London station group
The British capital London is despite the geographical remoteness on the island is the most important railway hub of the country. Almost all trains with destination London end in stations around the city. Most of these stations are managed by the parastatal infrastructure company Network Rail, while the trains are offered by private companies (see list of railway companies in the United Kingdom). Nine of the ten largest passenger stations in the country are located in London.
Stations in the city center
As part of a tariff equality tickets are issued at the normal price usually from / to the " London Terminals" and not to a specific station within London. The following table lists the 20 stations that belong to this collective group:
Former railway stations in the collective group
The following Stations once belonged also to the " London Terminals":
- Broad Street: 1865 opened, closed in 1986 and subsequently demolished
- Holborn Viaduct: 1874 opened, closed down in 1990
- King's Cross Thameslink 1863 opened, closed down in 2007
Historical development
As in most other European cities also ended in London, built and operated by private railway companies railway lines from 1836, first in terminal stations at the edge of downtown. For those coming from the south to London tracks the Thames has been a great barrier that was only in 1862, 1864 and 1866 overcome by the construction of four railway bridges. Plans for the underground crossing of the inner city, were very early developed and implemented with the 1863 successful commissioning, the first stretch of the Metropolitan Railway, to connect the terminal stations with each other and to get to the city center in London.
In the time of the Big Four (The Big Four), who until the end of 1947 reversed four major railway companies from the beginning of 1923 the most important long-distance trains from London following stations:
- LMS - London, Midland and Scottish Railway: Euston and St Pancras, inter alia, to Manchester and Glasgow
- LNER - London and North Eastern Railway: Kings Cross, among others to York and Edinburgh
- SR - Southern Railway: Victoria and Waterloo, inter alia, to Brighton, Dover, Southampton and Bournemouth (some with Pullman cars on channel ferries to Paris)
- GWR - Great Western Railway: Paddington, inter alia, to Bristol
Other stations in the London area
The Clapham Junction railway station in the southwestern district of Wandsworth is outside the UK, although relatively unknown, but with the 2000 train movements daily - to Zurich HB - second- busiest railway station in Europe. The largest freight station of the railway junction is London Wembley Yard on the road to Northwest England on rugby.
An overview of all stations in the Greater London ( 320 ) provides a list of railway stations in London. The stations of the London Underground are included in the list of the London Underground stations.