Britain’s Busiest Railway Stations No 3

Saturday 21st September 2024

We’re now into the top three of this year’s run down, month by month, of Britain’s busiest railway stations, using the Office of Road and Rail’s statistics for the year ended March 2023. Which brings us to Waterloo.

Pre-pandemic and pre-Elizabeth line, Waterloo always proudly held the top spot, but nothing’s for ever, and it’s had to concede its previous domination to two others, as we’ll see in the next couple of month’s blogs.

Personally, it’s my least used London terminus station, as living in Sussex when needing to travel to destinations served by trains using Waterloo in south London, Surrey, Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire and the south west line to Exeter, I tend to either change trains at Clapham Junction or use the Coastway West line via Havant and Southampton.

However, although less familiar with all the nooks and crannies as other London termini, I’m always impressed with the splendour of the station and its sheer size not least, with the platforms previously used by Eurostar trains, the station boasts an impressive 24 platforms.

It also sits at a high level above a mysterious undercroft which I have no knowledge about other than an aspirational project announced earlier this year to create a new southern entrance for the station and turning part of it into a St Pancras style retail and dining area.

In that regard it’s interesting to see a fairly recent development in the area under the former International platforms once used for passport control etc and which now boasts a retail area called The Sidings….

… including a new Wetherspoons.

It’s early days with many of the retail units still not let, and I do wonder whether footfall will ever be enough to justify it all. I see Costa has already closed.

There’s a gateline and escalators up to platforms 20 to 24 at the far end…

… but most passengers use the slope and gateline from the main concourse and thus avoid ‘The Sidings’.

In any event these platforms aren’t intensively used with departures on the ‘Windsor lines’ to Windsor, Reading and Weybridge and the vast area in front of the gateline is always relatively quiet for such a busy station.

There’s even a passenger information desk sited near the gateline which must be the quietest in all the main line termini.

But let’s get back to the start and the five main entrances and exits to Waterloo of which the most famous is Victory Arch in the north west corner of the site up the main steps and numbered 5.

Running from here along the northern boundary wall of the station is Cab Road, which as its name implies is used by taxis for pick up …

… and round the corner on the east side of the building, for set down…

… and buses on terminating routes 11 and 77.

Cab Road also provides for step free access into the station using entrances/exits marked 1, 2 and 3.

The main concourse of the station with access to platforms 1 to 19 is always a hive of activity.

A new extended gateline has recently been installed by platform 19…

… and the trend for intrusive and glaring advertising has not escaped the area above the long gateline in front of the platforms…

… with traditional departure boards either side of it above platforms 4 and 5 and 15 and 16…

… and a new style electronic departures in the middle of the concourse under the famous clock with colour coding of when to wait and when to head to the platform.

Large directional notices hanging from the ceiling are helpful.

The buffers at the platform end of the tracks are the most extensive I’ve ever seen and I think I know what would come off worse – train or concourse – in the hopefully unlikely event of them ever having to prove their worth.

There are a number of access points to the four Underground lines which serve Waterloo (Bakerloo, Jubilee, Northern and Waterloo & City) including the main one alongside platform 18.

There’s an old style ticket office on the main concourse with, wait for it, 14 windows.

Those were the days eh? Obviously only three or four are used in these modern e-ticket times and there are also banks of self service ticket machines available too.

There’s also a Rail Information desk next to the gathering point for those needing assistance.

Perhaps the best thing about Waterloo are the refurbished toilets…

… which have not long reopened after a complete refit with all sorts of modern day requirements now provided for…

… including gender neutral options…

… urinals for those with walking sticks, and the now standard custom of communal wash basins with hand dryer under the panels between the mirrors.

I just hope the individual soap dispensers last longer than the ones at Victoria which are all now disused being replaced by a sparse provision of separate dispensers above the taps by the mirrors. There are also toilets in The Sidings.

As well as the aforementioned Sidings shopping area under platforms 20-24 there are also retail units around the edge of the concourse and a balcony on an upper level accessed by escalators, stairs and lifts which also provides convenient access to and from neighbouring Waterloo East station served by Southeastern trains…

… and the Victory pub.

Back down on the concourse you’ll find a statue unveiled in June 2022 in recognition of the National Windrush Movement…

… with an explanatory board stating the “Monument symbolises the courage, commitment and resilience of the thousands of men, women and children who travelled to the UK from 1948 to 1971. It has been created as a permanent place of reflection, fostering greater understanding of the Windrush Generation’s talent, hard work and loyalty to Britain, inspiring future generations forever.”

Finally and pertinently for a review of a railway station let’s discuss train arrivals and departures as Waterloo, uniquely for a London terminal in the Office of Road and Rail’s top ten, is the only one served exclusively by a single Train Operating Company – South Western Railway.

The station’s 24 platforms can get very busy with trains serving a whole range of destinations in the “south west”. These saw an impressive 57,789,780 passenger journeys to and from the station in the year ended March 2023, which is why Waterloo is in third place.

I’ll be interested to know if I’ve managed to accurately record the complex range of destinations served from Waterloo in a typical off peak hour to close this blog….

South west London suburbs are served by two circular routes – one via Chiswick, Brentford and Hounslow returning via Richmond and Putney (half hourly in both directions) and the other via Kingston and Teddington also returning via Richmond and Putney (also half hourly in both directions) as well as a half hourly service to Surbiton and Hampton Court and another to Tolworth and Chessington South with a third to just over the border, to Shepperton in Surrey.

Also in Surrey, Weybridge is served by trains on the main line (to/from Basingstoke and Woking) as well as a half hourly service via the suburbs of Brentford, Hounslow, Chertsey and Addlestone. Woking has a half hourly ‘stopper’ and a half hourly semi-fast which continues to Basingstoke.

Windsor & Eton Riverside and Reading both receive a half hourly service via Richmond and Staines, while destinations further afield with half hourly services include Alton, Salisbury (with hourly extensions to Exeter and some other journeys continuing to Yeovil via Frome or vice versa) and Southampton, Bournemouth and Weymouth.

Portsmouth Harbour receives an hourly service via Eastleigh and a half hourly service via Guildford (with the latter also having an hourly service as far as Haslemere). Guildford also has a stopping half hourly service via Cobham and hourly via Epsom with the latter also on an hourly service continuing to Dorking.

Phew.

Watch out for a look at Britain’s second busiest railway station next month.

Roger French

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