Outside Victoria station

Victoria station is a railway terminus in Victoria close to Victoria Street in central London. It sits in the borough of the City of Westminster and is also known as London Victoria. What makes the station stand out than others is that it is close to government offices, namely the Home office, Buckingham Palace, National Audit office, HM Passport Office, Westminster City Hall, Department of International Trade, UK Government Investments and many more. I travel through this station more than any other. Many commuters that travel through the area are also civil servants. During my travels through the station, I’ve always wondered why the signposts in the mainline station are not displayed as Victoria, London. Here are 4 Facts You Should Know About Victoria Station:

1. It is in Travelcard Zone 1 

2. The mainline station is connected to Victoria Underground station.

Victoria Place within the station concourse

Victoria station concourse

3. Apparently in 2015/16 over 81 million passenger travelled through Victoria and the hustling station is named after Queen Victoria.  This makes it the second busiest station in London and Britain after Waterloo!

Construction work outside Victoria Tube station

Construction work outside Victoria station

4. The surrounding area is currently undergoing construction work.

The exterior is not exactly a pretty site at the moment as there has been ongoing construction work for a few years. How long has the reconstruction work been going on? Have a look at the Upgrade scheme here.

Welcome to Victoria Station

A brief history of how one of the most popular station came into existence. 

In the past, the railways serving destinations to the south of London were inconvenient for Central London commuters simply because they terminated south of the river Thames. Whereas the main centres of businesses and government were north of the river in the City of London, the West End and Westminster. Victoria Station came into existence as a piecemeal fashion to help address this problem.

Have you ever been at Victoria mid Saturday morning? It is one place in the capital  with a distinctive a weekend vibe. But you can bet that there are huge differences during the rush hour. Football and Cricket fans cluster around waiting for their mates of family to see the latest match.

Which parts of London and the UK does Victoria serve?

The station is managed by network Rail and the main lines that run through the station are Brighton mainline and the London Bridge line. Chatham mainline to Ramsgate and Dover via Chatham (Kent region)

Southern, the train operating company runs the majority of commuter and regional services to south London, Sussex and parts of east Surrey, while another operating company known as Southeastern runs trains to south-east London and Kent.

Another thing worth noting is that some of the services run trains to Gatwick airport but if you are in a hurry to get your flight, the Gatwick express operates a direct service from Victoria to Gatwick airport. I’ve travelled on this service a few times and even bought my return ticket on board but it might just cost a little bit more than a ticket bought at the ticket office.

Victoria Underground station is on the Circle and District lines and the Victoria line. The area around the station is a convenience because it is an important interchange for other forms of transport: a local bus station is in the forecourt and Victoria Coach Station is nearby.

What do you think about Victoria and the ongoing construction work? Do you find it annoying because you are unable to cross the roads on time in the area due to diversions or the crowd?