Charing Cross Hotel

Charing Cross
London Charing Cross
Approach tracks across the River Thames
Charing Cross Location of Charing Cross in Central London
Location	Charing Cross
Local authority	City of Westminster
Managed by	Network Rail
Station code	CHX
DfT category	A
Number of platforms	6
Accessible	Yes
Fare zone	1
OSI	Charing Cross tube station Embankment Embankment Pier
Cycle parking	No
Toilet facilities	Yes
National Rail annual entry and exit
2011–12	38.114 million
– interchange	1.959 million
2012–13	38.607 million
– interchange	1.879 million
2013–14	40.170 million
– interchange	1.993 million
2014–15	42.979 million
2015–16	28.998 million
– interchange	0.828 million
Railway companies
Original company	South Eastern Railway
Pre-grouping	South Eastern and Chatham Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway
Key dates
1864 (1864)	Opened
Other information
Lists of stations	DLR Underground National Rail Tramlink
External links	Departures Layout Facilities Buses
WGS84	51°30′29″N 0°07′30″W / 51.508°N 0.125°W / 51.508; -0.125Coordinates: 51°30′29″N 0°07′30″W / 51.508°N 0.125°W / 51.508; -0.125

Charing Cross railway station (also known as London Charing Cross) is a central London railway terminus between the Strand and Hungerford Bridge in the City of Westminster. It is the terminus of the South Eastern main line to Dover via Ashford. All trains are operated by Southeastern, which provides the majority of commuter and regional services to south-east London and Kent. It is connected to Charing Cross tube station on the London Underground, and is near to Embankment tube station and Embankment Pier.

The station was originally opened by the South Eastern Railway in 1864. It takes its name from its proximity to the road junction Charing Cross, the notional "centre of London" from which distances from the city are measured. During the 19th century, the station became the main London terminus for continental traffic via boat trains, and saw several prestigious international services. It was badly damaged following an engineering accident in 1905 and extensively rebuilt, including the construction of the tube lines. It became an important meeting point for military and government traffic during World War I. By this time, Charing Cross station was seen as out of date by some politicians and proposals were made to replace Hungerford Bridge with a road bridge or road / rail combination, with the station moving to the south bank of the River Thames in the case of a road-only replacement. The station was bombed several times during World War II, and was rebuilt afterwards, re-opening in 1951. In the late 1980s, the station complex was redesigned by Terry Farrell and rebuilt to accommodate a modern office block, now known as Embankment Place.