Wapping Station 1869 – 2010

After closing for 2 years, Wapping Station reopened on 27 April 2010 with full services on the extended London Overground line from 23 May.

Wapping is finally reconnected with London Transport services with a fully refurbished station, shiny new trains and a frequent and (mostly) reliable service.

By 2012 London Overground will cover 20 of London’s 33 boroughs and 30% of Londoners will be less than 15 minutes walk from a station.

Wapping Overground Station and Line in 2010

Wapping overground station has been completely refurbished with a new ticket hall and 2 lifts to the platforms.

Wapping does not offer full step-free access to platforms as there are short flights of steep narrow stairs from the lifts to the station platforms. For easy access TFL suggest using Tower Hill, Tower Gateway, Shadwell or Limehouse.

For up to date details of the overground line and any maintenance or closures taking place, please see the TFL overground map

Wapping Station 19th century history

Starting in the 19th century, with the completion of the Thames Tunnel between Wapping and Rotherhithe, Wapping Station:

1869 Opened as the northern terminus of the East London Railway “Wapping & Shadwell”

1879 Renamed “Wapping” when the line was extended to Liverpool Street and Shadwell Station was created

1884 First underground service from Wapping by Metropolitan Railways

1995 Entire East London Line closed until 1998 for essential repair work to the Thames Tunnel

2007 Entire East London Line closed again for major line upgrades and extension

2010 Reopening of Wapping Station as part of the new extended Overground network and new walk through, air-conditioned trains

[2012  Further extension of the Overground services]

Wapping now has a tube-style service running 5.40am – midnight with 12 trains per hour.   It makes getting around London easier as well as bringing visitors, jobs and opportunities to Wapping.

Further reading: East London Line is a fascinating book if you’re interested in the history of the East London Line, which has brought us what we now enjoy in Wapping today.

Or for a wider insight into London’s Underground including the East London Line, The Subterranean Railway tells us how it changed our City forever.

It Almost Didn’t Happen!

After closure in 2007 there were concerns Wapping Station would be closed forever because of the short 4 car platforms and the longer planned rolling stock. Luckily for Wapping, ex-Mayor Ken Livingstone decided the station would be part of the new London Overground.

Wapping Lifts & Stairwell

The original Thames Tunnel stairwell is still in use at Wapping Station today and used when the lifts are out of action…

The lifts at Wapping Station were replaced during the refurbishment but since reopening

the doors are suffering “teething” problems and sticking several times a day.

We’ve understood that this is caused by oversensitive emergency alarms which passengers accidentally knock and very much hope it will be resolved soon.

How Reliable are the New Lifts?

The lifts at Wapping Station were good quality Otis lifts (1) which last up to 50 years.

These were replaced with generic lifts during the upgrade.  We’ve spoken to Ben, a Lift Hobbyist who told us that these generic type lifts can last as little as 10 years and it’s possible the original lifts at Wapping didn’t even need replacing!

The Culture Line

Why not celebrate the history and culture at each of the stations on the new Overground?

HOP and Beyond is a great stop by stop guide of the museums, history and places you can find at each of the new stations.

Wapping Station & Train Videos

We’ve made a Wapping Station playlist on the

What’s in Wapping YouTube Channel

with a some favourites, but if you have or know of others please let us know.

[1] Otis, Kone, ThyssenKrupp, Schindler, and Mitsubishi are the 5 main lift companies.  There are many smaller generic companies who buy and assemble lift parts but experience suggests these are much less reliable and often break down.