Victoria station (London)
Victoria station in
London is a
London Underground and
National Rail station in the
City of Westminster. It is in
Travelcard Zone 1.
The National Rail station is officially named
London Victoria, a name that is commonly used outside London, but rarely by Londoners
[Association of Train Operating Companies (2005). National Rail Enquiries - Station Facilities for London Victoria. Retrieved December 24, 2005.]. The eastern side comprising platforms 1â€"8 is the terminus for services to
Kent, and the western side comprising platforms 9â€"19 is the terminus for lines running from
Surrey and
Sussex, including
Gatwick Airport and
Brighton. Although this split is still generally held to, there are various crossovers allowing trains to access any platform. (For example, Platform 8 is now used mostly by
Southern services to and from South London and Surrey.) As the western "Brighton" side is the busier of the two, slight disruption on that line sometimes results in some of its suburban services using the eastern "Chatham" station. Victoria also serves as the London terminus for the
Venice Simplon Orient Express, from Platform 2, the longest platform in the station.
History
Early history
Victoria station is a main line terminal station in the
West End of London. Its origins lie with the
Great Exhibition of
1851, when a railway called the
West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway came into existence, serving the site of the exhibition halls which had been transferred to
Sydenham from
Hyde Park. The terminus of that railway was at Stewarts Lane in
Battersea on the south side of the river. In
1858, a joint enterprise was set up to take trains over the river: it was entitled the
Victoria Station and Pimlico Railway; and was 1.25
miles (2
km) in length. The railway was owned by four railway companies: the
Great Western (GWR);
London & North Western (LNWR); the
London, Brighton and South Coast (LBSCR); and the
London, Chatham and Dover Railways (LCDR). It was incorporated by
Act of Parliament in 1858.
The station was built in two parts: those on the western side, opened in
1862, with six platforms, ten tracks and a hotel (the 300-bedroom
Grosvenor) were occupied by the Brighton company; whilst adjacent, and in the same year, the Chatham company were to occupy a less imposing wooden-fronted building. The latter's station had nine tracks and was shared by
broad-gauge trains of the GWR, whose trains arrived from
Southall via the
West London Extension Joint Railway through
Chelsea. The GWR remained part owner of the station until
1932, although its trains had long since ceased to use it. Each side of the station had its own entrance and a separate station master; a wall between the two sections effectively emphasised that fact.
 |
Victoria Station concourse |
Rebuilding
At the start of the
20th century both parts of the station were rebuilt. It now had a decent frontage and forecourt, but not as yet a unified existence. Work on the Brighton side was completed in 1908 and was carried out in red brick; the Grosvenor Hotel was rebuilt at the same time. The Chatham side, in a
Edwardian style with
baroque elements, designed by
Alfred Bloomfield, was completed a year later. The two sections were eventually connected in
1924 by removing part of a screen wall, when the platforms were renumbered as an entity. The station was redeveloped internally in the
1980s, with the addition of shops within the concourse, and above the western platforms (the "Victoria Place" shopping centre).
The station was now serving boat trains, and during
World War I it became the hub of trains carrying soldiers to and from France, many of them wounded. After the war the Continental steamer traffic became concentrated there, including the most famous of those trains, the
Golden Arrow. The area around the station also became a site for other forms of transport: a bus station in the forecourt; a coach terminal to the south; and it is now the terminal for trains serving
Gatwick Airport.
On
February 18,
1991 an
IRA bomb exploded in a litter bin at Victoria Station, killing one man, David Corner, and injuring 38. The warning given by the terrorists was insufficient to evacuate the station.
The
London Underground station lies to the north of the mainline station concourse. There are two ticket halls. The hall closer to the mainline station serves the
Victoria Line. The other, further north along a tunnel, serves the
District and
Circle Lines.
History
The sub-surface
Circle and
District Lines opened on
December 24,
1868; and the
Victoria Line line came to Victoria Station with the third phase of construction of the line - the station's platforms were opened on
March 7,
1969, six months after the Victoria line had started running in north London.
Victoria Coach Station is half a mile south-west of the railway stations. It is the main
London coach terminal and serves all parts of the
UK, as well as mainland
Europe.
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Station information on Victoria Station from
Network Rail
