Stratford International station

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Stratford International station is a railway station located in Stratford in the London Borough of Newham in East London. It was built as part of the work on the second phase of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (now called High Speed 1 (or HS1)) and was completed in April 2006. <ref>Webster, Ben. "Ghost train station that cost £210m", The Times, 2006-04-21. Retrieved on 2006-07-20. (in en-GB)</ref>It is not currently operational as HS1 itself has not yet been completed. The station forms part of the Stratford City redevelopment.

The station is on HS1 between St. Pancras railway station and Ebbsfleet International station. It is situated some distance from nearby Stratford Regional station, which is a major transport hub. It will have 4 platforms. The station will be bisected by a ramp that the trains will use to get out of the station trench in order to reach the depot at Temple Mills.

The intended purpose of this station was to act as a London stop for regional Eurostar trains. However as plans for these services are "under review"<ref>Channel Tunnel Rail Link (en-GB). alwaystouchout.com (2006-06-05). Retrieved on 2006-07-20.</ref> as such there is very little incentive for Eurostar trains from or to St Pancras to call at this station when the link is initially opened, the surrounding area is currently a construction site.

A further reason for a delay in opening is that there was also an issue with the planning permission requiring easy access to Stratford Regional station prior to the station being used by passengers. This will be via the planned extension of the Docklands Light Railway, which expected to be operational by 2010, the proposed travelator link is no longer part of the plans. Consequently trains are not now expected to stop there until 2010.

The station will however be used for domestic high-speed services operated by Southeastern. During the 2012 Summer Olympics it will serve Stratford's Olympic Park. In particular, special Olympic Javelin trains will take passengers from St. Pancras in central London and from Ebbsfleet International to the Olympic facilities around Stratford International station. The station is just inside the eastern boundary of the Olympic site. It is being built at grid reference TQ382849.

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Stratford International station on Google maps

Preceding station	Underground Lines		Following station
	under construction
Terminus		Docklands Light Railway	Stratford
National Rail
	under construction
London St Pancras		Eurostar High Speed 1 (not yet operational)	Ebbsfleet International
London St Pancras		Southeastern HS1-DS (not yet operational)	Ebbsfleet International
London St Pancras		Southeastern HS1-DS London-Rochester (not yet operational)	Gravesend

Railway stations of London Central area \| Greater London
Managed by Network Rail: Cannon Street • Charing Cross • Euston • Fenchurch Street • King's Cross • Liverpool Street • London Bridge • Paddington • Victoria • Waterloo
Managed by train operator: Blackfriars • Marylebone • Moorgate • St Pancras