London Victoria station

Victoria

London Victoria
Grosvenor Hotel above Brighton line entrance
Victoria Location of Victoria in Central London
Location	Belgravia
Local authority	City of Westminster
Managed by	Network Rail
Station code	VIC
Platforms in use	19
Accessible	[1]
Fare zone	1
National Rail annual entry and exit
2004/5	48.047 million[2]
2005/6	47.860 million[2]
2006/7	66.749 million[2]
2007/8	77.462 million[2]
1860	Opened by Victoria Station and Pimlico Railway
1860	Leased to London Brighton and South Coast Railway
1862	Separate station opened for London chatham and Dover and Great Western Railways
List of stations	Underground · National Rail
External links	Departures • Layout
	Facilities • Buses
London Transport portal UK Railways portal

Victoria station,^[3] also known as London Victoria,^[4] is a major central railway terminus, underground railway interchange station and coach station in the City of Westminster in London. It is the second busiest railway terminus in London (and the UK) after Waterloo. It is in Travelcard Zone 1. It is named after the British monarch Queen Victoria.

There are effectively four railway stations: two of them serve main lines routes, one underground station, constructed by the cut and cover method serving the District and Circle Lines, and one deep-level tube line

National Rail

Operationally, there are effectively two separate main line termini:

• The eastern (Chatham) side, comprising platforms 1–8, is the terminus for Southeastern services to Kent on the Chatham Main Line and its branches. This also serves as the London terminus for the Venice Simplon Orient Express, from Platform 2, the longest platform.
• The western (Brighton) side, comprising platforms 9–19, is the terminus for Southern (inc. Gatwick Express) services to Surrey and Sussex, including Gatwick Airport and Brighton on the Brighton Main Line and also the East Grinstead Branch on the Oxted Line.

This split is generally held to, as the track layout does not allow much swapping, with only a small number of connecting flyovers between the main lines in the Battersea area, plus a single track connection immediately outside the station. As the Brighton side is the busier of the two, disruption on that line sometimes results in some of its suburban services using the eastern side. This is particularly true of the Gatwick Express, which travels along the Brighton Main Line, as it will often divert over Chatham side tracks during engineering works in order to maintain service levels.

There are Ticket barriers to platforms 1-12 and 15-19. Platforms 13 and 14, where the Gatwick Express service departs, are without ticket barriers.

Early history

Victoria Station in 1897

The railways of Southern England were at a disadvantage with respect to the London metropolis during the nineteenth century, in so far as their lines were south of the river Thames, whereas the main centres of population, business and government were on the north side in the City of London, the West End and Westminster. Victoria Station came about in a rather piecemeal fashion to help address this problem for the London Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) and the London Chatham and Dover Railway (LC&DR). It originally consisted of two contiguous mainline railway stations, which from the viewpoint of passengers, were unconnected.

The London and Brighton Railway terminus at London Bridge provided reasonable access to the City of London but was most inconvenient for travellers to and from Westminster. As early as 1842 John Urpeth Rastrick had proposed that the railway should therefore build a branch to serve the West End, but his proposal came to nothing. ^[5] However. the transfer of the The Crystal Palace from Hyde Park to Sydenham Hill between 1851 and 1854 created a major tourist attraction in the rural area south of London. The West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway was incorporated on 4 August 1853 to serve the new site, and constructed a line from the Brighton main line at Sydenham past the site, to a new station at Battersea Wharf, at the southern end of the new Chelsea Bridge. (Despite its location, the new station was called Pimlico; it opened on 27 March 1858.) Shortly afterwards the LB&SCR leased most of the lines of the new railway, thereby providing itself with a route into west London, although, it was soon recognised that a terminus would be needed on the north side of the River Thames.

Three other railway companies were then seeking suitable locations for a terminus in Westminster: the Great Western (GWR) and the London & North Western (LNWR), and the East Kent Railway EKR. The first two of these companies already had rail access to Battersea through their joint ownership of the West London Line with the LB&SCR. In 1858, the EKR, leased the remaining lines of the West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway from Shortlands railway station, and negotiated temporary running powers over the lines recently acquired by the LB&SCR, pending the construction of their own line into west London.^[6] On 23 July 1859 these four companies together formed the Victoria Station and Pimlico Railway (VS&PR) company, with the object of extending the existing railway from Battersea across the river to a more convenient location nearer the West End,^[7] and the following month the EKR changed its name to the London Chatham and Dover Railway. The new line required the construction of a new bridge over the Thames, originally known as Victoria Bridge and later as Grosvenor Bridge. It was of mixed gauge to cater for GWR locomotives.

The LB&SCR had hoped to amalgamate with the VS&PR and introduced a Parliamentary Bill to allow them to do so in 1860. This was opposed by the GWR and LC&DR and rejected.^[8] By way of compromise the LB&SCR was permitted to lease the new station from the VS&PR, but agreed to accommodate the other railways until such time as a second terminus could be built for them on an adjoining site.

The Brighton Line station

The LB&SCR side of Victoria station opened on 1 October 1860, the temporary terminus in Battersea having closed the day before).^[9]. The LC&DR completed its main line as far as Canterbury on 3 December 1860 and began to use the station on that day.^[10] The GWR began its broad gauge services soon afterwards.

The Brighton Side concourse area with the escalators to Victoria Place to the right

It consisted of six platforms, ten tracks and a hotel (the 300-bedroom Grosvenor); while the Chatham company occupied a less imposing wooden-fronted building. The latter's station had nine tracks and was shared by broad-gauge trains of the GWR, which arrived from Southall via the West London Extension Joint Railway through Chelsea. The approach tracks and station were built on the route and basin of the Grosvenor Canal.

The London Chatham and Dover Line Station

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 emphasised that fact.

A plaque marks the arrival of the body of The Unknown Warrior at platform 8 at 20:32 on 10 November 1920.

During World War II, the station was used as an exporting point for London refugees. Consequently, the station itself became a target for bombings - leading to a weakening of its roof.

Rebuilding

Chatham Side concourse

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 an Edwardian style with baroque elements, designed by Alfred Bloomfield, was completed a year later. The two sections were connected in 1924 by removing part of a screen wall, when the platforms were renumbered as an entity.

The station was now serving boat trains, and during World War I it became a terminus for trains carrying soldiers to and from France, many of them wounded. After the war the Continental steamer traffic became concentrated here, including the most famous of those trains, the Golden Arrow. The Night Ferry also operated to/from Victoria station. 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 now a terminal for trains serving Gatwick Airport.

The station had a news cinema later a cartoon cinema that would show a continuous programme for travellers. The cinema was designed by Alastair Macdonald, son of Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald and was in operation from 1933 until being demolished in 1981.

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).

Accidents and incidents

On 18 February 1991 a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb exploded in a litter bin, killing David Corner ^[11], and injuring 38. A general bomb warning for all mainline stations had been received by telephone at 7:00 am, but the Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorist Branch chose not to close the stations.^[12] Since that time, there have been no litter bins anywhere on the station platform.

On 20 July 2007 flash flooding closed the station.

On 7 July 2009 flash flooding closed both the mainline and underground stations causing major distruption to commuters. Water overflowed from the roof drainage system causing flooding on the main concourse, flooding several retail outlets.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Terminus		Southeastern Catford Loop Line		Denmark Hill
		Southeastern Chatham Main Line (via Herne Hill)		Brixton or Bromley South
Terminus		Southern Brighton Main Line		Battersea Park or Clapham Junction or East Croydon
Terminus		Southern Oxted Line		Clapham Junction
Terminus		Southern Gatwick Express		Gatwick Airport
Terminus		Venice-Simplon Orient Express London-Paris-Venice		Folkestone West

The station in fiction

In Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, the title character was found as an infant in a handbag at Victoria Station, much to the consternation of Lady Bracknell. "A handbag?" "The Brighton line." "The line is immaterial!"

London Underground

Victoria

Entrance on Terminus Place
Location	Belgravia
Local authority	City of Westminster
Managed by	London Underground
Platforms in use	4
Accessible	[13]
Fare zone	1
London Underground annual entry and exit
2005	67.823 million[14]
2006	72.992 million[14]
2007	76.406 million[14]
2008	78.41 million[14]
1868	Opened (MDR)
1872	Started "Outer Circle" (NLR)
1872	Started "Middle Circle" (H&CR/MDR)
1900	Ended "Middle Circle"
1908	Ended "Outer Circle"
1949	Started (Circle line)
1968	Opened as terminus (Victoria line)
1971	Extended south (Victoria line)
List of stations	Underground · National Rail
London Transport portal

The London Underground station lies to the north of the mainline station concourse. It is currently the busiest station on the system with around 77 million using the station (not including interchanging passengers) as of 2007, 60.2 million (including interchanges) using the Victoria line platforms.^[15]. There are two ticket halls: the newer hall, closer to the mainline station serves the Victoria line; the other, further north serves the District and Circle Lines. The ticket halls are connected by a pedestrian passage beneath the Bus station.

History

The first part of the station was opened on 24 December 1868 by the Metropolitan District Railway (MDR, now the District Line) when the company opened the first section of its line between South Kensington and Westminster stations. The MDR connected to the Metropolitan Railway (MR, later the Metropolitan line) at South Kensington and, although the two companies were rivals, each company operated its trains over the other's tracks in a joint service known as the "Inner Circle".

On 1 February 1872, the MDR opened a northbound branch from its station at Earl's Court to connect to the West London Extension Joint Railway (WLEJR, now the West London Line) which it connected to at Addison Road (now Kensington (Olympia)). From that date the "Outer Circle" service began running over the MDR's tracks. The service was run by the North London Railway (NLR) from its terminus at Broad Street (now demolished) in the City of London via the North London Line to Willesden Junction, then the West London Line to Addison Road and the MDR to Mansion House - the new eastern terminus of the MDR.

From 1 August 1872, the "Middle Circle" service also began operations through Victoria running from Moorgate along the MR's tracks on the north side of the Inner Circle to Paddington then over the Hammersmith & City Railway (H&CR) track to Latimer Road then, via a now demolished link, to the West London Line to Addison Road and the MDR to Mansion House. The service was operated jointly by the H&CR and the MDR.

On 30 June 1900, the Middle Circle service was withdrawn between Earl's Court and Mansion House. On 31 December 1908 the Outer Circle service was also withdrawn.

The original MDR station was rebuilt at the beginning of the 20th century initially as a single storey structure. An office building was constructed above it later.

In 1949, the Metropolitan Line operated Inner Circle route was given its own identity on the tube map as the Circle Line.

The new Victoria line station was opened on 7 March 1969 when the third phase of the line began operating south of Warren Street. Initially, Victoria served as the temporary terminus of the line whilst the final phase was under construction to Brixton. Services to Brixton began operating on 23 July 1971.

Future

Victoria is a proposed stop on the Chelsea-Hackney line also known as Crossrail 2.^[16][17][18] The route was safeguarded in 1991^[19] and 2007 and any rebuilding of the station will have space for Crossrail 2 platforms.^[20] In the safeguarded route it was between Chelsea and Piccadilly Circus. There are also plans for The DLR to link up to Victoria from Bank using old Jubilee line tunnels and some new ones.

Current situation

The station is now the busiest on the London Underground system, serving nearly 80 million passengers per year. The station was not built for this number of passengers, which results in severe overcrowding. To prevent any dangerous situations like crowds pushing people off the platforms onto the track, crowd control measures are in place at the busiest times. This effectively means closing all the entrances to the Underground platforms and operating as an exit-only station until the overcrowding is relieved. These measures can last anywhere between a couple of minutes (when minor delays are occurring) up to several hours (during major incidents).

In order to provide a lasting solution to this problem preparatory building work has begun on major upgrade of the station^[21]. This will include a new northern exit/entrance on the north-west corner of Victoria Street which will be accessible via a new additional ticket office under Bressenden Place that will lead to both the Victoria Line and the Circle and District Line platforms. This upgrade is due by 2018.^[22] The work will also enlarge the existing Victoria Line ticket hall serving the railway station and add a new relief bank of escalators there. This aspect of the scheme has been criticised as access to platforms from the new escalators will be very long and indirect compared to the direct access using the existing escalators.^[23]

Gallery

Northbound Victoria line platform looking south (undergoing refurbishment, photo taken August 2008)	The southbound Victoria Line platform at Victoria.	Platform motif on Victoria line platform - profile of young Queen Victoria (reigned 1837-1901)	Platform roundel on Victoria line platform
Sub-Surface Circle and District line platforms

Trivia

An abandoned Victoria Underground station features in the V for Vendetta comic book series as the base for the anarchist freedom fighter "V".

Coach station

Victoria coach station is about 300 metres^[24] south-west of the railway stations. It is the main London coach terminal and serves all parts of the UK, and mainland Europe.

Transport links

London bus routes 2, 11, 16, 24, 36, 38, 44, 52, 73, 82, 148, 170, 185, 211, 436, 507, C1, C2, C10, and night routes N2, N11, N52, N73 and N44.

References

External links

• London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
  • Mainline station
    • Exterior view of Victoria station, 1890
    • The departures board, platforms 12-14, 1933
  • Underground station
    • Original Metropolitan District Railway station, 1900
    • Victoria Underground station, 1916
    • Victoria Underground station with new construction above, 1928
    • District Line ticket hall, 1938
    • District & Circle Line ticket hall, 1971
    • Victoria Line platform, 1974
    • Busy escalators at Victoria, 1970
• Station information on Victoria Station from Network Rail
• Platform Layout from Network Rail website

Circle line Stations Aldgate · Baker Street · Barbican · Bayswater · Blackfriars  · Cannon Street  · Edgware Road · Embankment · Euston Square · Farringdon  · Goldhawk Road · Gloucester Road · Great Portland Street · Hammersmith · High Street Kensington · King's Cross St. Pancras  · Ladbroke Grove · Latimer Road · Liverpool Street  · Mansion House · Monument ( Bank)  · Moorgate  · Notting Hill Gate · Paddington  · Royal Oak · Shepherd's Bush Market · Sloane Square · South Kensington · St. James's Park · Temple · Tower Hill ( Tower Gateway) · Victoria  · Westbourne Park · Westminster · Wood Lane Click to enlarge Rolling stock C Stock History Former companies Metropolitan Railway · Metropolitan District Railway Associated circle lines Middle Circle · Outer Circle · Super Outer Circle Future proposals Future rolling stock S Stock See also District line · Hammersmith & City line · Metropolitan line · Circle line Parties London Underground · Transport for London London Transport portal

District line Stations Acton Town · Aldgate East · Barking  · Barons Court · Bayswater · Becontree · Blackfriars  · Bow Road · Bromley-by-Bow · Cannon Street  · Chiswick Park · Dagenham East · Dagenham Heathway · Ealing Broadway  · Ealing Common · Earl's Court · East Ham · East Putney · Edgware Road · Elm Park · Embankment · Fulham Broadway · Gloucester Road · Gunnersbury  · Hammersmith · High Street Kensington · Hornchurch · Kensington (Olympia)  · Kew Gardens  · Mansion House · Mile End · Monument ( Bank) · Notting Hill Gate · Paddington  · Parsons Green · Plaistow · Putney Bridge · Ravenscourt Park · Richmond  · Sloane Square · South Kensington · Southfields · St. James's Park · Stamford Brook · Stepney Green · Temple · Tower Hill ( Tower Gateway) ( Fenchurch Street) · Turnham Green · Upminster  · Upminster Bridge · Upney · Upton Park · Victoria  · West Brompton  · West Ham  · West Kensington · Westminster · Whitechapel · Wimbledon  · Wimbledon Park click to enlarge|alt=District line route map Rolling stock C69 & C77  · D78 History Former stations Castle Hill and Ealing Dene · Hanwell · Hayes · Hounslow Town · Langley · Mark Lane · Slough · South Acton  · Southall · St Mary's (Whitechapel Road) · Tower of London · West Drayton · Windsor Former companies Metropolitan District Railway Former stock A Stock · B Stock · C Stock · D Stock · E Stock · F Stock · G Stock · H Stock · K Stock · L Stock · O/P/CO/CP Stock · Q Stock · R Stock Future Future Stock S Stock See also Other Sub-surface lines Circle line · Hammersmith & City line · Metropolitan line London Underground · Transport for London London Transport portal

Victoria line Stations Blackhorse Road  · Brixton (100m) · Euston  · Finsbury Park  · Highbury & Islington  · Green Park · King's Cross St. Pancras  · Oxford Circus · Pimlico · Seven Sisters  · Stockwell · Tottenham Hale  · Vauxhall  · Victoria  · Walthamstow Central  · Warren Street Click to enlarge Rolling stock 1967 Stock, 2009 Stock London Underground · Transport for London London Transport portal

Proposed Chelsea–Hackney line Safeguarded stations Angel • Buckhurst Hill • Chelsea (or King's Road) • Dalston Junction • Debden • East Putney • Epping • Essex Road • Hackney Central • Homerton • King's Cross St. Pancras • Leytonstone • Loughton • Parsons Green • Piccadilly Circus • Putney Bridge • Sloane Square • Snaresbrook • South Woodford • Southfields • Theydon Bois • Tottenham Court Road • Victoria • Wimbledon Park • Wimbledon • Woodford Proposed stations Clapham Junction • Imperial Wharf Crossrail • London Underground • Network Rail • Transport for London London Transport portal