Location Vauxhall Station code VXH Fare zone 1 and 2 Opened 1848 | Managed by South West Trains DfT category B Address London, United Kingdom Number of platforms 8 | |
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Accessible Yes (National Rail only) Similar London Underground, Clapham Junction railway st, London Waterloo station, London Victoria station, Surbiton railway station | ||
Vauxhall (/ˈvɒksɔːl/, VOK-sawl) is a National Rail, London Underground and London Buses interchange station in central London. It is at the Vauxhall Cross road junction opposite the southern approach to Vauxhall Bridge over the River Thames in the London district of Vauxhall. The station is on the boundary of zones 1 and 2 of the London Travelcard area and, although a through station, it is a central London railway terminus for ticketing purposes.
Contents
The bus station, at ground level across the road from the rail station, has a photovoltaic roof supplying much of its electricity. It is the second busiest London bus station, after that at Victoria.
History
Opened by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) as "Vauxhall Bridge Station" on 11 July 1848 when the main line was extended from Nine Elms to Waterloo, then "Waterloo Bridge Station". It is on a viaduct with eight platforms.
The deep tube London Underground station is on the Victoria line, and opened on 23 July 1971.
Milk trains
Vauxhall was located next to a major creamery and milk bottling plant for United Dairies. The regular daily milk train was from Torrington, but milk trains from all over the West Country would stop at Clapham Junction in the evening, and reduce their length by half so that they did not block Vauxhall station while unloading. They would then proceed to Vauxhall, and pull into the "down" side platform, where a discharge pipe was provided to the creamery on the other side of the road. There was also pedestrian access from below the station, under the road to the depot, in the tunnel where the pipeline ran. Unloaded trains would then proceed to Waterloo, where they would reverse and return to Clapham Junction to pick up the other half of the train. The procedure was then repeated, so that the entire milk train was unloaded between the end of evening peak traffic and the start of the following morning.
Services
There is a frequent service of trains to London Waterloo and to the suburbs of south-west London. Trains to the Richmond/Hounslow direction leave from platforms 3 & 4 and return on platform 2. Trains to the Wimbledon direction leave from platform 8 and return on platform 7. Few trains call at the inner platforms (5 & 6) whose tracks are used by long-distance and "fast" suburban trains. Platform 1 is not used in regular passenger service.
National Rail
Vauxhall rail station is served by South West Trains to and from London Waterloo. The typical off-peak service is 26 trains per hour to/from London Waterloo, consisting of:
Underground
Vauxhall underground station is between Pimlico and Stockwell with a peak time service interval of about two minutes.
Connections
There is a bus station located north next to the station offering services to various parts of London.