Stratford International station

Stratford International station is a main line railway and Docklands Light Railway station located in Stratford in the London Borough of Newham in east London, United Kingdom. The station opened on 30 November 2009 for Southeastern services on High Speed 1, although the station building was completed in April 2006. The station is managed by Southeastern, who operate all trains serving it.

It is located in the middle of the London Olympic Park, adjacent to the subsequently opened Westfield Stratford City shopping centre. On 31 August 2011 an extension of the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) was opened to connect the station directly to the wider London public transport network and Stratford Regional station slightly to the south. The DLR station is physically separate, across the road from the High Speed 1 station. Oyster Cards are valid for travel at the DLR station, but not at the High Speed 1 station. The four-platform station is built within Stratford Box, a 1.1 km concrete-sided cutting.

Background
The station is on the High Speed 1 railway between St. Pancras and Ebbsfleet International. As the station lies just inside the eastern boundary of the London Olympic Park, much of the surrounding land was little more than construction site until mid-2012.

The tracks descend into tunnel at both ends of the station as its platforms are closer to the surface than the tunnels; some of the platforms have a noticeable dip along their length at the east end. Stratford International has four platforms in the station box: two at the outer edges and two shorter ones forming a central island. The mainline through tracks run down each side of the station between the adjacent platforms. There is a waiting room on the island platforms but not on the outer platforms.

Thirty-five metres beyond the eastern portals, the tunnels pass just below the Central Line tunnels turning north from Stratford Regional. The bottom invert of each Central Line tunnel is only 4.3 m and 8.0 m above the high-speed running tunnels.

The station was not authorised by the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act 1996 and an order under the Transport and Works Act 1992 had to be made to allow for its construction. In the centre of the station is a single-track inclined viaduct, rising to the east end along and above the length of the island platforms. This is to allow out-of-service trains to leave the station box and reach the depot at Temple Mills.

Domestic high-speed services
The full service started on 13 December 2009 using Class 395 multiple units. The typical off-peak service is:


 * 4tph (trains per hour) to St Pancras International (taking 7 minutes)
 * 2tph to Faversham
 * 1tph to Margate via Ashford International and Canterbury West
 * 1tph to Dover Priory via Ashford International

The peak hour service is 19 trains arriving at St Pancras between 07:00 and 09:59.

During the 2012 Olympic Games, a service of eight trains an hour ran between St Pancras and Ebbsfleet, calling at Stratford, replacing the high speed service. Two of these would be extended to Ashford and one to Faversham. Between 11pm and 1am the service between St Pancras and Ebbsfleet would be increased to twelve per hour. To enable the domestic services to stop at platforms previously designed for Eurostar trains the platforms had to be raised.

Docklands Light Railway
The Docklands Light Railway extension to Stratford International consists of a short new line from Stratford International to Stratford Regional station, then continues along the former North London Line route between and, stopping at Stratford High Street (on the site of the original Stratford Market railway station), Abbey Road,  and Star Lane before joining the existing DLR branches from Canning Town to Woolwich Arsenal (during weekday peak hours only) and Beckton. Originally planned to open in July 2010, this was delayed to 31 August 2011.

Bus services
London Buses route 97 to Chingford or Stratford City, London Buses route 339 to Leytonstone or Shadwell, London Buses route D8 to Crossharbour and Night bus N205 to Leyton, Drapers Field or Paddington all serve the station. From 14 December route 308 to Clapton or Wanstead will also serve the station. Additionally London Buses route 241 to Canning Town serves Stratford City and Stratford town centre, London Buses route 588 to Hackney Wick serves Westfield Avenue and Stratford City. Stratford City bus station is also adjacent to the Westfield Stratford City shopping centre so its just a few mins walk away. Stratford bus station is also a close walk away and serves the wider area including London Buses route 25 to Oxford Circus in the West End via The City and other night bus services.

International services
The original intended purpose of Stratford International station was to act as the London stop for regional Eurostar trains bypassing St Pancras and continuing to other destinations in Britain. However, Rob Holden, chief executive of LCR and deputy chairman of Eurostar, stated that, "stopping a high-speed train seven minutes out of St Pancras is less than ideal", leaving only the domestic Southeastern trains serving the station. Critics hailed the station as a white elephant.

By the time Southeastern was serving the station, the Transport Secretary Lord Adonis was urged by Sir Robin Wales, Mayor of Newham, and Peter Miller, Westfield's CEO, to order Eurostar to stop at the station. John Burton, development director of Westfield's Stratford City mall, said domestic services were a "poor substitute" for Eurostar: "International commuters are essential in order to realise the vision of a major metropolitan centre for east London. Direct international services will be a key part of the legacy of the Olympics."

Miller and local politicians including former Mayor Ken Livingstone warned that international services would be vital for the success of the Stratford City scheme and the regeneration of East London. London Assembly member Andrew Boff has suggested that rail operators considering running international trains should be forced to stop at Stratford International as part of their High Speed 1 line access. However, Eurostar could not stop during the 2012 London Olympics because of the high frequency of the Javelin service.

There are several other potential operators that may use the station for International services including Deutsche Bahn's proposed London-Frankfurt service and the "Transmanche Metro" project to Calais via local stations.

Access and interchange
Access to the station was, at design stage, to be via a new link road to Waterden Road, which linked in turn to the A12 at Lea Interchange and south to Carpenters Road. This link road was constructed and a new signal junction installed on Waterden Road but never opened. However, these roads were stopped up in mid-2007 to enable the construction of the Olympic Park.

When opened it was located adjacent to the construction sites of both the London Olympic Park and Westfield Stratford City shopping centre which prevented pedestrian access; during local redevelopment work a temporary bus service linked Stratford International to nearby Stratford Regional. The DLR station opened on 31 August 2011, and Westfield Stratford City on 13 September 2011. The bus service ran until 20 September.

The station is now reachable by road.