Becontree tube station is a London Underground station on Gale Street in the Becontree neighbourhood of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham in northeast London, England. The station is on the District line and in London fare zone 5. The station was originally opened as Gale Street Halt in 1926 by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway on the existing route from Fenchurch Street to Southend that avoided Tilbury. The station was renamed and completely rebuilt in 1932 with an additional pair of platforms to serve the electric District Railway local service which was extended from Barking to Upminster. Two of the station platforms are disused since the Fenchurch Street–Southend service was withdrawn in 1962. The single storey brick station building is of a common design also constructed at Dagenham East, Hornchurch and Upminster at the time.
Gale Street Halt had been opened on the London Tilbury & Southend (LT&S) line in 1926. The London Midland & Scottish Railway (owners of the LT&S line) qaudrupled their line between Barking and Upminster and constructed a common station with their existing line and the new trains of the Metropolitan District Railway. The station opened in 1932. The 1932 station was constructed and initially operated by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway with services provided by the District Line from the outset.
The railway here was crossed by a temporary railway constructed as part of the building of the Becontree housing estate.
Becontree station is said to be haunted by a faceless woman with long blonde hair that several staff members have sighted.
The station has four platforms. Two are used by the District Line and another two are disused since the LT&S service was withdrawn in 1962. The station buildings are of typical 1930s design. Three ticket barriers and a gate control access to all platforms.
London Buses Routes 62 and 145 serve the station.
The funny thing about Becontree Station is that it is an over ground station on the London underground. Situated in East London, it sits on the District Line in Zone 5 of the capitals busy network.
The station replaces the Gale Street Halt that was originally built by the London, Tilbury & Southend Railway (RT&SR). This new station was built in 1932 when the electrified District Line was extended out to Upminster. Becontree has four platforms though only the two that serve the District Line is in use. The other two platforms became disused when the LT&SR was withdrawn from service thirty years later in 1962. The station is said to be haunted and a number of sightings - especially from station staff, have been seen since.
Rumour has it, that it is believed that the ghost stemmed from an accident that occurred on the line in 1958. Apparently ten people were killed and 93 were injured when a train had collided with another on this stretch of line. As the story goes, both trains had left the station only moment before. The accident occurred on 30 January at about 19:34, a particularly foul foggy evening. The trains were running late and more crowded than usual. The accident was the result of the 18:35 train ploughing into the back of the 18:20. This resulted in a number of the carriages of the 18:20 being wrecked and others derailed.
One witness to the sighting was a station supervisor who had come across the ghost one evening in 1992. He was working the late shift and became un-nerved when the doors of his office started to rattle for no apparent reason. The door rattled a few times, startling him in the process, and even though the door opened onto the platform and rattled when the wind was blowing, it still un-nerved him.
To reassure himself, he left his office and headed upstairs to find a colleague to talk to. As he came to the staircase, he became un-nerved again, this time by the frightening feeling of someone following him. He reacted by turning around quickly only to discover that there in front of him, was a ghost of a young blond-haired woman in a white dress. She stood there motionless and with a disturbed look on his face, he found that the woman had no facial features, her face was a blank. By the time the realisation had set in, the mysterious figure faded away out of sight.
Upon the chat to his colleague, he found that he too had seen the apparition on numerous occasions and calmly reassured the supervisor that she was completely harmless and that there was nothing to be afraid of.
To this day, no-one knows for sure who this person is, or whether or not she was involved in the train accident in 1958, but she does pop up every once in a while to the unsuspected passenger or Becontree worker.