bush Hill Park Southbury Emerson Park Upminster Edmonton Green Silver Street Chingford White Hart Lane Highams Park Watford Junction Bruce Grove Wood Street Watford Seven Sisters Walthamstow Central High Street Harringay Blackhorse Road Walthamstow Queen's Road Bushey Green Lanes Carpenders Park Crouch Hill South Tottenham St. James Leyton Midland Road Hatch End Upper () Stamford Hill Street Leytonstone Headstone Lane Holloway Stoke Newington Clapton High Road Harrow & Kentish Town West Rectory Road Wanstead Park () Wealdstone Gospel Oak Camden Road () Hackney Woodgrange Park () Kenton () Caledonian Road Canonbury Downs Barking South Kenton & Barnsbury Barking Riverside () North Highbury & Islington Dalston Kingsland Hackney Central Wembley Hampstead Heath Dalston Wembley Finchley Road & Frognal () Junction London Fields Central West Hampstead ( ) Haggerston Cambridge Homerton Stonebridge Brondesbury Hoxton Heath Hackney Wick Park Brondesbury Park Shoreditch High Street Bethnal Green Stratford Harlesden Kensal Rise Kensal Green Liverpool Whitechapel Willesden Queen's Park Street Shadwell () Junction Kilburn High Road Wapping South Hampstead Rotherhithe Shepherd's Bush () Euston () Canada Water Kensington (Olympia) Surrey Quays West Brompton Battersea Park Imperial Wharf () (limited service) New Cross Clapham Queens Road Peckham New Cross Gate Junction Peckham Rye Brockley Acton Central Wandsworth Road Denmark Hill Honor Oak Park South Acton () Clapham Forest Hill Gunnersbury High Street Sydenham Kew Gardens Richmond Crystal Palace Penge West Anerley Norwood Junction West Croydon ()
Legend
Station National Rail Liberty line Accessible station Thameslink Lioness line Interchange station Elizabeth line Mildmay line Accessible interchange Docklands Light Railway Suffragette line Internal interchange London Underground Weaver line Out-of-station interchange London Trams Windrush line (   ) Nearby interchange London River Services The new London Overground line names and colours were introduced across the London rail network in November 2024

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour (tph) is:

• 4 tph westbound to Richmond via Highbury & Islington, Camden Road and Willesden Junction^[10]
• 4 tph westbound to Clapham Junction^[10]
• 8 tph eastbound to Stratford^[10]

Hackney Central is a proposed stop on Crossrail 2. It would be between Angel and Tottenham Hale or Seven Sisters.^[13] The platforms would be underground, with a connection to the existing surface station.

In February 2006 the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) Horizon 2020 report, had suggested that the DLR be extended here from Bow Church via Old Ford and Homerton, taking over the old parts of the North London line to link up Poplar and Canary Wharf.^[14] However, most of the former North London line between Hackney Wick and Bow Church has been built on. ^{[citation needed]}.

London Bus routes 30, 38, 55, 106, 236, 242, 253, 254, 276, 277, 394 and W15 and night routes N38, N55, N242, N253 and N277 serve the station.^[15][16]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hackney Central railway station.

• Excel file displaying National Rail station usage information for 2005/06 Archived 22 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine

• Train times and station information for Hackney Central railway station from National Rail

Preceding station	London Overground			Following station
Dalston Kingsland towards Richmond or Clapham Junction		Mildmay line North London line		Homerton towards Stratford