Barking Railway Station
Station Parade,
BARKING, IG11 8TU
Booking office telephone 08457 444422
TfL telephone 08453 309874
**** PLEASE NOTE
THAT THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF BARKING STATION OR OF ANY RAILWAY
RELATED ORGANISATION *****
Part of
"Sustainable Transport in Barking
And Surrounding
Areas"
Go to main page
This page is at http://welcome.to/barking-station
and www.bigfoot.com/~colin_newman/station.html
Please help by pointing out any errors or additional relevant information - barking-station@welcome.to
INTRODUCTION: Stations are mainly about trains, but they are also transport hubs and become part of town centres as travellers access shops and amenities near the station for convenience. When Barking station first opened in 1854 it was described as being “just outside the town”. I have organised the pages assuming that trains are a priority, followed by buses and taxis and have given a little information only about other amenities in the vicinity.
MAJOR REVISION: I have re-organised these pages based on the fact
that the internet has revolutionised journey planning and ticket buying. The
STATION GUIDE contains information that I believe isn’t available on the web
elsewhere. I have given some journey planning information that may help
optimise journeys that are unpl
TERMINOLOGY: Many people struggle
with terminology for
In publicity leaflets it is common to see nearest rail and nearest tube shown
separately, but this doesn’t make sense as it is easy to change between
National Rail and the Underground at several stations, Barking included. The
two networks are complimentary, not alternative.
What travellers are interested in is how to get where they’re going, how long
it will take and how much will it cost, not which of an ever changing
multiplicity of organisations that makes this happen.
Click here to scroll down to
ticket buying
Click here to scroll down to
STATION GUIDE
JOURNEY
PLANNING
Street Map showing
Barking Railway Station
Comprehensive London Journey Planner (public
transport, plus walking and cycling to/between stops)
Timetables, up-to-date running information and
departure boards for Barking and all stations on the c2c Line. Does not include any Underground Information
Barking non
Underground Departure Board
(Includes some Underground information, but not
departure times).
See also TICKET BUYING
European Rail
Journey Planner / ticket sales
SE
Region Public Transport Planner
National Public
Transport Planner
National Journey planner (not just public transport)
Mainly about trains serving Barking, but with
links to more information
Useful information to have with you when
travelling by rail (or for journey planning without web access)
A note
of these phone numbers:-
-
TfL’s enquiry line – (020) 7222 1234. (Corresponds to www.journeyplanner.org)
-
National Rail Enquiries - 08457 484950 (Corresponds to www.nationalrail.co.uk)
-
Gospel Oak Line recorded information (020) 8963 6087.
A
printout of your itinerary
A c2c
timetable booklet (or printout from online)
A
London Connections Map (the ATOC one not the TfL one). These should be
available at National Rail stations and Libraries in London but are often hard
to get. On line at http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/tocs_maps/maps/network_rail_maps.htm but needs to be printed at A3 to be readable
(and that’s still small!).
TfL has a wide selection of maps,
many of them much more manageable (ie smaller) than the ATOC London Connections
Map and some containing information not on the ATOC map
Basic principles/tips for unplanned
journeys from Barking
If you
haven’t planned it in advance, these basic principles for efficient use of the
train services from Barking should help optimise your journey.
1) If
travelling to central London, it is nearly always quicker to catch a fast
(C2C) train from platform 5 or 8 and change at Fenchurch St for Tower Hill (or
even Aldgate) than to catch a slow train from platform 6. (NB two late night
trains use Liverpool St via Stratford Mon – Fri)
(From
Tower Hill you have the option of the Circle and District lines, and
from Aldgate you have the Circle, and some Metropolitan line trains).
2)
Unless you know the service pattern of the H&C, don't bother to use
platform 3 to catch it. Either go to Fenchurch St (see above), or - for less
walking - take a platform 6 train and change at Aldgate East (get off and wait
on the same platform – unless you caught rare H&C at platform 6). I was told
in approx Sept 2005 that there were plans to provide information about platform 3
trains so that people won’t have to know or hope that a train is suitable. We continue to wait!
3) If
going to Upminster, it is nearly always quicker to catch a fast
(C2C) train from platform 4 - but check it stops at Upminster - than a slow
from platform 2. Official time 8 minutes (cf 18 on Underground).
4) Silverlink Metro's Barking & Gospel Oak line. (Trains
normally arrive/depart at/from platform 1). There are 12 stations on the line
and you can safely reckon the timetable at 3 minutes per station.
5)
Romford. If you time it right you can make quite a quick journey from Barking
to Romford via Upminster. On Saturdays, for example, take the
09:34 train from Barking (arrive Upminster 09:42) change platforms to catch the
09:54 to Romford (arrives 10:02). I'm afraid the fare doesn't compare very well
with the bus fare, though. The Upminster & Romford timetable is in C2C's
booklet (page 37 of the 12/04 edition).
6) On
Mondays – Fridays there are a couple of late trains in each direction that use
the Liverpool St route via Stratford – a kind of leftover from recent years
when all late trains used this route. The “up” (London bound) trains in
question leave Barking at 2228 and the 2328 (platform 8) and the “down” trains
leave Liverpool Street at 2258 and 2358 calling at Stratford 7 and Barking 16
minutes later.
7)
Limehouse “link”: Even though the route isn’t very direct on the ground,
changing at Limehouse for the DLR can be the quickest way to Isle of Dogs
destinations.
8) The
Underground runs a “turn up and wait” style service – without published
timetables, though this doesn’t apply at the extremes of the day, and the
H&C service from Barking can be limited. The non Underground lines publish
a timetable, though c2c trains to/from London are very frequent in the rush
hours and in practice many people do “turn up and wait”.
9)
Other stuff:
·
Underground journeys to/from the east of Barking –
timings, zones etc.
|
Station |
Zone |
Typical Journey Time (mins) |
Notes |
|
1. Upney |
4 |
2 |
For Barking Hospital |
|
2. Becontree |
5 |
5 |
|
|
3. Dagenham Heathway |
5 |
7 |
|
|
4. Dagenham East |
5 |
9 |
Some trains terminate |
|
5. Elm Park |
6 |
12 |
|
|
6. Hornchurch |
6 |
14 |
|
|
7. Upminster Bridge |
6 |
16 |
Use C2C via Upminster? |
|
8. Upminster |
6 |
18 |
C2C time 9 mins |
·
(b) Make your c2c timetable booklet a bit more
user-friendly:
(i)
Underline or highlight the ‘Barking’ row on all the tables
(ii)
Amend the ‘Contents’ page (1) as follows, to narrow your search (12/04 edition,
but the principle remains).
|
Direction |
Days |
Pages |
|
To London |
Mon - Fri |
12-17 |
|
|
Sat |
18- 20 |
|
|
Sun |
21-22 |
|
From London |
Mon - Fri |
23-29 |
|
|
Sat |
30-32 |
|
|
Sun |
33-34 |
·
(d) Timetables: The booklets do not necessarily
have the same contents as the online timetables – and the latter are more
up-to-date. The web increasingly has real time information. The c2c booklet
also gives timetables for, the Barking & Gospel Oak Line, the Romford &
Upminster Line, the Tilbury & Gravesend bus & ferry link and (in
abbreviated form) the North London Link (between Stratford and Richmond).
·
(e) Who runs the station and which trains serve
it? Well, c2c runs Barking station, but in their information they often forget that
it is served by other lines. This is shown by the fact that in their bikes on
trains posters they fail even to mention that their rules do not apply to / are
different from the Underground’s and on their
departure board (www.c2c-online.co.uk)
they again fail to make any reference to the Underground or DLR serving “their”
stations. My proposed solution is that either the station should be run by a
third party, or better still by TfL. (West Ham Station is run and served by the
Underground and also served by Silverlink trains). [The National Rail departure
board for Barking -http://www.livedepartureboards.co.uk/ldb/summary.aspx?T=BKG
- does mention the Underground]. If there’s some ticketing problem a common
defence is “This isn’t a TfL station” (or similar) – true, but irrelevant. ·
(f)
Minutiae Traditionally,
the older London - Southend (c2c) route via Tilbury is the "main
line" and the newer route via Upminster is "the short route
branch" or "Pitsea direct". It is 7-8 miles shorter. The
edition of the ATOC London Connections map which is valid until Sep 2004 has an
index to 689 stations (on the London
Connections side). I counted 95 that were outside zones 1-6. Each station
is indexed to one of 48 squares on the map. The
Customer service phone number for Barking Station is 08456
014873 TRAINS Quick Train Guide – by Stairs/Platform Stairs/ramp * 1 (lift available) 2 3 4 Platform 1 1a * 2 3 * 4 5 6 7 8 Company Line District (sometimes H&C) Hamm. & City (sometimes District) “Pitsea direct”
via Upminster, but not trains to/from Liverpool Street District (sometimes H&C) Tilbury line plus
all trains to/from Liverpool St Direction Both (terminus) East East Both (terminus) East West West East West Quick Train Guide –
by Company Company Line District
(sometimes H&C) Hamm. & City
(sometimes District) “Pitsea direct”
via Upminster, but not trains to/from Liverpool Street Tilbury line plus
all trains to/from Liverpool St Direction Both (terminus) East West Both (terminus) East West East West Platform 1 1a * 2 6 3 * 4 5 7 8 Stairs / ramp * 1 (lift available) 2 3 2 2 3 4 NOTES a)
The 4 stairs/subway ramps aren’t
numbered publicly at the station – I have numbered them here from right to left
as you stand facing them from the booking hall bridge. There are 4 true platforms, the ‘faces’ being
numbered 1-8. b)
The stairs are at the booking
hall end and the subway is towards the London end of the platform. Passengers
needing to can take the lift to/from platform 1/1a and use the subways to/from
the other platforms. c)
Platform (face) 3 is for a so
called “bay road” and you have to walk a little bit towards London past
platforms 2 and 4 to get to it. d)
District line trains
occasionally use platform 3 and H&C trains occasionally use platforms 1a/2
& 6 if they are to/from the depot to the east of the station. e)
H&C trains do not normally
serve Barking on Sundays. f)
Platform 1a is not a term used
to the public, but platform 2 trains can be joined or left from both sides,
platform 1a being the opposite face to platform 1. Click for full details of London Transport buses. Various local
bus maps are available at libraries, including Barking Central Library, and the
Time Out local guides also have lots of bus information, extending
outside their titular area. These are also available at the station. Bus
stop J (right): 5, N15, N50; Bus stop K (left): 62, 238, 366,
387, Mobility Buses 903, 953 and 956 Bus
Stop H (left): 62, 287, 368, 369, 387, Mobility Buses 903, 947, 953, 956,
959 Bus
stop N (right): 5, 238, 366, N15, N50 Bus
stop L:
179, 287 (not Ilford), 369, Mobility buses: 947 and 959 In
addition the (blue coloured) courtesy bus to and from the nearest Tesco calls
at the Station. TAXIS AND MINICABS TAXI
FIRMS MENTIONED FOR INFORMATION ONLY – NOT RECOMMENDATIONS. Taxi safety advice from TfL
with licence search. Plenty
of Licensed Hackney Carriages ("Black Cabs") serve the station right
outside. The nearest minicab office is 'A to B' (by bus stop L) – (020) 8594
5536. TAXI
AFFILIATE SCHEMES Tfl and the PCO have a one number taxi scheme – dial 0871 871 871 0 and
you will be connected to one of the affiliate firms (Call-a-cab, ComCab,
DataCab, Dial-a-Cab, Radio Taxis and XETA) randomly. This is a London scheme
and covers only ‘black’ cabs. www.connect2taxi.co.uk
is a National scheme and includes licensed minicab operators. Dialling 0871 750
3333 connects you to the nearest affiliate firm – working out where you are by
your phone number or from the GSM (mobile phone) network. TAXI WEB LINKS The
Public Carriage Office runs Taxi
licensing in London on behalf of the government Search
Yellow Pages for Taxis in Barking (Minicab firms) OTHER NON PUBLIC TRANSPORT
AMENTIES AT/NEAR THE STATION TOILETS After
many years without toilets for public use, as part of the refurbishment toilets
were introduced around 2004 – on the booking hall
bridge approximately opposite the stairs to platforms 2-4. They closed at 10pm. IN THE
BOOKING HALL Public
telephones, cash machines (one inside, two outside), a florist, WH
Smith (who also have a large shop in Vicarage
Field), a dry cleaners / key cutters / shoe repairers / photo
processor’s, a Chinese takeaway (limited seating), a jewellers,
and a Coffee Bar (formerly
Costa’s). NEARBY
OUTSIDE Shops,
takeaways, restaurants and pubs too numerous to mention, though of particular
interest is The Ironing Board - a drop off and collect ironing service -
and the Railway Bar of The Spotted Dog, which has some railway
memorabilia on display. Barking
Town Centre is quite well provided with cycle parking stands – in particular
near the station. STATION INFORMATION FROM OTHER PROVIDERS Despite being provided by railway companies and commercial
organisations, this is of dubious accuracy and quality – and one source
contradicts another in some cases! http://www.visitlondon.com/tubeguru/station?station=BARKING
– Tube guru http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/station/BKG.html
- National Rail http://www.c2c-online.co.uk/route/barking.htm
- c2c WEB
LINKS Highly
detailed "non travel" information on District Line Comprehensive
travel website (1) Comprehensive
travel website (2)
Barking Bus Spider Map
Unfortunately in late 2006 / early '07 they closed "due to flooding" and have not re-opened since (24 March 07)