London Kings Cross (KGX) (Train Station): Departures and guide

Travel From London city centre to train station London Kings Cross

Located at the northern edge of London city centre, the train station London Kings Cross is one of the UK's most important and busiest railway stations. It is the gateway from the capital to the east coast, north of England and Scotland. Opened in 1852, the station is very beautiful and has recently undergone major refurbishment, with a circular steel-lattice roof fitted over the station in the early 2010s for which the station won the National Rail Award's Civil Engineering first prize. Like the rest of London, the train station London Kings Cross is well connected by public transport. The station lies near to several London landmarks including the British Library, which has a copy of every book ever published in English, and is within walking distance of the British Museum.

What is the best way to get to the train station from the city centre

Getting to Kings Cross from Charing Cross, the official center of London, is easy. The two are linked both by bus and on the London Underground system, the oldest underground network in the world. If taking the underground, passengers can choose between three routes from Charing Cross. The first option is to walk to Leicester Square (8 minutes) and catch the Piccadilly Line, which goes direct to Kings Cross; the second is to get the Bakerloo line from Charing Cross to Oxford Circus and then change to the Victoria Line, which goes on to Kings Cross. Third, passengers can take the northern line from Charing Cross to Euston, where they can either join the other branch of the northern line (confusing, we know!) or the Victoria line to travel on to Kings Cross. There is one direct bus service between Charing Cross and Kings Cross - the 91. This goes door-to-door from Charing Cross Station to Kings Cross. If you fancy a walk through central London, walking from one to the other is more than possible.

How far is it from the city centre to the train station?  

Charing Cross and Kings Cross are about three kilometers from one another, so walking between the two takes around 40 minutes (although that is with a London pace!) Taking the tube should not take more than twenty minutes by any route, although the Piccadilly line can be a little irregular, so it's worth watching out for that. Otherwise, trains on all other lines should depart every one to three minutes throughout the day. All of the lines between these two stations are on the 'night tube', so run throughout the night at weekends. Traffic in central London can be quite bad, so it is difficult to say how long the bus will take, but in light traffic it would be reasonable to set aside 35 minutes. In heavier traffic taking the 91 can take as long as an hour. A taxi or Uber is likely to take around half an hour.

How accessible is the train station for those with limited mobility? 

Although much of London's underground network is not step-free, Kings Cross underground station is, with elevators between platforms and street-level as well as between different underground lines. The Northern and Victoria line trains are exactly at platform level so there should not be any difficulty boarding them in a wheelchair. Kings Cross railway station is fully accessible, with everything either at the same level or accessible by ramp. The entrances to the station from the street are also flat. All London buses are fully wheelchair accessible, with automatic extending wheelchair ramps and places inside the bus for wheelchairs. Other passengers are obliged to make way for wheelchair users if the bus is full.

Local tips: the train station points of interest

The area around Kings Cross is well worth exploring. The British Library has both a permanent exhibition with many ancient books and temporary exhibitions on diverse topics, and is only 5 minutes walk from the station. 15 minutes east of Kings Cross lies the Angel, Islington, one of the most desirable areas of North London, which has bars, restaurants and shops aplenty. The train station London Kings Cross is probably best known for being the terminus of the Hogwarts Express, the train that takes Harry Potter to Hogwarts (his school) in the series by J.K. Rowling. Although of course there is no real Platform 9 ¾, there is a 9 ¾ sign and half-disappeared luggage trolley in the main station concourse. This has become a popular site for tourists, who often pose as if they are pushing the trolley into the wall.