Waterloo East railway station

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 to the east of London Waterloo railway station and close to Southwark tube station.

The station opened in 1869 as Waterloo Junction, to provide a connection between the London and South Western Railway at Waterloo, and the South Eastern Railway at Charing Cross. A dedicated line was built between Waterloo and Waterloo East, which was later converted to a footpath. Trains originally ran to Cannon Street, but after competition from the London Underground, these were withdrawn as a wartime measure in 1916. The station continued to be connected to Waterloo mainline via a footbridge. Waterloo East was given its current name in 1977, and remains an important interchange in London. It is part of the London station group.

Location
The station is on the South Eastern main line 61 chain down the line from Charing Cross, on the other side of the River Thames across from Hungerford Bridge. 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. The main access 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.

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.

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.

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:


 * 18 trains per hour (tph) to Charing Cross
 * 2 tph to Dartford via Bexleyheath
 * 2tph to Dartford via Sidcup
 * 2 tph to Gravesend via Sidcup (Semi fast)
 * 2 tph to Dartford via Lewisham and Woolwich Arsenal
 * 2 tph to Hayes via Catford Bridge
 * 2 tph to Sevenoaks via Orpington
 * 2tph to Tunbridge Wells via Orpington (Semi fast)
 * 2 tph to Hastings via Orpington and Tunbridge Wells
 * 1 tph to Dover Priory via Ashford International
 * 1 tph to Ramsgate via Ashford International and Canterbury West



Incidents
On 25 October 1913, a passenger train coming into Waterloo Junction from Blackheath collided with a stationary train in heavy fog. Three people were killed and 24 injured. An inquest was held, where it was determined that the accident was caused by negligence of a signalman, though not to the level of criminal negligence.