It’s long been a source of frustration for Brixton residents that the new South London Line extension of the London Overground line cheerfully sails straight through the heart of Brixton and Loughborough Junction without having anywhere to stop.

Providing useful cross-London links, the Inner South London Line extension of the London Overground Line opened last year, and connects Clapham Junction with Highbury and Islington, via Peckham, Surrey Quays, Whitechapel and Shoreditch.

Trains on the route pass through central Brixton on high level tracks, quietly rumbling past the site of East Brixton station (above), which closed in 1976. The old station building hosted the Medussa club for many years, but is now used as a photo studio.

The decision to miss out Brixton and Loughborough Junction was criticised by local politicians during the planning phase of the project, and there’s still no station planned at these locations, despite a recent article calling for its reopening.

Why not, you may ask?

Well, Transport for London have said that it would be too expensive to construct stopping places on the line because it rolls through town on an elevated, curved line with a gradient.

Apparently, this provides a fearsome barrier to construction, despite the fact that East Brixton managed to function perfectly well for a century or so on those aforementioned elevated lines.

The matter of the non-station was brought up again in the Mayor’s Question Time on 29th January, 2014:

Loughborough Junction

Darren Johnson: Given an Overground station at Loughborough Junction would provide a key interchange between the Overground and Thameslink (Sutton branch) and would be the only such interchange in south London, would the Mayor ensure that evaluation of the options for an Overground station here is incorporated into the next TfL business plan? Written response from the Mayor

TfL has previously looked at the feasibility of a London Overground station at Loughborough

Junction and also at Brixton. Unfortunately, constructing a station at either location would be

very difficult – and therefore very costly – because the railway is not only on a viaduct but the

tracks are curved and on a gradient. As a result, any benefits of stations at these locations

would be outweighed by the costs and so they would not offer value for money. However, the London Borough of Lambeth has recently commissioned a study to review and

update the previous analysis to see if there is a better case for a new station on this route. TfL

is assisting Lambeth with this study and the outputs are expected later in the year.

[Brixton East station in the 1970s]

Possible reopening?

However, all appears not to be lost as Lambeth council were recently reported as commissioning a feasibility study into opening a station on the line.

The £25,000 study led by transport planning specialists Steer Davis Gleave forms part of the Future Brixton and the Brixton Central masterplan and is tasked with looking at the “opportunities for a London Overground stop in the area” alongside the refurbishment of both Brixton and Loughborough Junction’s existing stations.

Keen to pursue the idea, local resident Annabel Kerley has started an online petition, calling on the Department for Transport to build a London Overground Station on the site of the old Brixton East station:

Please build a London Overground Station on the site of the old Brixton East station which closed in the 70’s. This would have a huge impact on improving a deprived area of South London:

– better transport links to jobs and facilities in East London (current bus services are slow and indirect, tube overcrowded and national rail provision disjointed)

– increase in footfall for local businesses

– assist with regeneration of Somerleyton Road area and Loughborough Junction

You can sign the petition here.

Is reopening Brixton East really the answer?

Naturally, this has topic has been extensively discussed on our sister site, urban75, for over ten years in this long-running thread: No Brixton East London Line station. Feel free to join in or add your thoughts below.

[High level tracks over Brixton railway station]

Some posters on the thread have pointed out that it would be preferable to have a new station providing interconnectivity with either the Victoria Line or Thameslink services, although most acknowledge that the costs of building a high level station in Brixton would be formidable.

However, the current masterplan does reserve space for high-level platforms, but with no funding in place, it’s aspirational at best, and pie in the Brixton sky at worst.

Even if Brixton East was reopened, would it actually prove value for money? Or would it be better to wait until sufficient funds become available to create a more integrated solution for Brixton and/or Loughborough Junction?

More features and discussion:

Reopen East Brixton railway station, says London news website

Read the history of East Brixton station here.

Brixton’s lost railways – East Brixton station to Battersea, 3rd October 1969

15 Ways To Improve London’s Train Network [Londonist]

Brixton’s lost railways – East Brixton station to Battersea, 3rd October 1969

Related stories:

East London Line goes through, but does not stop at, Brixton [urban75 chat]

Fifty years of Brixton railway station

Inner South London Line [wikipedia]