Station groups

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In the ticketing system of the British rail network, tickets are normally issued to and from individual stations. However, in some instances, when there is more than one station in a town or other locality - and especially in cases where these are on different lines or routes - it may be desirable for passengers to be able to travel to one station and back from another, or more generally to be able to choose which of the stations they wish to travel to. To accommodate this requirement, British Rail introduced a series of station groups: notional "common locations" to which tickets from stations outside that group would be issued.

Contents 1 Example 2 National Fares Manuals 3 Terminology and Appearance on Tickets 3.1 Exceptions to the new terminology 4 Summary of groups 4.1 Existing 4.2 Defunct 4.2.1 Sources 4.2.2 Table Notes 5 "London group" terminology 6 London: a special case 6.1 Exceptions 6.1.1 The status of Farringdon 6.1.2 Kensington Olympia 6.1.3 Kings Cross Thameslink 6.1.4 London Bridge, London Blackfriars and City Thameslink 6.1.5 Moorgate 6.1.6 The closed stations 6.2 The "London Thameslink" group 7 The status of individual stations within groups

[edit] Example

Penge in South London has two stations: Penge East and Penge West. The former is served by trains from London Victoria to Orpington; the latter is on the route from London Bridge to Sutton. For a traveller arriving at, for example, a London terminal station and intending to go to Penge, it makes little difference which route is chosen; both stations are close together and serve the same area. Therefore, a ticket to be issued solely to one Penge station or the other would be unduly restrictive - it would remove the opportunity to travel by a choice of equally convenient routes. A notional "Penge group" solves this problem: a ticket issued in this way would be interavailable.

[edit] National Fares Manuals

The concept was explained in the National Fares Manuals (NFMs) issued approximately three times per year by the British Railways Board to stations, Rail Appointed Travel Agents and other ticket issuing authorities. (Since privatisation, they have been published by ATOC.) This representative quote is taken from Section A5 of NFM 64 (issued on 29 September 1996):

"Fares for certain ... cities and towns are shown to and from a notional common station[.] All fares are quoted and all tickets should be issued to and from [these notional group] stations except for local journeys between two stations in the same group. Tickets issued to and from these [notional group] stations are valid to or from any of their associated stations, subject to normal route availability."

[edit] Terminology and Appearance on Tickets

These "locations" had to be shown in a standard, easily identifiable way on tickets. The method chosen by the British Railways Board was as follows:

• Take the name of the actual location where the stations are: for Penge East and Penge West, PENGE.
• Add the suffix BR to this: PENGE BR.

In addition, each station group was allocated its own National Location Code (NLC). As noted below, these were almost all in the 0000-series: specifically, between 0250 and 0500. The NLC appeared on PORTIS/SPORTIS tickets, which by convention always showed the "origin" and "destination" NLCs as well as the code of the issuing point; but APTIS tickets (and those from later systems) always showed the NLC of the actual station of issue, even where a ticket was issued from a "station group".

After privatisation, the designation "BR" was no longer appropriate, although having been in use for more than 10 years it had become a convenient shorthand device for referring to the station groups concept in general (even the National Fares Manuals used the term "BR Stations" as the heading for the Section referred to above). A new designation had to be created which still took up little space on a ticket (location names are restricted to 16 characters on most ticket issuing systems) and which still conveyed a notion of interavailability.

The solution, adopted early in 1998 and uploaded to ticket issuing systems between February and April 1998 for the most part, was for BR to be changed to STNS or STATIONS as appropriate:

• STNS if the location name was between 8 and 11 characters in length: for example, LIVERPOOL BR became LIVERPOOL STNS.
• STATIONS if the location name was 7 characters or fewer: for example, DORKING BR became DORKING STATIONS.

An APTIS ticket issued for travel between the "Bedford Group" and the "Croydon Group", showing the pre-privatisation designations BEDFORD BR and CROYDON BR.

A Shere SMART ticket issued for the same journey, showing the post-privatisation designations BEDFORD STATIONS and CROYDON STATIONS.

[edit] Exceptions to the new terminology

There were some deviations from this standard:

• As GAINSBOROUGH is 12 characters in length, a meaningful abbreviation to signify the station grouping could not be created. Therefore, tickets to the Gainsborough "group" are now issued simply to GAINSBOROUGH.
• Although GLASGOW STATIONS was seen briefly on some systems in 1998, the designation for the Glasgow "group" was quickly changed across the board to GLASGOW CEN/QST, representing Glasgow Central and Glasgow Queen Street (the two main termini in the city).
• The London group was changed three times, as described below.

[edit] Summary of groups

[edit] Existing

The following table shows all station groups which are known to exist as of 2006. The table shows NLC allocated to the group, the original rendering of the group name, any subsequent rendering (if the group still exists), and the stations included within it.

Current Name	Former Name	NLC	Stations Included	Notes
BEDFORD STATIONS	BEDFORD BR	0410	Bedford, Bedford St John's
BIRMINGHAM STNS	BIRMINGHAM BR	0418	Birmingham Moor Street, Birmingham New Street, Birmingham Snow Hill	[1]
BOOTLE STATIONS		1780	Bootle New Strand, Bootle Oriel Road	[2]
BRADFORD YK STNS	BRADFORD YKS BR	0424	Bradford Forster Square, Bradford Interchange
CANTERBURY STNS	CANTERBURY BR	0428	Canterbury East, Canterbury West
CATFORD STATIONS	CATFORD BR	0258	Catford, Catford Bridge
COLCHESTER STNS	COLCHESTER BR	0254	Colchester, Colchester Town	[3]
CROYDON STATIONS	CROYDON BR	0449	East Croydon, West Croydon	[4]
DORCHESTER STNS	DORCHESTER BR	0429	Dorchester South, Dorchester West
DORKING STATIONS	DORKING BR	0416	Dorking, Dorking Deepdene, Dorking West
EDENBRIDGE STNS	EDENBRIDGE BR	0259	Edenbridge, Edenbridge Town
ENFIELD STATIONS	ENFIELD BR	0263	Enfield Chase, Enfield Town	[5]
FALKIRK STATIONS	FALKIRK BR	0431	Falkirk Grahamston, Falkirk High
FARNBOROUGH STNS	FARNBOROUGH BR	0260	Farnborough Main, Farnborough North
FOLKESTONE STNS	FOLKESTONE BR	0432	Folkestone Central, Folkestone West	[6]
GAINSBOROUGH	GAINSBOROUGH BR	0415	Gainsborough Central, Gainsborough Lea Road
GLASGOW CEN/QST	GLASGOW BR	0433	Glasgow Central, Glasgow Queen Street	[7]
HELENSBURGH STNS	HELENSBURGH BR	0404	Helensburgh Central, Helensburgh Upper
HERTFORD STNS	HERTFORD BR	0413	Hertford East, Hertford North
LIVERPOOL STNS	LIVERPOOL BR	0435	James Street, Liverpool Central, Liverpool Lime Street, Moorfields
MAIDSTONE STNS	MAIDSTONE BR	0437	Maidstone Barracks, Maidstone East, Maidstone West
MANCHESTER STNS	MANCHESTER BR	0438	Manchester Oxford Road, Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Victoria	[8]
NEWARK STATIONS	NEWARK BR	0441	Newark Castle, Newark Northgate
PENGE STATIONS	PENGE BR	0262	Penge East, Penge West
PONTEFRACT STNS	PONTEFRACT BR	0268	Pontefract Baghill, Pontefract Monkhill	[9]
PORTSMOUTH STNS	PORTSMOUTH BR	0440	Portsmouth & Southsea, Portsmouth Harbour	[10]
READING STATIONS	READING BR	0403	Reading, Reading West	[11]
SOUTHEND STNS	SOUTHEND BR	0411	Southend Central, Southend East, Southend Victoria	[12]
THORNE STATIONS	THORNE BR	0271	Thorne North, Thorne South
TILBURY STATIONS	TILBURY BR	7468	Tilbury Riverside, Tilbury Town	[13]
TYNDRUM STATIONS	TYNDRUM BR	0443	Tyndrum Lower, Upper Tyndrum
WAKEFIELD STNS	WAKEFIELD BR	0444	Wakefield Kirkgate, Wakefield Westgate
WARRINGTON STNS	WARRINGTON BR	0445	Warrington Bank Quay, Warrington Central
W HAMPSTEAD STNS	WEST HAMPSTD BR	0265	West Hampstead, West Hampstead Thameslink
WIGAN STATIONS	WIGAN BR	0446	Wigan North Western, Wigan Wallgate
WORCESTER STNS	WORCESTER BR	0447	Worcester Foregate Street, Worcester Shrub Hill	[14]

The "London group" is a special case, described below.

[edit] Defunct

The following table contains groups which have been used at some time between 1985 and the present, but which are not currently in use. From analysing the stations available in each group, it seems that most groups which are now not used any more contained stations which were on the same route or which could be reached on the same train services; whereas most of the groups which still exist are those where the stations are on different routes and do offer genuinely different travelling opportunities and variability of routes.

Name	NLC	Active From	Withdrawn From	Stations Included	Notes
ARDROSSAN BR	0423		NFM 41 (January 1989)	Ardrossan Harbour, Ardrossan South Beach, Ardrossan Town	[15]
BIRKENHEAD BR	0266		NFM 57 (May 1994)	Birkenhead Central, Hamilton Square, Birkenhead Park
BLACKPOOL BR	0426		NFM 57 (May 1994)	Blackpool North, Blackpool South	[16]
BRIGHTON BR	0257		NFM 41 (January 1989)	Aldrington, Brighton, Hove, London Road (Brighton), Moulsecoomb, Preston Park
BRISTOL BR	0400		NFM 41 (January 1989)	Bedminster, Bristol Parkway, Bristol Temple Meads, Filton, Keynsham, Lawrence Hill, Parson Street, Stapleton Road	[17]
BURNLEY BR	0427		NFM 57 (May 1994)	Burnley Barracks, Burnley Central, Burnley Manchester Road	[18]
CARDIFF BR	0401		NFM 59 (January 1995)	Cardiff Bute Road, Cardiff Central, Cardiff Queen Street	[19]
DOVER BR	0414		NFM 59 (January 1995)	Dover Priory, Dover Western Docks
EDINBURGH BR	0255			Edinburgh Waverley, Haymarket
EXETER BR	0430		NFM 511 (May 1992)	Exeter Central, Exeter St Davids, Exeter St Thomas	[20]
GREENOCK BR	0434		NFM 41 (January 1989)	Greenock Central, Greenock West
GUILDFORD BR	0256			Guildford, London Road (Guildford)
HAMILTON BR	0405		NFM 41 (January 1989)	Hamilton Central, Hamilton West
HARTFORD BR	0267			Greenbank, Hartford
HILLINGTON BR	0406		NFM 41 (January 1989)	Hillington East, Hillington West
LICHFIELD BR	0399	NFM 42 (May 1989)	NFM 43 (September 1989)	Lichfield City, Lichfield Trent Valley	[21]
LYMINGTON BR	0436		NFM 42 (May 1989)	Lymington Pier, Lymington Town
NEWBURY BR	0498			Newbury, Newbury Racecourse
NEWHAVEN BR	0439		NFM 40 (October 1988)	Newhaven Harbour, Newhaven Marine, Newhaven Town	[22]
NEW MILLS BR	0412			New Mills Central, New Mills Newtown
PLYMOUTH BR	0402		NFM 41 (January 1989)	Devonport, Dockyard, Keyham, Plymouth, St Budeaux Ferry Road, St Budeaux Victoria Road
ROTHERHAM BR	0270	11 May 1987	3 October 1988	Rotherham Central, Rotherham Masborough	[23]
RYDE BR	0272	NFM 39 (May 1988)	NFM 41 (January 1989)	Ryde Esplanade, Ryde St John's Road	[24]
ST HELENS BR	0264		NFM 40 (October 1988)	St Helens Junction, St Helens Shaw Street	[25]
STREATHAM BR	0261		NFM 41 (January 1989)	Streatham, Streatham Common, Streatham Hill
TUNBDGE WELLS BR	0442		6 July 1985	Tunbridge Wells Central, Tunbridge Wells West	[26]
WORTHING BR	0499			East Worthing, West Worthing, Worthing
WREXHAM BR	0417		NFM 57 (May 1994)	Wrexham Central, Wrexham General	[27]
YEOVIL BR	0448			Yeovil Junction, Yeovil Pen Mill

[edit] Sources

NFM 36 (June 1987) to NFM 68 (January 1998) inclusive have been used to confirm this information. NFM 29 (January 1985) shows some further differences; mainly the exclusion of stations opened subsequently and integrated into the appropriate groups, but others as well:

• South Croydon was "officially" included in the Croydon group
• Droitwich Spa was not included in the Worcester group
• St James Park was not included in the Exeter group, as at that time it was a non-timetabled halt ^{[citation needed]}
• A LINCOLN BR group existed to incorporate Lincoln Central and Lincoln St Marks, until the latter closed in May 1985; the group NLC is unknown

[edit] Table Notes

1. ^ Birmingham Snow Hill was included from NFM 38 (January 1988) following the reopening of the station
2. ^ The most recently created group, dating from (2001?)
3. ^ Introduced in NFM 48 (May 1991)
4. ^ Tickets are valid to and from South Croydon as well, but tickets issued at South Croydon usually show that name
5. ^ Enfield Lock has never been included
6. ^ Folkestone Harbour was included until closure in 2001
7. ^ Occasionally seen as GLASGOW STATIONS in 1998; a note in National Fares Manual 70 (valid from 27 September 1998) read "Definition of Glasgow Stations: Glasgow Stations becomes Glasgow Cen/Qst."
8. ^ Deansgate and Salford Central were included in the group until NFM 41 (January 1989)
9. ^ Pontefract Tanshelf was included in the group from NFM 67 (September 1997)
10. ^ Fratton was included in the group until NFM 40 (October 1988)
11. ^ Tilehurst was included in the group until NFM 40 (October 1988)
12. ^ Southend East was introduced later
13. ^ Introduced in NFM 53 (January 1993). East Tilbury is not included. Tilbury Riverside closed to rail services in 1993, but c2c provide a minibus service between Tilbury Town and the former station to provide a connection with the ferry to Gravesend
14. ^ Droitwich Spa was included in the group until NFM 40 (October 1988)
15. ^ Ardrossan Town was included from NFM 39 (May 1988) following the reopening of the station
16. ^ Blackpool Pleasure Beach was included in the group during the period of validity of NFM 39 (May 1988 - October 1988)
17. ^ "Filton" refers to the original Filton station, which was subsequently closed and replaced by Filton Abbey Wood nearby
18. ^ Rose Grove was included in the group until NFM 41 (January 1989)
19. ^ "Cardiff Bute Road" was subsequently renamed "Cardiff Bay". Cathays was included in the group until NFM 41 (January 1989)
20. ^ St James Park was included in the group until NFM 41 (January 1989)
21. ^ This grouping was introduced in NFM 42, but was withdrawn at the next fares change because of the difficulty in allocating revenue correctly between the Intercity sector and the Regional Railways sector
22. ^ Newhaven Marine station was in limited use for ferry passengers only
23. ^ The dates are, respectively, the opening date of Rotherham Central station and the closing date of Rotherham Masborough station
24. ^ NFMs indicated that Ryde Pier Head was not included
25. ^ "St Helens Shaw Street" was subsequently renamed "St Helens Central"
26. ^ "Withdrawn from" date is the closure date of Tunbridge Wells West station
27. ^ Sometimes shown as WREXHAM CLWYD BR

[edit] "London group" terminology

Whereas most station groups have had two renderings on tickets, the London group has had four - and two further variations have occasionally been seen.

Order	Wording	Seen from	Seen until	Notes
1st	LONDON BR	1986	Early 1989	Was occasionally seen in 1990s; usually short-term errors
2nd	LONDON BRIT RAIL	Early 1989	Early 1998	Was occasionally seen as LONDON BRITRAIL
3rd	LONDON	Early 1998	Late 1998	Persisted longer on some self-service machines
4th	LONDON TERMINALS	Late 1998	Present

A "Stop Press" note in National Fares Manual 69 (valid from 24 May 1998 to 26 September 1998 inclusive) stated: "Ticket issuing machines have been downloaded with a new description for London which will now be shown as London Terminals. The new description, however, will not appear in Fare Manuals until they are reissued in September." In practice, the LONDON TERMINALS description gradually appeared on tickets over the course of several months in late 1998. Very occasionally, LONDON STATIONS was seen instead of the expected "London Terminals" in late 1998, mainly from certain APTIS machines at London Paddington.

The reason for the early change from LONDON BR to LONDON BRIT RAIL was explained in National Fares Manual 42 (valid from 12 May 1989) as follows: "London BR is being replaced by London Brit Rail to avoid continuing customer confusion with London Bridge. The other "BR" stations [i.e. station group names] will be unchanged." (There was also the potential for confusion in the instance of CATFORD BR, as one of the stations in that group is Catford Bridge, but action was taken only in respect of the London group - perhaps because of its greater importance.)

Early APTIS ticket showing LONDON BR as the group name.	APTIS ticket showing the later pre-privatisation group name LONDON BRIT RAIL.
APTIS ticket with the short-lived LONDON name.	APTIS ticket with the current designation, LONDON TERMINALS.
Rare example of a variation - more an error than an intentional representation; LONDON BRITRAIL without the usual space.	Even rarer variation, before "London Terminals" was conceived: LONDON STATIONS.

[edit] London: a special case

London is a complex group, for various reasons:

• It has historically included many termini and other stations, all the way round the central area
• In practice, travel was, and still is, only permitted to termini that could be reached via reasonable routes from the origin station, without needing to cross central London by London Underground services or the Thameslink cross-London route
• Two lines cross central London from north to South: the West London Line and, more problematically, the Thameslink route; the stations on these lines had to be considered as well when the group was created
• Some stations' fares are set by, or subject to control from, London Underground
• As mentioned already, the terminology of the "group" and the method of rendering it on tickets has changed several times

The following table lists the stations that have been considered part of the London group, with exceptions highlighted:

City Thameslink	Kensington Olympia	Kings Cross Thameslink	London Blackfriars
London Bridge	London Broad Street	London Cannon Street	London Charing Cross
London Euston	London Fenchurch Street	London Holborn Viaduct	London Kings Cross
London Liverpool Street	London Marylebone	London Paddington	London St Pancras
London Victoria	London Waterloo	London Waterloo East	Moorgate
	Old Street	Vauxhall

[edit] Exceptions

[edit] The status of Farringdon

On the Thameslink route, Farringdon is considered the crossover station; for fare-setting purposes, it is considered a London Underground station, and tickets are always issued to Farringdon specifically. This situation also applies to Barbican, the next station on the peak-only First Capital Connect service to Moorgate. The status of Moorgate itself is more complicated, as referred to below.

[edit] Kensington Olympia

On the West London line, the intermediate station, Kensington Olympia, was included within the London group until the issue of National Fares Manual 57 on 29 May 1994, at which point it became a separately priced station (with tickets always issued to or from there specifically). Accordingly, since 1994, tickets to/from the "London group" have not been valid.

(Similarly, West Brompton station on the same line, which reopened in 1999, has never been part of the London group. Tickets to or from West Brompton always show the station name itself.)

[edit] Kings Cross Thameslink

Kings Cross Thameslink is north of the River Thames; it is considered to be within the London group only in respect of other stations north of the Thames. Unless the National Fares Manual and the ticket issuing system being used specifies otherwise, tickets between Kings Cross Thameslink and stations south of the Thames have to be issued to/from there specifically (rather than to/from the London group), with the fare being (fare to London group) + (London Underground Zone 1 single or return fare, as appropriate).

[edit] London Bridge, London Blackfriars and City Thameslink

The same applies in reverse; these stations are south of the Thames, and journeys to or from stations north of the Thames have to be issued to/from the station itself, at the fare which includes the Zone 1 supplement.

[edit] Moorgate

Moorgate is served by two National Rail routes: the peak-only First Capital Connect route as described above, which diverges from the main Thameslink route at Farringdon, and the service on the Northern City Line from Finsbury Park, also operated by First Capital Connect. Tickets issued to/from the "London group" are valid at Moorgate when used on the Northern City Line route, but are not valid on the Thameslink route from Farringdon.

[edit] The closed stations

London Broad Street station closed in 1986, months before the APTIS system was introduced. London Holborn Viaduct station closed in 1990, being replaced by City Thameslink nearby. Both of these stations were included in the London group prior to closure.

[edit] The "London Thameslink" group

To improve flexibility for people travelling from stations on the northern Thameslink route (West Hampstead Thameslink to Bedford inclusive), a new station group called London Thameslink (rendered on tickets as LONDON THAMESLNK) was created in 1998. Tickets could be issued from one of the stations on the above route to this destination, and these would be valid on Thameslink services to all of the following stations: Kings Cross Thameslink, Farringdon, Barbican, Moorgate, City Thameslink, London Blackfriars, London Bridge and Elephant & Castle. However, Season Tickets could not be issued from these northern Thameslink stations to either "London Terminals" or "London Thameslink" - they have always had to be issued to a specific station.

[edit] The status of individual stations within groups

The station group concept only applied to point-to-point travel tickets and tickets directly related to these, such as Season Tickets and Excess Tickets. Other types of ticket issued at a station within a group would show the name of the station itself - selected examples are:

• One Day Travelcards in the London area
• Platform Tickets
• Car Park Tickets
• Rail Rovers and Rangers

Also, for a ticket issued for travel between one station in a group and another, the individual stations' names are shown. This only has practical relevance in situations where group stations are easily accessible from each other - for example, the Liverpool group, where all four stations are can be reached directly from each of the others.