The beautiful central London train station you’ve probably never heard of

is in many ways the beating heart of the UK’s railway network and filled with magnificent . When you think of its major interchanges, Liverpool Street, London Bridge, Kings Cross, Euston, Paddington and St. Pancras International may come to mind. The entries and exits of many stations have recently been driven up by the Elizabeth line, the £18.8billion network having opened in 2022. Liverpool Street saw 94.5million passengers. 

Meanwhile, Paddington recorded 66.9million, and Tottenham Court Road 64.2million. The crucial network also helps boost ridership at certain stops, of course. There is another iconic station in the city that you may never have heard of, possibly for this reason. Fenchurch Street in the centre of the capital is on the Monopoly board, but it does not come to the forefront of many people’s minds nowadays. It was once among London’s most important railway hubs and still boasts an impressive façade worthy of this status.

As the decades have gone by, it has been overshadowed by the square mile’s massive skyscrapers, our sister site reports.

Only c2c services to Essex can be caught at Fenchurch Street today.

Previously, after being built in 1854 by George Berkley, the station used to serve as the terminus for the London and Blackwall Railway.

In the 1970s, there was a plan to bring Fenchurch Street onto the Tube network via the Fleet Line, which later became the Jubilee Line.

This would have included a route running from Charing Cross along the River Thames, with stops at Cannon Street and Fenchurch Street before heading south.

But, by 1980, the proposal had changed, involving an extended route towards Woolwich Arsenal and Beckton instead. This bypassed Fenchurch Street altogether.

Then, just a year later, the entire plan was axed because of high costs and inflation.

The Jubilee line was completed in 1999 and avoided Fenchurch Street entirely.

Instead, Stratford in east London became the key transport hub.

Today, customers can catch DLR, Central Line, Elizabeth Line, Jubilee Line, Overground and National Rail services from there.

Fenchurch Street may not have had its last word, though, as, in recent years, there have been discussions about relocating the station further east, expanding it with six new platforms, and linking it with Tower Hill Underground station.

If this goes ahead, they would also mean the closure of Tower Gateway DLR, with a new stop being introduced at the revamped Fenchurch Street.