Elephant & Castle railway station

This article is about the National Rail station. For the London Underground station, see Elephant & Castle tube station.

Elephant & Castle
Elephant & Castle Location of Elephant & Castle in Central London
Location	Newington
Local authority	London Borough of Southwark
Managed by	GTR Thameslink
Owner	Network Rail
Station code	EPH
DfT category	E
Number of platforms	4
Fare zone	1 and 2
OSI	Elephant & Castle
National Rail annual entry and exit
2004–05	2.006 million
2005–06	2.057 million
2006–07	2.554 million
2007–08	3.970 million
2008–09	3.320 million
2009–10	3.111 million
2010–11	2.648 million
2011–12	2.567 million
2012–13	2.706 million
2013–14	2.953 million
Railway companies
Original company	London, Chatham and Dover Railway
Key dates
6 October 1862	Temporary station opened
February 1863	Replaced with permanent structure
Other information
Lists of stations	DLR Underground National Rail Tramlink
External links	Departures Layout Facilities Buses
London Transport portal UK Railways portal

Elephant & Castle railway station is a National Rail station that serves Newington and Walworth, south London. Along with the London Underground station of the same name, it is located in the London Borough of Southwark and is in both Travelcard Zone 1 and 2. The station is managed by Thameslink, with services operated by both Thameslink and Southeastern. There is out-of-station interchange with the nearby Elephant and Castle tube station.

Layout

Platforms 1&2

The London, Chatham and Dover Railway built the station on a brick viaduct in 1863. It has two entrances, one on Elephant Road and one connected to the upper level of the Elephant and Castle shopping centre. There is a departures indicator in the shopping centre as well as separate platform indicators in the ticket hall. There are four platforms, two being on the island between the lines. The station is not directly connected to the London Underground station. To change from the Underground it is necessary to leave the Underground station (the Northern Line exit is nearer), pass through the ticket barrier and then walk either through or round the shopping centre. Four staircases provide the only access to the platforms, as there are no lifts or escalators.

Services

Services from the National Rail station are operated by Thameslink and Southeastern.

Mainline railways around the South Bank
Charing Cross Hungerford Bridge over River Thames South Western Main Line to Weymouth Waterloo Waterloo East Blackfriars Road (1864-1868) Thameslink to Sutton, Sevenoaks and Brighton Elephant & Castle Blackfriars / City Thameslink Blackfriars Bridge (1864-1885) Cannon Street London Bridge River Thames Brighton and South Eastern Main Lines toward SE London, Kent, Sussex and Surrey

The weekday off-peak service from this station is:

• 2 tph (trains per hour) to West Hampstead Thameslink via London Blackfriars (Thameslink)
• 2 tph to St Albans via London Blackfriars (On Sundays, this service terminates at London Blackfriars) (Thameslink)
• 2 tph to Luton via London Blackfriars (Thameslink)
• 2 tph to Sevenoaks via Catford (Thameslink)
• 2 tph to Sutton via Mitcham Junction (Thameslink)
• 2 tph to Sutton via Wimbledon (Thameslink)

At peak hours there are one or two extra Southeastern trains from or to other, more distant destinations, such as Ashford (Kent), Rochester, Orpington and Dover Priory.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Blackfriars		Thameslink Thameslink		Loughborough Junction
		Thameslink Sevenoaks Line		Denmark Hill
		Southeastern Blackfriars-Orpington/Dover Priory/Rochester/Ashford International Limited Service		Denmark Hill or Herne Hill

Oyster Card Pay-as-you-go can be used at this station with all services up to Elstree & Borehamwood railway station

Connections

London Buses routes 1, 45, 53, 68, 88, 133, 155, 168, 172;188, 176, 343, 415, 453 and 168, and night routes N1, N35, N63, N68, N89, N133, N155, N171 and N343 serve the station.

There is an out of station interchange facility with Elephant & Castle (London Underground) station.

External links

• Train times and station information for Elephant & Castle railway station from National Rail