National Rail Service in London
20 September 2009
Rail Service
National Rail operates passenger train service from London to almost every city and town across England. It is a partnership between private train companies and the government. Private companies such as Virgin, East Midlands, First Capital and many others provide rail service. The whole rail system is simply referred to as National Rail. Old travel guides may have used the now defunct term, British Rail. London Overground is a rail service operating in the outlaying areas of London. Your travel card is valid for use on London Overground as long as it is valid for the zone you are traveling in.
For a really big PDF map that a look at THIS.
London Overground
Rail service is not a replacement for the tube but it does serve areas in the outer zones that the tube does not. In addition to commuter rail service there is the Dockland Light Railway (DLR) and London Overground. See the separate document for the DLR. London Overground is a rail service in North and South London. Your Oyster Travel Card can be used on these services as long as it is valid for the zones you are traveling in or through. Let me stress that you should get a London bus map as it shows not only the bus routes but DLR, Over Ground, airport express trains and tram service.
Travel Card Usage
As I have said, your travel card must be valid for the zone you are in or going through. If you have a card that is only good for zones 1 & 2 but happen to travel into zone 3 you could be fined. Inspectors stop and ask to check tickets and if not valid they can impose an on-the-spot fine of £50. I was stopped once and asked to produce my pass. I found the event very pleasant.
London Rail Stations
One can use rail service to go between each of these stations is lieu of the tube or bus. However you need to read your rail map as not all stations inter-connect. This isn’t really the purpose of the stations but to get you to outlaying districts.
However some parts of London are not well served by the tube so the best way to get to some locations is by rail.
These are all rail stations in London (Zone 1) and the postcode: The (ABC) is the station location code. It isn’t really too important for you to know that. Some of these stations connect with one another and some do not. Be aware that just because a map shows them connect doesn’t mean that a train will stop there. Always check the departure board. This LINK is for the PDF map within London and this link is for the PDF map showing rail and tube lines without London.
Blackfriars (BFR) EC4
Cannon Street (CST) EC4
Charing Cross (CHX) WC2
Eustion (EUS) NW1
Farringdon (ZFD) EC1
Fenchurch Street (FST) EC3
King’s Cross (KGX) N1
Kensington Olympia (WPA) W14
London Bridge (LBG) SE1
Liverpool Street (LIV) EC2
Marylebone (MYB) NW1
Moorgate (MOG) EC2
Old Street (OLD) N1
Paddington (PAD) W2 with service to Heathrow Airport
St. Pancras (STP) N1
Victoria (VIC) SW1 with service to Gatwick Airport
Waterloo (WAT) SE1
Vauxhall (VXH) SW8, Zone 1 & 2
To search for any rail station use this nationalrail stations search. This has a wealth of good information on each station.