FENCHURCH STREET RAILWAY STATION

'Fenchurch Street' is a railway station in the south eastern corner of the City of London close by the Tower of London and two miles (3.2 km) east of Charing Cross.
Uniquely for a rail terminus in central London, it does not have a direct link to the London Underground. A second entrance at Crosswall (also known as the Tower entrance) is near to Tower Hill tube station and Tower Gateway DLR station. Aldgate tube station is also nearby. It is one of seventeen UK railway stations managed by Network Rail.^[1]

Contents

History

Design

Destinations

Places of Interest

Trivia

References

External links

History

The station was the first to be constructed inside the City; the original station was designed by William Tite and was opened on 20 July 1841^[2] for the London and Blackwall Railway (L&BR), replacing a nearby terminus at Minories that had opened in July 1840. The station was rebuilt in 1854, following a design by George Berkeley, adding a vaulted roof and the main facade.
The station became the London terminus of the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LTS&R) in 1858; additionally, from 1850 until the opening of Broad Street station in 1865 it was also the City terminus of the North London Railway. The L&BR effectively closed in 1926 after the cessation of passenger services east of Stepney, leaving the LT&SR the sole user of the station.

Design

The station facade is of grey stock brick and has a rounded gable roof. In the 1960s a flat awning over the entrance was replaced with the zig-zag canopy seen today. Above, the first floor facade has 11 round-arched windows, and above these is the station clock, which has been returned to working order in recent years.
The station has four platforms arranged on two islands elevated on a viaduct. The station operates at capacity, especially during peak hours. To avoid overcrowding of the station, trains arriving during the morning peak period use alternate island platforms whenever possible. Office blocks (including the 15 floor One America Square) have been built above the station platforms in two places with only one short section of canopied platform and another short section of exposed platform.
The station has two exits; a main entrance to Fenchurch Place and another with access to Tower Hill Underground Station. The main station concourse is arranged on two levels connected by stairs, escalators and lifts. There is a ticket office at each entrance and retail outlets located on both levels of the station.

Destinations

As of 2006, Fenchurch Street is served by c2c, with services to East London and south Essex which call at stations including Limehouse, West Ham, Barking, Upminster, West Horndon, Laindon, Basildon, Pitsea, Benfleet, Chafford Hundred (for Lakeside Shopping Centre), Grays, Tilbury, Westcliff, Southend, Southend East and Shoeburyness. The typical off peak service consists of eight trains per hour (tph) arriving and departing Fenchurch Street:

★ 4tph to Shoeburyness via Basildon

★
★ ''of which 2tph do not stop at Limehouse, West Horndon or Pitsea''

★ 2tph to Grays via Rainham

★ 2tph to Southend Central via Ockendon
During peak periods services are increased to approximately 20 trains per hour with some trains terminating short at Laindon while others run fast as far as Benfleet.

Places of Interest

The Tower of London and Tower Bridge are within walking distance from the Station.

Trivia

Fenchurch Street is one of the four stations whose names are used in the standard UK edition of the game of Monopoly.
The character Fenchurch in Douglas Adams' ''So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish'' was named after Fenchurch Street station, where she was conceived.
The name of the clothing brand Fenchurch is derived from the station.
In Jerome K. Jerome's novel Three Men on the Bummel, the characters start their journey in Fenchurch Street station.

References

1. Stations managed by Network Rail, Network Rail, retrieved 2005-04-01.
2. NetworkRail.co.uk – Fenchurch Street

External links

★ Station information on Fenchurch Street railway station from Network Rail