Liverpool Street station
Liverpool Street station, also called
London Liverpool Street, is a mainline
railway station in the north of the
City of London, on
Bishopsgate. It was opened in
1874 by the Great Eastern Railway, whose chief engineer,
Edward Wilson, designed it. It was built on the site of the original
Bethlem Royal Hospital. The adjoining Great Eastern Hotel was designed by
Charles Barry (junior) (son of
Sir Charles Barry) and his brother
Edward Middleton Barry. The station was extensively modified between
1985 and
1992.
Liverpool Street station
Liverpool Street services destinations to eastern England including London Stansted Airport, Cambridge, Norwich, Ipswich, Chelmsford, Colchester, Braintree, and the port of Harwich. A daily express train to Harwich connects with the ferry from Harwich to Hoek van Holland.
To clear up any potential confusion, especially for foreign visitors: trains from Liverpool Street do not go to Liverpool. For that city Euston is the London terminus.
There are currently three mainline train operators serving Liverpool Street:
- Anglia Railways - long distance expresses to Norwich, Harwich boat trains and occasional through trains to other destinations in East Anglia
- First Great Eastern - suburban and medium distance services on the Norwich mainline as far North as Ipswich and branch lines in East Essex
- WAGN - suburban and medium distance services on the West Anglia Line via Hackney Downs as far as Enfield, Hertford East, Chingford, Stansted Airport and Cambridge
In the near future, one operator will be awarded the franchise (the Greater East Anglia franchise) to provide all passenger services from Liverpool Street. Currently, the bidders are
National Express Group who own WAGN, and GB Railways who own Anglia Railways. First Group (owners of First Great Eastern) had submitted a bid, but were rejected at an early stage, despite being the best performing of the three Liverpool Street mainline services.
The connected London Underground station has surface-level platforms on the Circle, Metropolitan and Hammersmith & City lines. Below the station are platforms for east and westbound Central Line services. Current plans for the Crossrail service would see a new station at Liverpool Street (with full mainline and underground connections).
The Central Line platforms opened on July 28, 1912.
See also