The Victory Arch - the main entrance to Waterloo station |
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Location | South Bank |
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Local authority | London Borough of Lambeth |
Managed by | Network Rail |
Station code | WAT |
Platforms in use | 20 |
Travelcard zone | 1 |
NR 2004/5 usage | 62.389 million[1] |
NR 2005/6 usage | 61.036 million[1] |
NR 2006/7 usage | 83.993 million[1] |
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13 July 1848 | Opened |
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List of stations | Underground • National Rail |
External links | Departures • Facilities |
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London Waterloo (often called simply "Waterloo") is a major railway terminus in London, England owned and operated by Network Rail. In the financial year 2006/07, the most recent with statistics published and the year before Eurostar service ceased using it, the Waterloo complex including the Underground and Waterloo East handled some 165 million passengers, more than any other station in the United Kingdom. It has the most platforms and greatest floor area (Clapham Junction, further down the line, has more trains). It is the terminus of a network of railway lines in South West England and the suburbs of London.
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The London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) opened the station on 11 July 1848 when its main line was extended from Nine Elms. The unfulfilled intention was for a through station with services to the City.
The name on opening was 'Waterloo Bridge Station', from the nearby Waterloo Bridge across the Thames. In 1886 it officially became 'Waterloo Station' reflecting the long-standing common usage, and that of some L&SWR timetables.
As the station grew it became increasingly ramshackle: a little-used railway line even crossed the main concourse on the level and passed through an archway in the station building to connect to the South Eastern Railway's smaller station, now Waterloo East, whose tracks lie perpendicular to those of Waterloo. Passengers were confused by the layout and by the two very close stations called 'Waterloo'. This complexity and confusion became the butt of jokes by writers and music hall comics. In Jerome K. Jerome's book Three Men in a Boat no one at Waterloo knows the wanted train's platform, departure time or destination.
Extensive reconstruction between 1900 and 1922 gave 21 platforms and a concourse nearly 800 feet (250 m) long. The main pedestrian entrance, the Victory Arch, serves as a memorial to company staff who were killed during the two world wars. Damage in World War II required considerable repair but entailed no significant changes to the layout.
A past curiosity of Waterloo was that a spur led to the adjoining dedicated station of the London Necropolis Company from which funerary trains, at one time daily, ran to Brookwood Cemetery bearing coffins at 2/6 each. This station was destroyed during World War II.[2]
On privatisation of British Rail in the 1990s, ownership and management of Waterloo passed to Railtrack, and subsequently to Network Rail.
Platforms 20 and 21 were lost to the Waterloo International railway station site, which from 1994 until 13 November 2007 was the London terminus of Eurostar international services. Construction necessitated the removal of decorative masonry forming two arches from that side of the station, bearing the legend "Southern Railway". This was subsequently re-erected at the private Fawley Hill Museum of Sir William McAlpine, whose company built Waterloo International. Waterloo International closed when all Eurostar services transferred to the new St Pancras railway station with the opening of the second phase of "HS1", High Speed route 1, formerly known as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link or CTRL. The international platforms may be reinstated for some use by domestic services but substantial track work would be required.
The major transport interchange at Waterloo comprises London Waterloo, Waterloo East, the Underground station, and an amorphous bus station.
Waterloo station connects to Waterloo East, across Waterloo Road, by a high-level walkway constructed mostly above the bridge of the former little-used connecting curve.
The complex, in the London Borough of Lambeth, near the South Bank, is in Travelcard Zone 1. River services operate from nearby Waterloo Pier next to the London Eye.
A large four-faced clock hangs in the middle of the main concourse. Meeting "under the clock at Waterloo" is a traditional rendezvous.[3]
London Waterloo has 20 terminal platforms, making it the biggest station in the UK in terms of platform numbers. The station is managed by Network Rail while all trains are operated by South West Trains.
Preceding station | National Rail | Following station | ||
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Terminus | South West Trains Waterloo to Woking Reading and Windsor Lines Mole Valley Line Kingston Loop Line Hounslow Loop Line Hampton Court Line New Guildford Line |
Vauxhall | ||
South West Trains Waterloo to Basingstoke Alton Line |
Clapham Junction or Surbiton |
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South West Trains South Western Main Line Portsmouth Direct Line West of England Main Line |
Clapham Junction or Woking |
Waterloo International was the terminus for Eurostar international services from 1994 until 2007 when they transferred to new international platforms at St. Pancras. Waterloo International's five platforms were numbered 20 to 24.
Preceding station | National Rail | Following station | ||
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Disused Railways | ||||
Terminus | Eurostar |
Ashford International |
Waterloo East is a through station, the last stop on the South Eastern Main Line prior to the terminus at Charing Cross.
Preceding station | National Rail | Following station | ||
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London Charing Cross |
Southeastern South Eastern Main Line |
London Bridge | ||
Southern Caterham Line Tattenham Corner Line |
Waterloo is currently the second busiest station on the Underground network, with the Bakerloo, Jubilee, Charing Cross branch of the Northern, and Waterloo & City lines all stopping.
Preceding station | ![]() |
Following station | ||
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Embankment
towards Harrow & Wealdstone
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Bakerloo line |
Lambeth North
towards Elephant & Castle
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Embankment
towards Edgware, Mill Hill East
or High Barnet |
Northern line |
Kennington
towards Kennington or Morden
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Westminster
towards Stanmore
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Jubilee line |
Southwark
towards Stratford
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Terminus | Waterloo & City line |
Bank
Terminus
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In the 1990s, after Waterloo station was chosen as the British terminus for the Eurostar train service, Florent Longuepée, a municipal councillor in Paris, wrote to the British Prime Minister requesting that the station be renamed, because he said it was upsetting for the French to be reminded of Napoleon's defeat when they arrived in London by Eurostar.[4] There is a name counterpart in Paris: the Gare d'Austerlitz which is named after the Battle of Austerlitz, one of Napolean's greatest victories. However, this station is less important than most other stations in the city and Eurostar trains always ran to the Gare du Nord.
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