Stratford Railway and Underground Station

mrsmollyc

31 Mar 2026

Good travel options but can be hard to navigate

3

3

Date of visit: March 2026

I am a disabled person. I have experience of challenges around: accessing toilets and moving around.

I use or have experience of: disabled toilet, wheelchair

Overall Rating

Average

Stratford Station is a busy station with a lot of different train lines available, in 2025 it was ranked as the 7th busiest station in Great Britain. The services that are available from Stratford include the Central Line, DLR, Elizabeth Line, Jubilee Line, Mildmay Line (part of the London Overground) and Greater Anglia trains. The platforms within the station are located on two different levels with two subway routes that travel through the station and provide access to some of the platforms. There are lots of lifts throughout the station and depending on which entrance you use and which platform you want to get to, you may need to use three or four lifts to reach the platform, if you need a step-free route. There is step-free access available for all the lines and services available at this station, some will require a boarding ramp and it does rely on the necessary lifts all being in good working order. This station can get incredibly busy and I find it quite difficult to navigate at busy times. Especially when some of the lifts are out of order, it can be quite time-consuming and stressful navigating the station via the step-free routes. Particularly busy times include morning and evening rush hours and days when there is an event at the London Stadium or Olympic Park.

Disabled Access In and Around

Average

There are a total of four entrances and exits for Stratford Station: One leads in from Great Eastern Road and connects to Lower Concourse A (closest to WHSmith and DLR platform 17) One leads in from Gibbons Road and connects to Lower Concourse B (closest to the Jubilee Line platforms) The North Ticket Hall is located right next to an entrance to Westfield Stratford City and has lifts leading to both Subway A and B. One is located above Lower Concourse A and leads to stairs and lifts that provide access to Great Eastern Road below and a bridge leading to Westfield Stratford City above (closest to Central Line westbound platform 5) Within the station, there are two main levels, an Upper Level and a Lower Level. The Lower Level consists of two subways that provide access to the platforms on the Upper Level. The access from the subways is via stairs and lifts. There is a lift in each subway, so there are actually two lifts on each upper level platform, one connecting to Subway A and the other connecting to Subway B. This is particularly helpful if one of the lifts stops working. Most of the platforms are located on the Upper Level of the station, including the Central Line platforms, Elizabeth Line platforms, Mildmay (Overground) Line platforms, Greater Anglia platforms, and Platform 4 for DLR services to and from Lewisham. On the Lower Level there are the other DLR platforms, for services between Stratford International and Woolwich Arsenal, as well as the Jubilee Line platforms. There are ticket barriers at each of the station entrances and there are always wider barriers available. Depending on how busy that entrance is there are sometimes more than one wider barrier. There are some areas with inclines, for example, Subway B has a downward incline as you travel from Lower Concourse A into the subway itself. There are some slight inclines as you travel from the Upper Level walkway to platform 5 for westbound Central Line services. These inclines aren’t usually too severe and there are always grab rails on either side of the walkway. The lifts throughout the station are mostly a reasonable size, but depending on how busy the station is, I have sometimes had to wait for one lift to go and come back before I can get in. The majority of the lifts can fit my wheelchair, a buggy, and 2-3 other people. There are some lifts that are a bit larger as well. There is one lift that is much smaller and also more prone to being out of order: this is the platform lift that travels from Subway A to Lower Concourse B and leads to the Jubilee Line platforms. This only fits one wheelchair or pram at a time. If you require step-free boarding on and off trains, this will vary depending on which line you are using. There is step-free access without the need for a boarding ramp for all Jubilee and DLR services. For Central, Elizabeth, Greater Anglia, and Mildmay services, you will require a manual boarding ramp on and off the train.

Accessible facilities: Lift to all areas, Step-free entrance, Seating at regular intervals, Step-free access to most areas

Parking & Transport

Good

I travelled to this place by walk or wheel

There are lots of services available from this station: - Central Line provides eastbound services towards Epping and westbound services towards Ealing Broadway and West Ruislip - There are two separate DLR platform areas, the upper level platform is a terminus stop and provides ongoing services towards Lewisham. The lower level platform provides northbound services to Stratford International and southbound services towards Woolwich Arsenal - The Elizabeth Line provides eastbound services towards Shenfield and westbound services towards Paddington and Heathrow Terminal 5 - The Jubilee Line starts at Stratford Station and provides westbound services towards Stanmore - The Mildmay Line is part of the London Overground network. It starts at this station and provides services towards Clapham Junction or Richmond - Greater Anglia provides services throughout the east of England There are bus stations available just outside two of the entrances to Stratford Station: - Stratford Bus Station is located just outside the entrance that connects to Lower Concourse A which has a WHSmith and connects to Subway B. The bus services that are available from Stratford Bus Station include: 25, 69, 86, 104, 158, 238, 241, 257, 262, 276, 308, 425, 473, D8, DL-7, N8, N25, and N86. - Stratford City Bus Station is located just outside of the North Ticket Hall entrance; this is also next to the Lower Ground entrance to Westfield Stratford City. The bus services available from here include: 97, 108, 241, 308, 339, 388, and N205. There are also coach services that provide shuttles to Stansted Airport. Stratford Station doesn’t have dedicated parking facilities but there are a number of public, paid car parks nearby: - Stratford Multi-Storey Car Park is located roughly 200 metres from the station. According to its website, it has 430 spaces, including 25 accessible parking spaces. It has a height restriction of 6 feet and 2 inches (roughly 1.87 metres). - There are three large car parks attached to Westfield Stratford City. Car Parks A, B, and C are all multi-storey car parks with height restrictions of 2.1 metres. - Stratford International Car Park is roughly 500 metres from the station and, according to its website, it has a total of 850 spaces. It has a height restriction of 2 metres and has accessible parking spaces and EV charging spaces on the ground floor.

Accessible facilities: Public or on street parking

Accessible Toilets

There is an accessible toilet located on Lower Concourse B which is accessed via a RADAR key. However, this has been unavailable the last few times I have used this station and I’m not aware of any other accessible toilets within the station. There are lots of accessible toilets inside Westfield Stratford City, which is just next door to the station.

Staff

Good

The staff are always really helpful when I am travelling in and out of the station. It is always easy to find a member of staff when I require a boarding ramp and I find that staff are always very visible on platforms and around the station. I have had a couple of incidents where I have requested a boarding ramp so that I can get off the train at Stratford and when I arrived, it wasn’t there. I’ve found that when this happens, there is usually a member of staff nearby so I either just need to flag them down or usually, a member of the public is quick to grab them for me. They are always really quick to get the ramp for me whenever this has happened.