The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway direct line from Bow to Barking was constructed east to west through the middle of the Parish of West Ham in 1858. Before this, trains took a longer route via Stratford and Forest Gate to the north. The new line opened with stations initially at Bromley, Plaistow and East Ham. In November 1897 Arnold Hills, the owner of the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company, whose football team Thames Ironworks FC (which reformed in 1900 as West Ham United) played at the Memorial Grounds, secured an agreement with the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway to build a station at Manor Road. The company board approved this in February 1898 and Mowlem's was given the contract to build a four platform station, which allowed for the proposed quadrupling of the line with the completion of the Whitechapel and Bow Railway. The station was completed in May 1900, but did not open until 1 February 1901. The Eastern Counties and Thames Junction Railway was constructed north to south through West Ham, linking Stratford with Canning Town in 1846. Platforms were constructed on the line at West Ham in 1979 when the North London Line service, at the time known as the Crosstown Linkline, began between Camden Road and North Woolwich. In 1999 two further platforms were opened on the same alignment as part of the Jubilee line extension. At the same time the station buildings, ticket office and connecting passages were rebuilt. The ticket hall is linked by a bridge to four rail lines and a main road as well as the Jubilee line platform and upper level concourse. Jubilee line services began on 14 May 1999.
The station consists of four sets of island platforms, two on an elevated east-west alignment and another perpendicular pair at street level, giving a total of eight platform faces. Platforms 1 and 2 are the northern upper pair, where all District and Hammersmith & City line services call. Platforms 3 and 4 are the eastern lower pair and are used by Docklands Light Railway trains. Platforms 5 and 6 are the western lower pair, where all Jubilee line services stop. Platforms 7 and 8 are the southern upper pair and are used by c2c trains. The main station building and connecting passageways are finished in a mixture of red brick, concrete and glass. To reach the Docklands Light Railway and Jubilee line platforms from the rest of the station a mezzanine level is accessed by escalators, lifts and stairs. There is a double-ended centre siding east of West Ham to compensate for lost reversing capacity caused by the rebuilding of Whitechapel station as part of Crossrail work. This was commissioned on 17 January 2011. The station has payphones, wi-fi, a bridge, boarding ramps, escalators and lifts.
Connections: DLR. National Rail. District, Hammersmith & City Line. London Buses route 276 serves the station.
