London Waterloo East railway station

src: www.nationalrail.co.uk

Waterloo East railway station, also known as London Waterloo East, is a railway station in central London on the line from Charing Cross through London Bridge towards Kent, in the south-east of England. It is 61 chains (1.2 km) down the line from Charing Cross. Although Waterloo East is a through-station, it is classed for ticketing purposes as a central London terminus. Services through the station are operated by Southeastern and it is situated within fare zone 1.

Video London Waterloo East railway station

Location

The main access to the station is via an elevated walkway across Waterloo Road, which connects it to the larger Waterloo station. The eastern ends of the platforms provide pedestrian connection to Southwark station which is served by London Underground's Jubilee line; at street level there is an entrance in Sandell Street. Connections with the Underground's Bakerloo, Northern and Waterloo & City lines are available at Waterloo Underground station. There is no station building; the ticket office of the main station serves it, though there are ticket machines at the eastern end of the walkway.

The four platforms at Waterloo East are lettered rather than numbered to ensure that staff who work at both Waterloo East and the adjoining Waterloo station, which is managed and branded separately and features numbered platforms, do not confuse the platforms at the two stations. Platforms for the Thameslink platforms at St Pancras International and their predecessors at King's Cross Thameslink use this numbering convention, as well as at New Cross.

Maps London Waterloo East railway station

History

The station was built by the South Eastern Railway (SER) after the line to Charing Cross opened in 1864.

The company were under pressure to connect with London and South Western Railway (LSWR) services, as it would allow the latter to connect to the City of London via Cannon Street. The LSWR were not interested in making Charing Cross a joint station, but were amenable to providing a connection with the SER next to Waterloo. In 1867, the two companies agreed to build a joint connection so that passengers could change from LSWR to SER services in order to reach the City of London via Cannon Street. Construction of a single-line, 5-chain (100 m) connection begun in May 1868, and the new connection station opened on 1 January 1869 at a total cost of £14,290 (£1,211,000 as of 2016). The connection ran until January 1893, when it was discontinued because of overcrowding.

Shortly after opening, SER services between Charing Cross and Cannon Street had become frequented by prostitutes, who discovered the journey between the two stations was sufficiently long to service clients while paying minimum rent. After Waterloo East opened, the frequent stopping of trains there made this impractical. The connection from Waterloo Junction through to Cannon Street did not prove to be a success because of competition from the Metropolitan District Railway (now the District line) and the spread of the London Underground. Following the opening of the Waterloo and City line on 8 August 1898, connections to Cannon Street were discontinued.

The dedicated line from Waterloo through to Waterloo Junction was demolished in 1911 when the main-line station underwent an extensive reconstruction. H.G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds describes the use of the connecting line from Waterloo to convey troop trains to the Martian landing site. The bridge which carried the line over Waterloo Road subsequently accommodated the pedestrian walkway between the two stations until replaced by the current high level covered walkway. The old bridge remains and is now used for storage.

The Southern Railway renamed the station Waterloo (also known as Waterloo Eastern) on 7 July 1935 and it took its present name on 2 May 1977. The platforms were designated A - D at the same time.

Waterloo East was closed for maintenance on 24 July 1993 so a link with Southwark Underground station, then under construction, could be built. It re-opened on 16 August.

In 2012, ticket barriers were installed at the Sandell Street and Southwark station entrances, and also at the main entrance from Waterloo station following the completion of the retail balcony.

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Services

All "up" trains run to Charing Cross only, and depart from platforms B and D. All "down" trains run from platforms A and C. The typical off-peak service is:

• 14 trains per hour (tph) Charing Cross
• 2 tph Dartford via Bexleyheath
• 2 tph Gravesend via Sidcup
• 2 tph Gillingham via Lewisham and Woolwich Arsenal
• 2 tph Hayes avoiding Lewisham
• 2 tph Sevenoaks via Orpington
• 2 tph Hastings via Tunbridge Wells
• 1 tph Dover via Ashford International
• 1 tph Ramsgate via Ashford International and Canterbury West

Southern also used to operate services at this station, but these were withdrawn in 2009 due to problems with line capacity on the South Eastern Main Line.

src: www.nationalrail.co.uk

Connections

London Buses routes 1, 4, 26, 59, 68, 76, 77, 139, 168, 171, 172, 176, 188, 211, 243, 341, 381, 507, 521, RV1 and X68 and night routes N1, N68, N76, N171, N343 and N381 serve the station.

The Quietway 1 cycle route passes underneath the station.

src: www.networkrailconsulting.com

References

Citations

Sources

src: abcrailwayguide.uk

External links

• Train times and station information for London Waterloo East railway station from National Rail

Source of article : Wikipedia