Surrey Quays tube station

Surrey Quays was a London Underground station in Rotherhithe near Surrey Quays Shopping Centre and Southwark Park. It is in zone 2, on the East London Line. The next station to the north is Canada Water, and to the south it splits into branches to New Cross Gate and New Cross. Closed in late 2007, it is due to re-open as part of the London Overground network in 2010.

History

The station was built by the East London Railway Company in 1884 and was known as Deptford Road until 1911. It was renamed Surrey Docks in reference to the nearby, now closed, Surrey Commercial Docks, and further renamed Surrey Quays in 1989, following the construction of the nearby Surrey Quays shopping centre. This was a somewhat controversial move and was unpopular with many of the local community, who felt that their heritage was being erased. However, the name stuck and the Surrey Docks area is now widely known as Surrey Quays.

Surrey Quays was intended to be taken over by the Jubilee Line, then the Fleet Line, down to New Cross, New Cross Gate and Lewisham, but this never materialized.

For much of its history, the station's importance lay in its proximity to the Surrey Commercial Docks; it was at the south end of Canada Dock (now Canada Water) and a few hundred yards from the principal entrance to the docks. Its usage fell considerably after the docks closed, but revived following the redevelopment of the London Docklands in the 1980s and 1990s.

Future developments

The East London Line extension plans propose that trains run from Surrey Quays to Clapham Junction via Queen's Road Peckham, Peckham Rye, Denmark Hill, Clapham High Street and Wandsworth Road. This would be achieved by extending the East London Line to connect with the overground Network Rail South London Line, utilising a long-disused rail corridor just south of Surrey Quays that used to link the two lines. A new station at Surrey Canal Road would be constructed to the south-west of Surrey Quays. This part of the extension is currently unfunded.

London Overground

The East London Line closed on 22 December 2007, and will not reopen until June 2010 when it will become part of the new London Overground system. The service was also closed between 1995 and 1998 due to repair work on the East London Line's Thames Tunnel.

External links

* [http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&om=0&z=17&ll=51.493121,-0.04769&spn=0.002906,0.007317&t=h Google Maps - satellite view]

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