They’re busy and crowded, but necessary to travellers and commuters alike. Here’s TNT’s guide to London’s train stations WORDS Daniel Landon

London’s big mainline train stations may not be places you’d want to hang out in, but most of us end up passing through them reasonably often. Here’s the lowdown on the rail hubs that keep Londoners moving.

St Pancras

With its majestic arched glass roof and impressive Gothic-style hotel out the front, St Pancras (above) is possibly the most beautiful station in the world. It was a bit grotty until an £800 million redevelopment, finished in 2007, to make it the Eurostar terminus for Britain’s first high-speed cross-channel train services.
Destinations: France, Belgium and the continent; the East Midlands; Ashford in Kent; Thameslink to Brighton, Gatwick, Luton and Bedford.
Fun fact: When it opened in 1868 it was the largest enclosed space in the world.

King’s Cross

Historically one of the seediest parts of London, the area around King’s Cross is now undergoing a massive redevelopment project. The station itself has only 11 platforms.
Destinations: Edinburgh and eastern Scotland; north-east England; North London; Cambridge; Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.
Fun fact: There’s a plaque to mark Platform 93⁄4, from which the Hogwarts Express departs in the Harry Potter books.

Liverpool Street

Liverpool Street is a run-of-the-mill station in the heart of the City. It’s also the terminus for the hideously over-priced Stansted Express. The standard one-way fare is £18, and there’s no cheaper train option. Take a bus.
Destinations: Essex; East Anglia; Cambridge.
Fun fact: It was built in 1874 on the site of the world’s first lunatic asylum.

Waterloo

London’s busiest and biggest station attracts a better class of commuter – Waterloo services the well-heeled suburbs of south-west London and genteel south-west England.
Destinations: Hampshire; Dorset; Devon; south-west London.
Fun fact: Waterloo was the Eurostar terminus until 2007 – pity the French arriving at a station named after their most humiliating battlefield defeat. Kinda like if the Japanese made American planes land at ‘Pearl Harbor’ airport in Tokyo.

Charing Cross

Unless you’re commuting south of the river, there are almost no interesting destinations served by Charing Cross. But it’s got a futuristic office building on top.
Destinations: South-east London; Kent.
Fun fact: It’s named after the Eleanor Cross – a 13th-century monument erected by King Edward I to his wife Eleanor.

Victoria

An incredible 115 million people pass through Victoria annually – but it’s actually the second busiest station (behind Waterloo) in London.
Destinations: Sussex; Surrey; Kent; Gatwick Airport; South London
Fun fact: A regular Southern train can take you to Gatwick, saving you a fiver on the Express.

Paddington

Every teddy bear’s favourite station, Paddington was designed by the genius British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who also devised the super-quick Great Western line to Bristol.
Destinations: Oxford; western England; Wales.
Fun fact: The Heathrow Connect service (£7.40) is cheaper than the Heathrow Express (£16.50).

Euston

Set amid a concrete jungle, Euston is London’s ugliest station. A £1 billion redevelopment of the local area and station is planned – it needs it.
Destinations: The West Midlands; north-west England; North Wales; western Scotland.
Fun fact: The original station was fronted by a magnificent Doric arch, but it was demolished amid much outcry in 1962.

Fenchurch Street

It’s on the Monopoly board – but if you need to use Fenchurch Street, you’ve pretty much hit rock bottom of London commuting.
Destinations: Deepest, darkest Essex.

London Bridge

Opened in 1836, London Bridge is London’s oldest station. Platforms 1-6 and 8-16 are split into different buildings (7 doesn’t exist).
Destinations: South London; Sussex; Kent; Thameslink to Brighton and Bedford.

Marylebone

Tucked behind the posh Landmark Hotel, the six-platform Marylebone (pronounced mar-lee-bone) is charming and unhurried.
Destinations: Birmingham; the Cotswolds; north-west London.

Why are train fares so expensive?

Although 80 per cent of rail users are satisfied with UK train services (according to the watchdog Passenger Focus), only 40 per cent think fares are good value for money.

There are two broad reasons fares are so pricey. First, huge underinvestment in railways – anyone for motorways? – since World War II until this decade has left a huge bill to bring the network up to scratch.

Second, British railways are operated by private companies, and like any business they want to make a profit. Last January, with inflation at 1 per cent and the economy going into recession, fares rose 6-7 per cent on average. Ouch.

“The drive to extract premiums from some parts of the network will result in further above-inflation fare increases,” the Parliamentary Transport Select Committee said in 2006.

But cheaper fares can be found with a little planning. Travel off peak, and book as far in advance as you can.