London railway station

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The National Rail network of the United Kingdom does not have one main London railway station in London.

For reasons linked to the original construction of the railways in London it is instead served by several main terminus stations, which form a ring around Central London (the majority of which are connected by the Circle Line of the London Underground) and are served by different lines connected to parts of the country. Many lines split in order to serve termini in or near both the City of London and the West End of London, and some stations have terminal and/or through platforms with connections to other principal London railway stations. Stations on lines to different places are sometimes located near to each other, but can also be up to 4 miles (6.4 km) apart. Only one railway line - Thameslink - passes directly through the central area without terminating.

All the main stations are located in Travelcard Zone 1, and most are managed by Network Rail, unlike most other railway stations in the United Kingdom, which are owned by Network Rail but managed by a train operating company. Most stations are also a principal destination for routes which serve the London suburbs, and all have either direct or nearby connections to the London Underground network.

1 List of stations
- 1.1 Key
2 Closed stations
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] List of stations

There are around 350 further stations served by National Rail in the Greater London area, of which all can be reached from one of the main central stations. Nine of the ten busiest UK stations are in London. Within Central London itself, most of the major stations are terminal stations; a handful of stations with terminal platforms also have through platforms. The main central London stations are:

Station	Location	Managed by	London services	National services	Annual entry/exit (millions) 2002/3	Annual entry/exit (millions) 2004/5	Open date	Terminal platforms	Through platforms
Blackfriars	City of London	First Capital Connect	NW, S, SE, SW	Thameslink Gatwick Airport Luton Airport	1.444	7.782	1886	3	2
Cannon Street	City of London	Network Rail	SE	Kent East Sussex	1.93	17.460	1866	7
Charing Cross	Westminster	Network Rail	SE	Kent East Sussex	4.825	28.822	1864	6
City Thameslink	City of London	First Capital Connect	NW, S, SW	Bedford-Brighton Gatwick Airport Luton Airport	12.951	4.010	1988		2
Euston	Camden	Network Rail	NW	West Coast Main Line Watford DC Line	27.787	26.256	1837	18
Farringdon	Islington	London Underground	NW, S, SW	Bedford-Brighton Gatwick Airport Luton Airport	14.392 ¹	15.255 ¹	1863		4 (incl. 2 LU)
Fenchurch Street	City of London	Network Rail	E	Thurrock Southend-on-Sea	17.019	16.086	1841	4
Kings Cross	Camden	Network Rail	N	East Coast Main Line Cambridge	49.137	20.805	1852	11
Kings Cross Thameslink	Camden	First Capital Connect	NW, S, SW	Bedford-Brighton Gatwick Airport Luton Airport	2.361	7.715	1863		2
Liverpool Street	City of London	Network Rail	E, NE	Great Eastern Main Line East of England Stansted Airport	38.968	50.469	1874	18
London Bridge	Southwark	Network Rail	S, SE, NW	Kent East Sussex Thameslink Gatwick Airport Luton Airport	80.773	37.020	1836	9	6
Marylebone	Westminster	Chiltern Railways	NW	Buckinghamshire Birmingham	6.354	6.949	1899	6
Moorgate	City of London	London Underground	NW, N	Bedford Luton Airport Hertfordshire	832 ⁴	7.135	1865	6 (incl. 1 LU)	4 (all LU)
Paddington	Westminster	Network Rail	W	Great Western Main Line Heathrow Airport	25.262	25.788	1854	14
St Pancras	Camden	Midland Mainline	None	Bedford Midland Main Line ²	4.429	5.471	1868	4
Victoria	Westminster	Network Rail	S, SE, SW	Kent Sussex Gatwick Airport	61.647	48.046	1862	19
Waterloo	Lambeth	Network Rail	SW	Surrey Hampshire South West England ³	68.431	62.388	1848	19 + 5
Waterloo East	Lambeth	Southeastern	S, SE	Kent East Sussex	0.439	4.905	1869		4

[edit] Key

Notes on sources for figures: 2004/5, 2002/3

¹ - figure includes London Underground passengers

² - will also become the terminus of Eurostar and of high-speed services from Kent in 2007

³ - also the terminus of Eurostar services until 2007

⁴ - not in millions

Stations shown with London Underground connections

[edit] Closed stations

Main article: List of closed railway stations in London

The large number of major railway stations has broadly escaped any rationalisation despite coming into common ownership in the 1940s. However, a number of stations have closed for one reason or another:

19th Century closures
- Bishopsgate - closed in 1874 and replaced by Liverpool Street
- Minories - closed in 1854 and replaced by Fenchurch Street

Bishopsgate was converted into a major freight terminal and was in use until 1964 when it was damaged by fire. The majority of the buildings were demolished in 2004 to make way for the new Shoreditch High Street railway station. Minories was utilised as an alternative terminus until the resiting of Fenchurch Street in 1854. The original site was reused for Tower Gateway DLR station.

20th Century closures
- Holborn Viaduct - closed in 1990 and replaced by City Thameslink
- Broad Street - closed in 1986 without replacement

Holborn Viaduct was a significant terminal station located close to Blackfriars until it was made redundant by the reopening of the Snow Hill tunnel through route and replaced by City Thameslink. Broad Street was the terminus of a network of commuter lines in east and west London linked using the North London Line. It suffered by the expansion of the bus, tram and tube networks and was finally closed in 1986.

[edit] See also

List of London railway stations

[edit] External links

Network Rail - Managed Stations

v • d • e Railway stations of London Central area \| Greater London
Managed by Network Rail: Cannon Street • Charing Cross • Euston • Fenchurch Street • King's Cross • Liverpool Street • London Bridge • Paddington • Victoria • Waterloo
Managed by train operator: Blackfriars • Marylebone • Moorgate • St Pancras