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:
- It is in Travelcard Zone 1
- The mainline station is connected to Victoria Underground station.
Victoria Place within the station concourse
Victoria station concourse
- 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
- 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?
Interesting post, Bola. We did ride the Tube on our visit back in 2011 and round it be amazing. I find the train stations to be filled with history, art, and a shot of local culture.
London has so much history to share. As a London I’m still learning new things about the city.
More so now, with more and more development projects appearing in London. This will go down in history as well!
Well, the most important item of information for me is that Victoria Station is serviced by an Underground station. Good to know!
Me too. It helps to know that you can connect to other parts of the capital after a long train journey.
Love the post, Bola, you have shared such valuable information. Plus love how you have shared the pointers which make one dive in the post!
Thanks for sharing dear 🙂
Thanks Sushmita. Victoria station has a lot of history attached to it and getting around it can be quite complex.
One of my favourite Tube stations is the Central Line’s Queensway as it is next to Kensington Gardens, a great place to get away from all that bureaucratic officialdom at the Victoria station. 😉
I very rarely travel through Queensway station but I can imagine it’s quite different to Victoria.
Certainly is much nicer than I recall….but then I only visited Victoria station in 1981!! Love learning new things about very popular places in London but BOY, it’s big!
Wow. It’s been a long time and Victoria station has changed so much since 1981!
When I lived in London many years ago, I passed through Victoria often, both underground and mainline. I hope to be back there later this year and I look forward to seeing it again. Good information about the Gatwick express train! Thanks, Bola.
Hi Donna. Victoria station and the surrounding area looks a lot different. Hope you find your way atound the station easily when you return there.
Thanks for sharing such information Bola. London is great, one day I will surely visit.
Looking forward to seeing you here one day.:)