Bethnal Green is a London Overground station on the Lea Valley lines in the southern part of Bethnal Green, in East London. The station is down the line from London Liverpool Street; the next station is either (on the branch) or (on the route to and ). It is an interchange station between three services operated by London Overground. 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 . 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 the other Bethnal Green station on the London Underground's Central line. History Before opening The first railway in the Bethnal Green area was opened by the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR). The ECR had opened its line from Romford to a temporary terminus at Devonshire Street. Their new terminus at Spitalfields was completed on 1 July 1840 and the line opened through Bethnal Green. As well as passenger facilities at Spitalfields, there were goods facilities adjacent to the line from the Bethnal Green site to the terminus. By the 1860s the railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble, and most were leased to the ECR; they wished to amalgamate formally, but could not obtain government agreement for this until 1862, when the Great Eastern Railway (GER) was formed by amalgamation. The main line past the site then became a GER line in 1862. By the early to mid-1860s it was clear the original Bishopsgate terminus (it was renamed from Spitalfields in 1846) was not big enough to cope with the and with increasing suburban development north and east of the area, the GER decided to build a new terminus at Liverpool Street and extend the suburban network. A new line that ran north form the Bethnal Green site to Enfield Town was opened in May 1872 and a month later from Hackney Downs railway station to Chingford. Both these openings meant these services no longer needed to be routed via Stratford railway station which was also becoming an increasingly congested location at the time. Great Eastern Railway (1872–1922) It was as part of this expansion that Bethnal Green Junction was opened in