Kingsland Viaduct

Kingsland Viaduct is a railway viaduct about 2 miles (3 km) in length, almost wholly within the present London Borough of Hackney in the north-east part of Inner London. It was built in the 1860s, but was disused from 1986 until it was reopened to carry the London Overground in 2010. The viaduct is owned by Transport for London. Since then it has carried East London Line services between Shoreditch High Street and Dalston.

It was built as the main part of the North London City Extension, providing a more direct link from the North London Railway to the City of London (the City) at Broad Street, next door to the site that became Liverpool Street station.

Previously the North London Line's access from west of Dalston to the City was by a circuitous route via Hackney, Homerton, Bow and Stepney to Fenchurch Street. The extension, originally with three lines, shortened this considerably by providing a direct route from Dalston over the Kingsland Viaduct. It was authorised by the North London Railway Act of 22 July 1861. It is said to have cost £1 million and displaced 4,500 people.

The extension was accessed by a triangular junction, accessible from both the west and east directions on the North London Railway.

Passenger traffic into Broad Street began on 1 November 1865, and was said to have doubled the number of passengers to 14 million in 1868. Initially, there were services at fifteen-minute intervals to both Hampstead and Bow.

A fourth line was added to the extension in 1874. Broad Street originally had seven platforms, extended to eight in 1891 and nine in 1913. The lines were electrified with two conductor rails at 600V DC, with services beginning on 1 October 1916, using Oerlikon rolling stock. However, only the western five platforms at Broad Street served electrified lines, the remaining lines being unelectrified. Electric services to Watford did not begin until 10 July 1922.

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