London railway junction

London Bridge Station, east exit with trains from South Eastern (left) and Southern (right)

A Great North Eastern Railway (GNER) train at King's Cross station

The British capital, London, is the country's most important rail hub despite its geographical peripheral location on the island . Almost all trains destined for London end in stations around the city center. Most of these stations are managed by the semi-public infrastructure company Network Rail , while the trains are operated by private companies (see list of UK railroad companies ). Nine of the ten largest passenger stations in the country are in London.

Railway stations in the city center

As part of a tariff equality , tickets at the normal price are usually issued to / from the “London Terminals” and not to a specific train station within London. The following table contains the 18 stations that belong to this tariff group:

railway station	photo	Location	management	Railway companies	National lines	aims	Passengers 2010/11 in millions	Passengers 2011/12 in millions	Opened	Tracks	Layout 1
Blackfriars		City of London	Govia	Govia Thameslink Southeastern	Thameslink	North and South satellite cities of London	12,708	12.791	1886	04th	K / D
Cannon Street		City of London	Network Rail	Southeastern	South Eastern Main Line	Southeast Satellite Cities of London Kent	20,528	20,152	1866	07th	K
Charing Cross		City of Westminster	Network Rail	Southeastern	South Eastern Main Line	Southeast Satellite Cities of London Kent	37.222	38.005	1864	06th	K
City Thameslink		City of London	Govia Thameslink	Govia Thameslink Southeastern	Thameslink	North and South satellite cities of London	05.346	05,573	1988	02	D.
Euston		Camden	Network Rail	Virgin Trains London Overground Serco ( Caledonian Sleeper ) London Midland	West Coast Main Line Watford DC Line	West Midlands North West England North Wales Scotland Holyhead for ferries to Ireland	34.073	36,609	1837	18th	K
Fenchurch Street		City of London	Network Rail	c2c	London, Tilbury and Southend Railway	Northeast satellite cities of London	16.675	17.021	1841	04th	K
King's Cross		Camden	Network Rail	East Coast Grand Central Railway First Hull Trains Govia Great Northern	East Coast Main Line	East Anglia East Midlands Yorkshire North East England Scotland	26.255	27.875	1852	12	K
Liverpool Street		City of London	Network Rail	Abellio Greater Anglia c2c Stansted Express	Great Eastern Main Line	London Stansted Airport East Anglia	55.769	57.107	1874	18th	K
London Bridge		Southwark	Network Rail	Southeastern Southern Govia Thameslink	Brighton Main Line South Eastern Main Line Thameslink	Kent South East England	51.478	52.634	1836	15th	K / D
Marylebone		City of Westminster	Chiltern Railways	Chiltern Railways	Chiltern Main Line	Oxfordshire Midlands	13,200	14,410	1899	06th	K
Moor gate		City of London	London Underground	Govia Great Northern	Northern City Line Thameslink	Northern satellite cities of London	07.187	07,860	1865	10	K
Old Street		Islington	London Underground	Govia Great Northern	Northern City Line	Northern satellite cities of London	01.425	01.337	1901	4th	D.
Paddington		City of Westminster	Network Rail	Crossrail Great Western Railway Heathrow Express Heathrow Connect	Great Western Main Line	West satellite cities of London London Heathrow Airport South West England South Wales	32,200	33.737	1854	14th	K
St Pancras		Camden	Network Rail	East Midlands Trains Eurostar Govia Thameslink Southeastern	High Speed ​​One Midland Main Line Thameslink	East Midlands bullet trains to south east England France Belgium	22.032	22,996	1868	15th	K
Vauxhall		Lambeth	South West Trains	South West Trains	South Western Main Line	Southwest satellite cities of London	16,531	18,158	1848	08th	D.
Victoria		City of Westminster	Network Rail	Southeastern Southern	Brighton Main Line Chatham Main Line Gatwick Express	London Gatwick Airport South East England	73,573	76.231	1860	19th	K
Waterloo		Lambeth	Network Rail	South West Trains	South Western Main Line	Southwest Satellite Cities of London The South Coast	91.750	94,046	1848	19th	K
Waterloo East		Lambeth	Southeastern	Southeastern	South Eastern Main Line	Southeast Satellite Cities of London Kent	06.638	06.653	1869	4th	D.

annotation

¹ D = central or side platforms (through tracks), K = head platforms

Former stations in the tariff group

The following stations were once also part of the "London Terminals":

• Broad Street : Opened in 1865, closed in 1986 and then demolished
• Holborn Viaduct : opened in 1874, closed in 1990
• King's Cross Thameslink : opened in 1863, closed in 2007

Historical development

Euston Arch, the original entrance to London Euston Railway Station (photo from 1896)

As in most other major European cities, the railway lines built and operated by private railway companies in London initially ended in terminal stations on the edge of the city center from 1836 onwards. The Thames was a major barrier for the railways coming from south to London , which was only overcome in 1862, 1864 and 1866 with the construction of four railway bridges. Plans for an underground crossing of the city center were developed in London very early on and implemented with the opening of the first line of the Metropolitan Railway in 1863 to connect the terminal stations with each other and to get to the city center.

During the time of the Big Four ( The Big Four ), the four major railway companies from early 1923 to late 1947, the most important long-distance trains ran from the following London train stations:

• LMS - London, Midland and Scottish Railway : from Euston and St. Pancras u. a. to Manchester and Glasgow
• LNER - London and North Eastern Railway : from Kings Cross u. a. to York and Edinburgh
• SR - Southern Railway : from Victoria and Waterloo u. a. to Brighton, Dover, Southampton and Bournemouth (some with Pullman cars via canal ferries to Paris)
• GWR - Great Western Railway : from Paddington u. a. to Bristol

Other stations in the London area

The station Clapham Junction in the southwestern district of Wandsworth is relatively unknown outside Britain, but with 2,000 train movements daily - after Zurich HB - second-busiest station in Europe. Trains from Victoria and Waterloo stations as well as trains from the western bypass run through it.

The largest freight yard at the London railway junction is Wembley Yard on the route to north-west England via rugby .

The list of train stations in London provides an overview of all train stations in the Greater London area (around 320) . The London Underground stations are included in the list of London Underground stations .

literature

• John Betjeman: London's historic railway stations , 1972, John Murray Ltd., London
• Philips' Railway Map of the British Isles , 1945, Georg Pilip & Son Ltd., London

See also

• Traffic in London
• List of train stations in London

Individual evidence

1. ^ Traveling to, from and via London. National Rail , 2013, accessed May 15, 2013 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Estimates of station usage. Office of Rail and Road , 2013, accessed May 15, 2013 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} Our stations. (No longer available online.) Network Rail , 2013, archived from the original on April 10, 2014 ; accessed on May 15, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ^ Christian Wolmar : The Subterranean Railway: How the London Underground Was Built and How It Changed the City Forever . Atlantic Books, London 2005, ISBN 1-84354-023-1 .

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