Sydenham railway station (London)

For other stations called Sydenham, see Sydenham railway station (disambiguation).

Sydenham
Sydenham Location of Sydenham in Greater London
Location	Sydenham
Local authority	London Borough of Lewisham
Managed by	London Overground
Owner	Network Rail
Station code(s)	SYD
DfT category	D
Number of platforms	2 (facing 4 tracks)
Accessible	Yes
Fare zone	3
National Rail annual entry and exit
2019–20	4.080 million
2020–21	1.137 million
2021–22	2.401 million
2022–23	3.105 million
2023–24	3.518 million
Key dates
5 June 1839	Opened by the London and Croydon Railway
1844	Croydon platform re-sited
1982	London platform re-sited
23 May 2010	East London Line started
Other information
External links	Departures Facilities
Coordinates	51.4254°N 0.0544°W / 51.4254; -0.0544
London transport portal

Sydenham is a railway station in Sydenham in the London Borough of Lewisham, South London. Originally opened in 1839, the station is located on the former Croydon Canal, which is now a branch of the Brighton Main Line, often known as the Sydenham Corridor. Sydenham falls within Travelcard Zone 3 and is served by London Overground and Southern. The station is 6 miles 32 chains (6.40 miles, 10.30 km) down the line from London Bridge.

History

A 1908 Railway Clearing House map of lines around the Brighton Main Line between South Croydon and Selhurst / Forest Hill, as well as surrounding lines

The Croydon Canal opened in 1809 linking the Grand Surrey Canal to Croydon, however the waterway was never successful, and in 1836, it was the first canal to be abandoned by an Act of Parliament. The alignment was purchased by the London and Croydon Railway, who drained the canal and re-opened as a railway on the 5 June 1839. In 1844, L&CR was given authority to test the first atmospheric railway equipment between Dartmouth Arms (now Forest Hill) and West Croydon. In 1846, the railway became part of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway and in the following year, the system was abandoned. The station was originally built south of Sydenham Road (A212) however, due to the construction of the branch to Crystal Palace in 1852, platform 2 was resited to its current position. Platform 1 and its station building remained south of the road bridge, until 1982 when British Rail decided to construct a replacement platform 90 meters north, parallel to Peak Hill Gardens due to the retaining wall beginning to collapse.

The Big Four grouping led to Southern Railway (SR) management until nationalistation in 1948. Between 1948 and 1982 Sydenham was part of the Southern Region and following sectorisation, until privatisation, Sydenham became part of the Network SouthEast sector. Upon privatisation in May 1996, the station management passed to Connex South Central. Connex was stripped of the franchise due to poor financial management and in 2001, Govia South Central (Southern) took over the franchise and management of the station. Southern remained the sole train provider until 2010, when London Overground took over management of the station and began running trains as part of the East London Line extension.

Sydenham was the first station to serve the area, however, there are, or have been, five other stations in the Sydenham:

• Lower Sydenham on the Hayes Line
• Upper Sydenham on the now closed Crystal Palace (High Level) line
• Sydenham Hill, Penge East on the Victoria to Orpington line.

Station layout

Like all intermediate stations between New Cross Gate and Norwood Junction, Sydenham has two platforms, facing two (up and down slow) of the four tracks with the two fast tracks run between the two slow lines. There are three entrances – the ticket office on platform 2 from Sydenham Station Approach, an entrance on platform 1 from Peak Hill Gardens and a gate on platform 2. A small cafe is in the main station building.

Services

East London Line
London Overground
Highbury & Islington Canonbury Dalston Junction Haggerston Kingsland Viaduct Hoxton Shoreditch High Street Whitechapel Shadwell ( Shadwell) Wapping Thames Tunnel under River Thames Rotherhithe Canada Water Surrey Quays Queens Road Peckham New Cross Peckham Rye New Cross Gate Denmark Hill Brockley Clapham High Street ( Clapham North) Honor Oak Park Wandsworth Road Forest Hill Clapham Junction Sydenham Crystal Palace Penge West Anerley Norwood Junction West Croydon

Services at Sydenham are operated by Southern and London Overground using Class 377 and 378 EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:

• 2 tph to London Bridge
• 8 tph to Highbury & Islington via Surrey Quays
• 2 tph to London Victoria via Streatham Hill
• 4 tph to Crystal Palace
• 4 tph to West Croydon

The station is also served by a single early morning and late evening service to East Croydon via Norwood Junction, with the early morning service continuing to Tattenham Corner and Caterham.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Forest Hill		Southern Crystal Palace Line		Crystal Palace
		Southern Brighton Main Line Stopping Services Limited Service		Penge West
Preceding station	London Overground			Following station
Forest Hill towards Highbury & Islington		Windrush line East London line		Crystal Palace Terminus
				Penge West towards West Croydon

Connections

London Buses routes 122, 176, 197, 202 and 450 serve the station. While routes 75 and 194 run close by.

External links

• National Rail: Sydenham (SYD)
• National Rail: Sydenham station plan
• Southern: Sydenham page
• Southern: Live departures, Sydenham
• Maps and aerial photos