Canning Town station

Canning Town station stands in East Ham, east London, where the A13 crosses the old Thames wharf. It is a busy interchange with the London Underground’s Jubilee line and the Docklands Light Railway, plus a large bus station. The present building opened in 1999 as part of the Jubilee Line Extension, replacing an earlier station north of the A13. The site once held freight yards for the Great Eastern Railway and the London and North Western Railway. Goods trains once ran to Blackwall Pepper Warehouse and the Royal Docks, hauled by steam cranes beside the river. The station is worth the journey because it shows how London’s transport grew from freight lines to a modern interchange. The first station opened in 1847 as Barking Road, built by the Eastern Counties and Thames Junction Railway. It was renamed Canning Town in 1873 and rebuilt several times, most recently in 1999 by architects Troughton McAslan. During the Second World War the station suffered bomb damage and saw reduced services. In 2019 it became the focus of protests that briefly halted rush-hour trains. Visitors find a fully accessible station with lifts and escalators linking all platforms. The Jubilee line runs on the lower level, the DLR to Poplar on the upper level, and the DLR to Stratford International on an east-side platform. An underground concourse runs the width of the site and connects to the seven-bay bus station on Silvertown Way. Entrances on Barking Road, Silvertown Way and Bow Creek give quick access to the surrounding streets and docklands.