London Victoria station

Victoria station, also known as London Victoria, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Victoria, in the City of Westminster, managed by Network Rail. Named after the nearby Victoria Street (not the Queen), the main line station is a terminus of the Brighton main line to Gatwick Airport and Brighton and the Chatham main line to Ramsgate and Dover via Chatham. From the main lines, trains can connect to the Catford Loop Line, Dartford Loop Line, and the Oxted line to East Grinstead and Uckfield. Southern operates most commuter and regional services to south London, Sussex and parts of east Surrey, while Southeastern operates trains to south east London and Kent. Gatwick Express trains run direct to Gatwick. The Underground station is on the Circle and District lines between and, and the Victoria line between  and. The area around the station is an important interchange for other forms of transport: a local bus station is in the forecourt and Victoria Coach Station is nearby.

Victoria was built to serve both the Brighton and Chatham main lines, and has always had a "split" feel of being two separate stations. The Brighton station opened in 1860 with the Chatham station following two years later. It replaced a temporary terminus at Pimlico and construction involved building the Grosvenor Bridge over the River Thames. It became immediately popular as a London terminus, causing delays and requiring upgrades and rebuilding. It was well known for luxury Pullman train services and continental boat train trips and became a focal point for soldiers during World War I.

Like other London termini, steam trains were phased out of Victoria by the 1960s, to be replaced by suburban electric and diesel multiple unit services. Despite the end of international services following the opening of the Channel Tunnel, Victoria still remains an important London station, and its Underground facilities, in particular, suffer from overcrowding. The Gatwick Express service provides easy access between Central London and Gatwick Airport for international travellers.

Location
The station complex is in Victoria in the City of Westminster, immediately south of the London Inner Ring Road. It is located south of Victoria Street, east of Buckingham Palace Road and west of Vauxhall Bridge Road. Several different railways lead into the station line by way of Grosvenor Bridge from the south west, south and south east. It is in Travelcard Zone 1 and is one of 19 stations managed by Network Rail. It has been a Grade II listed building since 1970.

Victoria Coach Station is about 300 metres south-west of the railway stations. It is the main London coach terminal and serves all parts of the UK and mainland Europe.

London Buses routes 2, 11, 13, 16, 24, 36, 38, 44, 52, 148, 170, 185, 211, 390, 507, C1, C2 and C10 and night routes N2, N11, N16, N38, N44, N73 and N136 serve the station at the Victoria bus station or neighbouring streets.

Services
With over 81 million passenger entries and exits in 2015/16, Victoria is the second-busiest station in London (and Great Britain) after Waterloo. Combined with the Underground Station and interchanges in the national rail station, London Victoria handled about 170 million passengers in 2015.

To help passengers choose the correct service, the floor of the main concourse at Victoria is marked with different coloured lines. Passengers can then follow the line marked with the specific colour for that service to arrive at their intended departure point.

Operationally, there continue to be 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 is also the London terminus for the Venice-Simplon Orient Express, from Platform 2, the longest platform. It was used for boat trains to Dover and Folkestone until these were made redundant by the introduction of Eurostar trains to the continent in 1994.
 * The western (Brighton) side, comprising platforms 9–19, is the terminus for Southern and Gatwick Express services to Surrey and Sussex, including Gatwick Airport and Brighton on the Brighton Main Line and the East Grinstead branch on the Oxted Line.

Services are operated by Southeastern and Southern, both owned by Govia. All services at Victoria use electric multiple unit trains.

Southeastern
Victoria platforms 1–8 provide the London terminus for services on the Chatham Main Line operated by Southeastern, serving South East London, Kent, the South East Coast and The Medway Towns. There are typical off-peak metro services to Orpington and Sevenoaks as well as main line services to Ramsgate, Dover Priory, Gillingham and Ashford International.

The typical 2018 off-peak service in trains per hour (tph) run by Southeastern is:


 * 2tph to Bromley South
 * 2tph to Orpington via Bromley South
 * 2tph to Gravesend via Bexleyheath
 * 1tph to Ramsgate via Chatham
 * 2tph to Dover Priory via Chatham
 * 1tph to Ashford International via Maidstone East
 * 1tph to Canterbury West via Maidstone East

Southern
Victoria platforms 9–12 and 15–19 provide one of two London termini for services on the Brighton Main Line operated by Southern, serving South London, Sussex, Brighton and The South Coast. There are off-peak metro services to London Bridge and Sutton and main line services to Bognor Regis, Brighton, Epsom, Ore, Portsmouth Harbour and Southampton Central.

The typical off-peak service run by Southern in trains per hour (tph) is:


 * 2tph to London Bridge via Crystal Palace
 * 2tph to Sutton via Norbury
 * 2 to West Croydon via Crystal Palace
 * 2tph to Epsom via Hackbridge
 * 2tph to Epsom Downs via Norbury
 * 2tph to Dorking of which 1 continues to Horsham
 * 2tph to East Grinstead
 * 2tph to Brighton
 * 1tph to Portsmouth Harbour and Bognor Regis, dividing at Horsham
 * 1tph to Southampton Central and Bognor Regis, dividing at Horsham
 * 1tph to Eastbourne and Littlehampton, dividing at Haywards Heath
 * 1tph to Ore and Littlehampton, dividing at Haywards Heath
 * 2tph to Reigate

Gatwick Express
Gatwick Express, formerly a separate franchise but now operated by Southern, runs from platforms 13 and 14. It is a shuttle service between London Victoria and Gatwick Airport every 15 minutes, and every 30 minutes services are extended to Brighton. The typical journey time is 30 minutes (up to 35 minutes on Saturdays). There is no longer an option to buy tickets on the train, following the introduction of ticket barriers in December 2011.