The secret area is a quiet place to wait for your train at one of Britain's largest stations...
Music in Video: • Better
MyLondon
2022-09-26T15:36:26Z
Waterloo is Britain's largest and busiest train station which means large crowds gathered around departure signs are a common sight at the South London transport hub. It can feel impossible to get away from the masses, with a relatively small amount of space for passengers to stand around waiting for their trains.
A Reddit user shared the "quiet place" with other Londoners in a post with a caption that read: "A quiet place to wait for a South Western Railway (SWR) train at London Waterloo station! Exclusive to the former international (Eurostar) platforms 20 to 24 for services to Windsor, Reading, Hounslow, and Richmond."
Savvy commuters took to the comments to share a route to these departure signs which also cuts out the crowds. One such commuter wrote: "FYI, no seats down here. There is a side exit that takes you straight onto Leake Street/York Road which cuts out all the crowds." Their comment changed one person's commute too, with one person replying: "Wait so I've been walking out the main entrance unnecessarily? Is this exit down there too?"
These platforms were specially designed by Nicholas Grimshaw with the exclusivity of the Eurostar in mind. The station was an elongated, four-platform concourse with a snaking glass-and-steel roof separated by the rest of Waterloo by a structural glass wall.
Eurostar trains departed from these platforms from 1994 until 2007. For a few years after the Eurostar moved to St Pancras, the platforms had different uses - some South West Trains ran from there, but others remained empty. In 2013, the platforms were used while the station was being refurbished.
Then in 2018/19, the five platforms were gradually brought back into use as part of regular rail services after a huge £800 million upgrade to the station. Today, they serve trains to Windsor, Reading, Hounslow, and Richmond.
25 сен 2022
