Fenchurch Street railway station

Fenchurch Street

London Fenchurch Street
Entrance to Fenchurch Place
Fenchurch Street Location of Fenchurch Street in Central London
Location	Fenchurch Street
Local authority	City of London
Managed by	Network Rail
Station code	FST
Number of platforms	4
Fare zone	1
Interchange	Aldgate Bank Liverpool Street (NR) Monument Tower Gateway (DLR) Tower Hill
National Rail annual entry and exit
2004–05	16.086 million
2005–06	15.746 million
2006–07	15.189 million
2007–08	15.976 million
2009–10	15.093 million
1841	Opened
1854	Rebuilt
1935	Remodelled
Lists of stations	DLR · Underground · National Rail · Tramlink
External links	Departures • Layout
	Facilities • Buses

Fenchurch Street railway station, also known as London Fenchurch Street or simply Fenchurch Street, is a central London railway terminus in the southeastern corner of the City of London. It is one of the smallest railway termini in London in terms of platforms but one of the most intensively operated.

Uniquely among London termini, Fenchurch Street does not have a direct link to the London Underground, although a second entrance at Crosswall (also known as the Tower entrance) is close to Tower Hill tube station and Tower Gateway DLR station, while Aldgate tube station is also nearby. It is one of eighteen UK railway stations managed by Network Rail.

Design

The main entrance to Fenchurch Street

The station facade is of grey stock brick and has a rounded gable roof. In the 1870s 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.

The station has four platforms arranged on two islands elevated on a viaduct. The station operates at capacity, especially during peak hours, thus making it impossible for another rail operator to serve Fenchurch Street. 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 the nearby Tower Hill tube station. The main station concourse is arranged on two levels connected by stairs, escalators and lifts. There is a ticket office and automatic ticket barriers at each entrance and retail outlets located on both levels of the station.

History

View westward towards the town end of the station in 1961.

The station was the first to be constructed inside the City of London; the original was designed by William Tite and was opened on 20 July 1841 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 Berkley, adding a vaulted roof and the main facade. The station became the London terminus of the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR) 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 Great Eastern Railway (GER) used the station as an alternative to an increasingly overcrowded Liverpool Street station for the last part of the 19th and first half of the 20th century over the routes of the former Eastern Counties Railway. The L&BR effectively closed in 1926 after the cessation of passenger services east of Stepney. When the former Eastern Counties lines transferred to the Central line in 1948 the LT&SR became the sole user of the station.

Fenchurch Street station was the location of the first railway bookstall in the City of London, operated by William Marshall.

Connection to the Underground

In the 1970s Fenchurch Street was considered an integral part of the proposed Fleet Line. This would have brought it into the London Underground network. An extension from the end of the existing track terminus at Charing Cross to Fenchurch Street via Aldwych and Ludgate Circus would then have seen the line go on to a destination in east London, most probably via a new station at St Katharine Docks. Political wrangling delayed the extension, despite being considered the highest priority transport project in the city, and when in 1999 the extension was finally completed as part of the Jubilee line the route did not go through Fenchurch Street, but instead went south of the River Thames before cutting back northwards at North Greenwich. Fenchurch Street remains isolated from the London Underground network, although within close walking distance of Tower Hill tube station and is shown on the Tube map next to Tower Hill. The station is served by London bus route 40.

Services

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

TPH	Destination	Route	Stopping pattern
2	Shoeburyness	via Basildon	not stopping at Limehouse, West Horndon or Pitsea
2	Shoeburyness	via Basildon	all stations
2	Southend Central	via Ockendon	all stations
2	Grays	via Rainham	all stations

During peak periods services are increased to approximately 20 tph with some trains operating between Laindon and London while others run non-stop to and from Benfleet.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Terminus		c2c London, Tilbury & Southend Line		Limehouse

Cultural references

• Fenchurch Street is one of the four railway stations featured on the standard Monopoly board.

• The character Fenchurch in Douglas Adams' So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish was named after Fenchurch Street station, where she was conceived in the ticket queue.

• 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.

• In the 2005 film Green Street, Fenchurch Street is used to represent Manchester Piccadilly station.

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  Side entrance to Fenchurch Street for access to Tower Hill

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  Platform at Fenchurch Street

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  Platform signage

External links

• Station information on Fenchurch Street railway station from Network Rail
• Train times and station information for Fenchurch Street railway station from National Rail