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The entirety of the East London Line has been closed since 23 December 2007 in order to allow for its extension north through Tower Hamlets and Hackney to Highbury and Islington, and south through Lewisham and Bromley to West Croydon; work on the first phase (West Croydon to Dalston Junction with spurs at Crystal Palace and New Cross) is due to be completed by mid-2010. Following completion of the extension, the line will no longer form part of the London Underground, but instead will be considered part of the London Overground.

Replacement bus services were set up to cover the route of the line, but as of early 2010 only one remains, the ELW service from Wapping via Shadwell to Whitechapel (extended to Shoreditch at peak times). The Rotherhithe to Wapping section was never covered because TfL didn't think it was feasible to send buses through the Rotherhithe Tunnel (although apparently they considered running a riverbus service). The Rotherhithe to Canada Water replacement bus was discontinued after two months, at least partly because the stations are only a few minutes' walk from each other and the replacement service was underused; travellers were advised to use bus routes 381 and N381 instead. The ELC service from New Cross Gate to Canada Water was withdrawn in September 2009, and travellers advised to use bus route 225 instead.

Valid Underground tickets are accepted on the relevant parts of routes 225, 381, and N381; if you use Oyster PrePay then you will be charged the normal bus fare but can contact TfL for a refund.

Interestingly, although you do need to have an Oyster card (with some credit on it) to use the ELW route, the fee charged is 0p - in other words, travel on the ELW buses is actually free (source: Mizter T on uk.transport.london, January 2008).

See also:

• Route map for the extension: JPG, PDF
• TfL leaflet describing the rail replacement bus services (PDF)
• Diamond Geezer on the East London Line
• Wikipedia entry on the East London Line
• Nick Hardcastle's article on the East London Line platform artwork
• Diagram of the ELL extension route through Shoreditch (from the London Connections blog)
• Our 2007 pub crawl along the line
• To The End Of The Line blog entry

Auto-generated list of all East London Line stations on this guide (view them on a map):

• Anerley Station
• Brockley Station
• Canada Water Station
• Canonbury Station
• Clapham High Street Station
• Clapham Junction Station
• Crystal Palace Station
• Dalston Junction Station
• Denmark Hill Station
• Forest Hill Station
• Haggerston Station
• Highbury And Islington Station
• Honor Oak Park Station
• Hoxton Station
• New Cross Gate Station
• New Cross Station
• Norwood Junction Station
• Peckham Rye Station
• Penge West Station
• Queens Road Peckham Station
• Rotherhithe Station
• Shadwell Station
• Shoreditch High Street Station
• Surrey Quays Station
• Sydenham Station
• Wandsworth Road Station
• Wapping Station
• West Croydon Station
• Whitechapel Station