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, 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, the 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, alongside limited services operated by Thameslink. Gatwick Express trains run direct to Gatwick. The Underground station is on the Circle and District lines between Sloane Square and St James's Park stations, and on the Victoria line between Pimlico and Green Park stations. 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 Station in Westminster, London
Entrance at Cardinal Place
Victoria Station in 1897, showing the separate Brighton (left) and Chatham (right) stations.
The approaches to Victoria Station in 1912. The line leading to the station is top right, the 'Brighton line' (shown in green) is bottom left and the 'Chatham line' (pink) bottom right. The connection to the GWR and LNWR (purple) is top left.
The London station group is a group of 18 railway stations served by the National Rail network in central London. The group contains all 14 terminal stations in central London, either serving major national services or local commuter routes, and 4 other through-stations that are considered terminals for ticketing purposes. All current stations in the group fall within London fare zone 1. A ticket marked "London Terminals" allows travel to any station in the group via any permitted route, as determined by the National Routeing Guide.
The first London terminal station, London Bridge, in 1836
The distinctive Gothic architecture of St Pancras railway station survived demolition, unlike neighbouring Euston.
Broad Street station was one of the few in the London station group to be closed and demolished.
The building of railway lines into London took up a substantial amount of land, particularly south of the Thames.