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Victoria Station (London)

Victoria Station is a London Underground, railway and coach station in London, in the borough of Westminster.

The eastern side services Kent, and the western side is the terminus for lines running from Surrey and Sussex, including Gatwick Airport and Brighton.

The London Underground station lies to the north of the mainline station concourse. There are two ticket halls. The hall closer to the mainline station serves the Victoria Line. The other, further north along a tunnel, serves the District and Circle Lines.

The coach station lies a short walk away from the main railway stations. It is the main London coach terminal, serving all parts of the UK.

History

It was originally two stations, the eastern one for the South Eastern and Chatham Railway and the western for the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway. The South Eastern and Chatham station is a baroque building designed by Alfred Bloomfield and completed in 1908. The London, Brighton, and South Coast building, completed in 1898, is in a Renaissance style. These stations replaced two built in 1858 and 1861.

The stations were merged in 1924 when a passage from one to the other was created by removing part of a wall. The architecture of the two stations is clearly visible from outside. The station was redeveloped in the 1980s.

The Victoria line didn't come to Victoria itself until the third phase of deployment - the platforms were opened on March 7, 1969, six months after it had started running in outer London.

See also