Elephant & Castle railway station

Platforms 1&2

The London, Chatham and Dover Railway built the station on a brick viaduct in 1863. It currently has one entrance on Elephant Road.[3] There are four platforms, two being on the island between the lines. Four staircases provide the only access to the platforms, as there are no lifts or escalators.

The station is not directly connected to the London Underground station, with the Northern line entrance being closest to the station.[1]

An entrance directly connected to the upper level of the Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre closed in September 2020, as part of the redevelopment of the area.[3]

A new entrance into the railway station will be built, connecting to the new town centre. Existing railway arches will also be opened up, providing access for pedestrians to Elephant Park.[4] Interchange with the Underground will also improve, with a direct route through the new town centre to a new Underground ticket hall.[5][6] However, local press have criticised the omission of step free access to the National Rail platforms.[3]

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

The weekday off-peak service from this station is:

• 2tph to London Blackfriars
• 2tph to Kentish Town
• 4tph to St Albans City
• 2tph to Sevenoaks
• 2tph to Orpington
• 4tph to Sutton of which 2 run via Mitcham Junction and 2 run via Wimbledon

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.

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

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
London Blackfriars		Thameslink Thameslink		Loughborough Junction
				Denmark Hill
London Blackfriars		Southeastern Chatham Main Line (Limited Services)		Bromley South
London Blackfriars		Southeastern London Blackfriars to Beckenham Junction (Limited Services)		Loughborough Junction

Mainline railways around the South Bank
South Western main line to Weymouth Hungerford Bridge over River Thames Waterloo Charing Cross Waterloo East ( 1864– 1868 ) Blackfriars Road Elephant & Castle Blackfriars Holborn Viaduct–Herne Hill line to Herne Hill (and e.g. to Sutton) Snow Hill tunnel/City Widened Lines to St Pancras (and to MML & ECML) ( 1864– 1885 ) Blackfriars Bridge City Thameslink Brighton main line to Brighton London Bridge Cannon Street South Eastern main line to SE London and Kent River Thames

LC&DR's Metropolitan Extensions and neighbouring railway lines
To St Pancras Farringdon 1866 2009 Barbican Moorgate 1866 2009 1874 1990 Holborn Viaduct Holborn Viaduct (low) 1874 1916 Victoria City Thameslink 1867 1911 Grosvenor Road Ludgate Hill 1865 1929 Charing Cross Blackfriars River Thames 1867 1916 Battersea Park Road Blackfriars Bridge 1864 1964 Waterloo East To London Bridge Vauxhall Waterloo To Clapham Jct Borough Road 1864 1907 Wandsworth Road Elephant & Castle Clapham High Street Walworth Road 1862 1916 Camberwell 1862 1916 Loughborough Junction Brixton Denmark Hill Catford Loop 1866 1976 East Brixton South London Line Herne Hill sidings 1885 1966 North Junction Herne Hill South Junction To Sutton Tulse Hill North Dulwich To L. Bridge West Dulwich Chatham main line to Kent

Local bus connections are provided by bus stops at New Kent Road and Walworth Road. London Buses routes 1, 53, 63, 68, 168, 172, 188, 363, 415, 453, N1 and N63 stop outside the station at New Kent Road. Routes 12, 35, 40, 45, 68, 136, 148, 171, 176, 343, 468, P5 and night routes N68, N89, N171 and N343 stop outside the station at Walworth Road.

There is also a coach stop at New Kent Road; National Express coaches towards Kent stop outside the station.

There is an out of station interchange facility with Elephant & Castle (London Underground) station.[1]

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