Greenwich station is about 400 m south-west of the district centre, in London, England. It is an interchange between National Rail between central London and

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...

(north Kent), and the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) between Lewisham to the south and Docklands and the City of London. It is in Travelcard Zones 2 and 3. It is the nearest National Rail station to the centre of Greenwich, but

Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich DLR station Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich is a light metro station on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) Bank-Lewisham Line in Greenwich, south-east London, so named for its proximity to the ''Cutty Sark'' in the Maritime Greenwich district. It is the m ...

is closer to the town centre and its tourist attractions. East of the station the Dartford line goes through a tunnel underneath the grounds of the National Maritime Museum, towards Maze Hill. Northwards, the DLR goes into a tunnel through Cutty Sark station and under the River Thames to the

Isle of Dogs The Isle of Dogs is a large peninsula bounded on three sides by a large meander in the River Thames in East London, England, which includes the Cubitt Town, Millwall and Canary Wharf districts. The area was historically part of the Manor, Ham ...

; in the opposite direction, it rises on a concrete

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...

to follow the

River Ravensbourne The River Ravensbourne is a tributary of the River Thames in south London, England. It flows into the tidal River Thames at Deptford, where its tidal reach is known as Deptford Creek. Geography The Ravensbourne is 11 miles (17 km) i ...

upstream to Deptford Bridge and Lewisham. On the National Rail network, Greenwich is measured from .

Services

National Rail

National Rail services at Greenwich are operated by

Southeastern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

and Thameslink using , , , and

EMUs Emus may refer to: * Emu The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the g ...

. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: * 2 tph to

London Cannon Street Cannon Street station, also known as London Cannon Street, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Travelcard zone 1 located on Cannon Street in the City of London and managed by Network Rail. It is ...

* 2 tph to * 2 tph to , returning to London Cannon Street via and Lewisham * 2 tph to via During the peak hours, the station is served by an additional half-hourly circular service to and from

via and Lewisham in the clockwise direction and direct to anticlockwise.

DLR

The typical DLR service in trains per hour is: * 12 tph to Bank * 12 tph to During the peak hours, the station is also served by direct trains to and from .

History

The National Rail line is one of London's oldest – the London and Greenwich Railway is reputed to be the world's first suburban railway. It was designed by former army engineer

George Landmann Colonel George Thomas Landmann (1779 – 27 August 1854) was an English military and civil engineer. He served with the Royal Engineers in Canada, Gibraltar, Portugal, Spain and Ireland. Following his retirement from the army, he worked as a ...

, and promoted by entrepreneur

George Walter Sir George Herbert Walter, KNH KNH or knh may refer to: * Kamla Nehru Hospital, a hospital located in Gandhi Medical College campus, Madhya Pradesh, India * Kenyatta National Hospital, the oldest hospital in Kenya * KNH, the IATA code for Kinmen ...

. A massive brick

with 878 arches was built to a station in Spa Road (Bermondsey), and later to

London Bridge Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It r ...

. The line opened on 8 February 1836 from Deptford, and on 24 December 1838 from a temporary station in Greenwich. Greenwich's handsome station building was designed by George Smith and opened in 1840, making it one of the oldest station buildings in the world. The South Eastern Railway (SER) leased the Greenwich branch from 1 January 1845. The South Eastern and Chatham Railway was formed on 1 January 1899 and as such took over operation of the station. The SER and London Chatham and Dover Railway formed a "management committee" comprising the directors of both companies and merged the two companies' operations both of which were on the brink of bankruptcy forced by years of bitter competition. Up to this point the four tracks through the station (two of which had platforms, two of which did not) terminated at a sector plate which is a traverser that rotates around a pivot that is not at the centre and therefore cannot rotate through 360˚. This saves space and means locomotives can be transferred from one track to another. The original railway company's board room was located at that end of the station behind the sector plate. Both of these features were removed when the line was extended towards Maze Hill. Difficulties in extending the railway over land owned by the Greenwich Hospital led to the station remaining a terminus until the line was extended eastwards via a cut-and-cover tunnel towards Maze Hill, opening on 1 February 1878. The Southern Railway took over operation of the station following the grouping of 1923. Up until 1924 there had been two platform tracks and two tracks between them allowing overtaking moves. This facility was removed (''possibly'' in preparation from the forthcoming electrification) and the empty space between the two platforms remained until the arrival of the Docklands Light Railway at the station in 1999. Two years later following electrification works, a limited service worked by Electric Multiple Units commenced on 10 May 1926 with the full service commencing 19 July. The lines were electrified to the 750v DC system. Following nationalisation, operation of the station passed to the Southern Region of British Railways on 1 January 1948. The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) was extended to Lewisham via Greenwich on 20 November 1999, the new platforms lying immediately to the south of the main-line station, occupying the space originally used by the up main line platform, which was itself relocated into the space left 75 years earlier by the removal of the through lines. At the eastern end, the DLR heads underground through a tunnel through Cutty Sark and under the River Thames.

Connections

London Buses London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus se ...

routes 129,

177 Year 177 ( CLXXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Commodus and Plautius (or, less frequently, year 930 ''Ab urbe co ...

199 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since the ...

386 __NOTOC__ Year 386 ( CCCLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Honorius and Euodius (or, less frequently, year 113 ...

, and night route N199 serve the station. The Quietway 1 cycle route terminates at the station.

References

External links

Docklands Light Railway website – Greenwich station page
{{TSGN and SE Stations, Abbey Wood=y, FCC None=y, SN None=y Docklands Light Railway stations in the Royal Borough of Greenwich Railway stations in the Royal Borough of Greenwich Former South Eastern Railway (UK) stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1838 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1840 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1840 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1878 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1878 Railway stations served by Southeastern Railway stations served by Govia Thameslink Railway