London Waterloo Station

London Waterloo Station

Waterloo station, also known as London Waterloo, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex. The station is one of 18 in Britain owned and operated by Network Rail, and is close to the South Bank of the River Thames, and in Travelcard Zone 1.

A station on this site first came into being in 1848. The present buildings were inaugurated in 1922. Part of the station is a Grade II listed heritage building.

With over 91 million passenger entries and exits between April 2010 and March 2011, Waterloo is easily Britain's busiest railway station in terms of passenger usage. The Waterloo complex is one of the busiest passenger terminals in Europe. It has more platforms and a greater floor area than any other station in the UK (but Clapham Junction, just under four miles (6 km) down the line, has the largest number of trains). It is the terminus of a network of railway lines from Surrey, Berkshire, Hampshire, South West England, and the south-western suburbs of London.

Much of Waterloo's traffic is local or suburban. Other trains serve longer-distance destinations, such as Southampton, Portsmouth and Bournemouth on the south coast. All regular services are operated by South West Trains.