Bethnal Green is a London Overground station in the district of Bethnal Green, East London, on the Lea Valley Lines, 1 mile 10 chains (1.8 km) from London Liverpool Street; the next station down the line is either Hackney Downs (for services to and from Chingford) or Cambridge Heath (for services to and from Cheshunt and Enfield Town). Its three-letter station code is BET and it is in Travelcard zone 2.
The station was opened in 1872 and was formerly called Bethnal Green Junction until 1946: it was also formerly served by trains on the Great Eastern Main Line (GEML) via Stratford. The station is situated on Three Colts Lane and is within walking distance to Bethnal Green Road via Wilmot Street. It is some distance from Bethnal Green Underground station on the London Underground's Central line.
In 1872 the Great Eastern Railway opened a new branch from Liverpool Street to Hackney Downs; to serve this line a new junction was built to the west of Cambridge Heath Road. Bethnal Green Junction station was constructed immediately to the west. It replaced a nearby station called Mile End (not to be confused with the current Underground station of the same name) which was located on the eastern side of Cambridge Heath Road. The new station served both of the Great Eastern Railway's routes and had four platforms.
In 1946 trains on the Great Eastern Main Line (GEML) between Liverpool Street and Stratford ceased calling at Bethnal Green and two platforms were closed, though the remains of the eastbound platform are still in situ and visible from the GEML. The London-bound platform was demolished and the tracks rearranged, coinciding with the swapping of services from the former "fast" tracks onto the former "slow" tracks, resulting in the arrangement utilised today.
The station and all services that call were previously operated by Abellio Greater Anglia as part of the East Anglia franchise. In 2015 it transferred to London Overground and now appears on the tube map.