London Waterloo station

Waterloo station, also known as London Waterloo, is a central London terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, located in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Underground station of the same name and is adjacent to Waterloo East station on the South Eastern main line. The station is the terminus of the South Western main line to Weymouth via Southampton, the West of England main line to Exeter via Salisbury, the Portsmouth Direct line to Portsmouth Harbour and the Isle of Wight, and several commuter services around West and South West London, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire. Many services stop at Clapham Junction and Woking.

The station was first opened in 1848 by the London and South Western Railway, and replaced the earlier Nine Elms as it was closer to the West End. It was never designed to be a terminus, as the original intention was to continue the line towards the City of London, and consequently, the station developed in a haphazard fashion leading to difficulty finding the correct platform. The station was rebuilt in the early 20th century, opening in 1922, and included the Victory Arch over the main entrance, which commemorated World War I. Waterloo was the last London terminus to provide steam-powered services, which ended in 1967. The station was the London terminus for Eurostar international trains from 1994 until 2007, when they were transferred to St. Pancras International.

Waterloo is the busiest railway station in the UK, with nearly a hundred million entries & exits from the station every year. It is also the country's largest station in terms of floor space and has the greatest number of platforms.

Location
The station's formal name is London Waterloo, and appears as such on all official documentation. It has the station code WAT. It is in the London Borough of Lambeth on the south bank of the River Thames, close to Waterloo Bridge and northeast of Westminster Bridge. The main entrance is to the south of the junction of Waterloo Road and York Road. It is named after the eponymous bridge, which itself was named after the Battle of Waterloo, a battle that occurred exactly two years prior to the opening ceremony for the bridge.

Several London bus routes, including 1, 4, 26, 59, 68, 171, 172, 176, 188, 507, 521 and RV1 all stop at Waterloo. Some buses call at stops by the side of the station on Waterloo Road, others at Tenison Way, a short distance from the Victory Arch.

Station facilities
The major transport interchange at Waterloo comprises London Waterloo, Waterloo East, Waterloo Underground station, and several bus stops. There are more than 130 automated ticket gates on the station concourse, along with another 27 in the subway below.

A four-faced clock hangs in the middle of the main concourse. Each panel has a diameter of 5 ft. It was erected as part of the early 20th century rebuilding and designed by Gents' of Leicester. In 2010, the clock was fitted with Global Positioning System technology to automatically switch to and from British Summer Time. Meeting "under the clock at Waterloo" is a traditional rendezvous.

Retail balcony
Network Rail has constructed a balcony along almost the whole width of the concourse at the first-floor level. The project's aims were to provide 18 new retail spaces and a champagne bar, reduce congestion on the concourse, and improve access to Waterloo East station by providing additional escalators leading to the high-level walkway between Waterloo and Waterloo East. Retail and catering outlets have been removed from the concourse to make more circulation space. First-floor offices have been converted into replacement and additional retail and catering spaces. Work was completed in July 2012, at a cost of £25 million.

Police station
The British Transport Police maintained a police station by the Victory Arch at Waterloo, with a custody suite of three cells. Although relatively cramped, it served over 40 police officers until the late 1990s. The police station shut in February 2009, following the closure of the Eurostar Terminal at Waterloo. The railway station is now policed from a new Inner London Police Station a few yards from Waterloo at Holmes Terrace. Until July 2010, the Neighbourhood Policing Team for Waterloo consisted of an inspector, a sergeant, two constables, special constables, and 13 police community support officers.

South Western Railway
The main part of the railway station complex is known as "Waterloo Main" or simply Waterloo. This is the London terminus for services towards the south coast and the south-west of England. All regular trains are operated by South Western Railway. Waterloo main line station is one of nineteen in the country that are managed by Network Rail and the station complex is in London fare zone 1.

Waterloo is Britain's busiest railway station by patronage, with just under 100 million National Rail passenger entries/exits in 2015–16. Waterloo railway station alone is the 91st-busiest in the world as of 2013. However, including National Rail interchanges, the Underground station, and Waterloo East, the complex handled a total of 211 million arrivals and departures in the 2015/2016 financial year (not including interchanges on the Underground). It is therefore the busiest transport hub in Europe. It has more platforms and a greater floor area than any other station in the UK (though Clapham Junction, just under 4 mi down the line, sees the greatest number of passengers alighting or departing trains). As of 2017, the South Western Railway run around 1,600 trains per day, used by over 651,000 passengers, making it Europe's busiest commuter service. According to the Estimates of Station Usage, there were 94,355,000 entries and exits at Waterloo during 2017–18, continuing to be the highest in the country.

The following off-peak daytime services are available:


 * 16 trains per hour (tph) to Woking via Clapham Junction (Mainline), of which
 * 2 tph to Basingstoke (stopping)
 * 2 tph to Woking (stopping)
 * 2 tph to Alton (stopping) on the Alton line
 * 2 tph to Salisbury via Basingstoke, and 1 tph continuing to Exeter St Davids via Yeovil on the West of England main line
 * 2 tph to Weymouth via Basingstoke, Southampton Central and Bournemouth on the South Western main line
 * 1 tph (stopping) to Poole
 * 1 tph to Portsmouth Harbour via Basingstoke and Eastleigh
 * 4 tph to Guildford via Woking
 * 2 tph to Portsmouth Harbour via Haslemere, on the Portsmouth Direct line
 * 2 tph to Haslemere, with 1tph continuing to Portsmouth and Southsea
 * 16 tph to Wimbledon via Clapham Junction (Local), of which
 * 4 tph to Teddington, of which
 * 2 tph to Shepperton, and
 * 2 tph back to Waterloo via Richmond
 * 4 tph to Epsom, of which
 * 2 tph to Dorking, and
 * 2 tph to Guildford via Effingham Junction
 * 2 tph to Guildford via Cobham
 * 2 tph to Chessington South
 * 2 tph to Hampton Court
 * 2 tph to Woking
 * 12 tph via Barnes (Windsor Lines)
 * 2 tph to Reading via Ascot
 * 2 tph to Windsor & Eton Riverside
 * 4 tph to Twickenham, of which
 * 2 tph via Hounslow back to Waterloo, and
 * 2 tph via Teddington back to Waterloo (the reverse of the loop detailed above in Local)
 * 4tph to Hounslow via Brentford, of which
 * 2 tph to Weybridge via Egham
 * 2 tph via Twickenham back to Waterloo (the reverse of the loop detailed above)

Southeastern
Adjacent to the main station is Waterloo East, the last stop on the South Eastern main line towards London before the terminus at Charing Cross. Waterloo East has four platforms, which are lettered A–D rather than numbered to avoid confusion with the numbered platforms in the main station by staff who work at both stations. Waterloo East is managed and branded separately from the main station. Trains go to southeast London, Kent and parts of East Sussex. All regular services are operated by Southeastern.

River
London River Services operate boats from nearby London Eye Pier (also known as the Waterloo Millennium Pier) and Festival Pier, and run to the City and Greenwich. The piers also provide access to corporate and leisure services.

London Underground
There had been plans to connect Waterloo to the West End via an underground railway since the 1860s. The Waterloo & Whitehall Railway began construction of a line towards Whitehall, but it was abandoned in 1868 because of financial difficulties. The first underground line to be opened at Waterloo was the Waterloo & City Railway to Bank, colloquially known as "The Drain" owing to its access via a sloping subway at the Bank end. It opened on 8 August 1898, and was part-owned by the L&SWR, who took over full ownership in 1907. It is primarily designed for commuters and is not normally open on Sundays.The Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (now part of the Bakerloo line) opened on 10 March 1906, and was initially accessed from Waterloo by lifts at the York Road end of the station. The Northern line's station at Waterloo opened on 13 September 1926, as part of the overall extension from Charing Cross to Kennington. The Jubilee line station opened on 24 September 1999 as part of the eastward extension to Stratford.