Station group (railway)


In the ticketing system of the British rail network, tickets are normally issued to and from individual stations. In some instances, when there is more than one station in a town or other locality—especially where these are on different 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.
For 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 West Croydon. 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 issued specifically to one of the Penge stations 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.
The concept is explained in the National Fares Manuals issued approximately three times per year by the British Railways Board to stations, Rail Appointed Travel Agents and other ticket issuing authorities: "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 stations except for local journeys between two stations in the same group. Tickets issued to and from these stations are valid to or from any of their associated stations, subject to normal route availability."

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:
Each station group was also allocated its own National Location Code —a four-digit code used for accounting and to attribute revenue to locations on the railway network. Most station group codes were between 0250 and 0500. This 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 tickets from the APTIS system and its replacements 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. A new designation had to be created which still took up little space on a ticket and which still conveyed a notion of interavailability.
The solution, introduced gradually from November 1997 and uploaded to all ticket issuing systems by January 1998, was for BR to be changed to STNS or STATIONS as appropriate:
There were some deviations from this standard:
Additionally, the London group is treated as a special case. It was created in April 1970 by BR's Southern Region as a grouping of their nine terminal stations named LONDON S.R., before being expanded in May 1983 to include all BR terminals under the name LONDON BR, and then LONDON BRIT RAIL from January 1989 until 1997. Rather than receiving the standard new name of LONDON STATIONS it was referred to simply as LONDON before becoming LONDON TERMINALS in April 1998, even though four of the eighteen stations included in the group are not technically termini.

Existing groups

As of, 38 station groups are known to exist. The table shows the NLC allocated to each group, the pre- and post-privatisation renderings of the group name, and the stations included within it.
Current NameFormer NameNLCStations IncludedNotesRefs
BEDFORD STATIONSBEDFORD BR0410Bedford, Bedford St John's
BICESTER NTH/VIL7934Bicester North, Bicester VillageThe most recently created group, dating from 28 July 2015
BIRMINGHAM STNSBIRMINGHAM BR0418Birmingham Moor Street, Birmingham New Street, Birmingham Snow HillBirmingham Snow Hill was included from January 1988 following the reopening of the station.
BOOTLE STATIONS—1780Bootle New Strand, Bootle Oriel RoadIntroduced 26 September 1999.
BRADFORD YK STNSBRADFORD YKS BR0424Bradford Forster Square, Bradford Interchange
CANTERBURY STNSCANTERBURY BR0428Canterbury East, Canterbury West
CATFORD STATIONSCATFORD BR0258Catford, Catford Bridge
COLCHESTER STNSCOLCHESTER BR0254Colchester, Colchester TownIntroduced in May 1991.
CROYDON STATIONSCROYDON BR0449East Croydon, West CroydonTickets are valid to and from South Croydon as well, but tickets issued at South Croydon show that name.
DORCHESTER STNSDORCHESTER BR0429Dorchester South, Dorchester West
DORKING STATIONSDORKING BR0416Dorking, Dorking Deepdene, Dorking West
EDENBRIDGE STNSEDENBRIDGE BR0259Edenbridge, Edenbridge Town
ENFIELD STATIONSENFIELD BR0263Enfield Chase, Enfield TownEnfield Lock has never been included.
FALKIRK STATIONSFALKIRK BR0431Falkirk Grahamston, Falkirk High
FARNBOROUGH STNSFARNBOROUGH BR0260Farnborough Main, Farnborough North
FOLKESTONE STNSFOLKESTONE BR0432Folkestone Central, Folkestone WestFolkestone Harbour was included until closure in 2001.
GAINSBOROUGHGAINSBOROUGH BR0415Gainsborough Central, Gainsborough Lea Road
GLASGOW CEN/QSTGLASGOW BR0433Glasgow Central, Glasgow Queen StreetOccasionally seen as GLASGOW STATIONS in 1998; officially renamed GLASGOW CEN/QST from 27 September 1998.
HELENSBURGH STNSHELENSBURGH BR0404Helensburgh Central, Helensburgh Upper
HERTFORD STNSHERTFORD BR0413Hertford East, Hertford North
LIVERPOOL STNSLIVERPOOL BR0435James Street, Liverpool Central, Liverpool Lime Street, Moorfields
LONDON TERMINALSLONDON BR1072Blackfriars, Cannon St, Charing Cross, City Thameslink, Euston, Fenchurch St, King's Cross, Liverpool St, London Bridge, Marylebone, Moorgate, Old St, Paddington, St. Pancras, Vauxhall, Victoria, Waterloo, Waterloo East
MAIDSTONE STNSMAIDSTONE BR0437Maidstone Barracks, Maidstone East, Maidstone West
MANCHESTER STNSMANCHESTER BR0438Deansgate, Manchester Oxford Road, Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester VictoriaDeansgate and Salford Central were included in the group until January 1989. By 2005, Deansgate was included again. MANCHESTER CTLZ includes the same stations and also Manchester Metrolink Central Zone tram stations.
NEWARK STATIONSNEWARK BR0441Newark Castle, Newark Northgate
PENGE STATIONSPENGE BR0262Penge East, Penge West
PONTEFRACT STNSPONTEFRACT BR0268Pontefract Baghill, Pontefract MonkhillPontefract Tanshelf was included in the group from September 1997, but by 2005 was no longer included.
PORTSMOUTH STNSPORTSMOUTH BR0440Portsmouth & Southsea, Portsmouth HarbourFratton was included in the group until October 1988.
READING STATIONSREADING BR0403Reading, Reading WestTilehurst was included in the group until October 1988.
SOUTHEND STNSSOUTHEND BR0411Southend Central, Southend VictoriaSouthend East is no longer included in this group.
THORNE STATIONSTHORNE BR0271Thorne North, Thorne South
TILBURY STATIONSTILBURY BR7468Tilbury Riverside, Tilbury TownIntroduced in January 1993. East Tilbury has never been 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.
TYNDRUM STATIONSTYNDRUM BR0443Tyndrum Lower, Upper Tyndrum
WAKEFIELD STNSWAKEFIELD BR0444Wakefield Kirkgate, Wakefield Westgate
WARRINGTON STNSWARRINGTON BR0445Warrington Bank Quay, Warrington Central
W HAMPSTEAD STNSWEST HAMPSTD BR0265West Hampstead, West Hampstead Thameslink
WIGAN STATIONSWIGAN BR0446Wigan North Western, Wigan Wallgate
WORCESTER STNSWORCESTER BR0447Worcester Foregate Street, Worcester Shrub HillDroitwich Spa was included in the group until October 1988.

Defunct groups

The following table contains groups which have been used at some time between 1985 and the present, but which are not currently in use.
NameNLCActive FromWithdrawn FromStations IncludedNotesRefs
ARDROSSAN BR0423January 1989Ardrossan Harbour, Ardrossan South Beach, Ardrossan TownArdrossan Town reopened in 1987 and was included in the group from May 1988.
BIRKENHEAD BR0266May 1994Birkenhead Central, Hamilton Square, Birkenhead Park
BLACKPOOL BR0426May 1994Blackpool North, Blackpool SouthBlackpool Pleasure Beach was included in the group during the period of validity of NFM 39.
BRIGHTON BR0257January 1989Aldrington, Brighton, Hove, London Road, Moulsecoomb, Preston Park
BRISTOL BR0400January 1989Bedminster, Bristol Parkway, Bristol Temple Meads, Filton, Keynsham, Lawrence Hill, Parson Street, Stapleton Road"Filton" refers to the original Filton station, which was subsequently closed and replaced by Filton Abbey Wood nearby.
BURNLEY BR0427May 1994Burnley Barracks, Burnley Central, Burnley Manchester RoadRose Grove was included in the group until January 1989.
CARDIFF BR0401January 1995Cardiff Bute Road, Cardiff Central, Cardiff Queen StreetCardiff Bute Road was subsequently renamed Cardiff Bay. Cathays was included in the group until January 1989.
DOVER BR0414January 1995Dover Priory, Dover Western Docks
EDINBURGH BR0255Edinburgh Waverley, Haymarket
EXETER BR0430May 1992Exeter Central, Exeter St Davids, Exeter St ThomasSt James Park was included in the group until NFM 41.
GREENOCK BR0434January 1989Greenock Central, Greenock West
GUILDFORD BR0256Guildford, London Road
HAMILTON BR0405January 1989Hamilton Central, Hamilton West
HARTFORD BR0267Greenbank, Hartford
HILLINGTON BR0406January 1989Hillington East, Hillington West
LICHFIELD BR0399May 1989September 1989Lichfield City, Lichfield Trent ValleyThis 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 and Regional Railways.
LINCOLN BRMay 1985Lincoln Central, Lincoln St. MarksThe group NLC is unknown. "Withdrawn from" date is the closure date of Lincoln St. Marks station.
LYMINGTON BR0436May 1989Lymington Pier, Lymington Town
NEWBURY BR0498Newbury, Newbury Racecourse
NEWHAVEN BR0439October 1988Newhaven Harbour, Newhaven Marine, Newhaven TownNewhaven Marine station was in limited use for ferry passengers only.
NEW MILLS BR0412New Mills Central, New Mills Newtown
PLYMOUTH BR0402January 1989Devonport, Dockyard, Keyham, Plymouth, St Budeaux Ferry Road, St Budeaux Victoria Road
ROTHERHAM BR027011 May 19873 October 1988Rotherham Central, Rotherham MasboroughThe dates are, respectively, the opening date of Rotherham Central and the closing date of Rotherham Masborough.
RYDE BR0272May 1988January 1989Ryde Esplanade, Ryde St John's RoadRyde Pier Head was not included.
ST HELENS BR0264October 1988St Helens Junction, St Helens Shaw StreetSt Helens Shaw Street was subsequently renamed St Helens Central.
STREATHAM BR0261January 1989Streatham, Streatham Common, Streatham Hill
TUNBDGE WELLS BR04426 July 1985Tunbridge Wells Central, Tunbridge Wells West"Withdrawn from" date is the closure date of Tunbridge Wells West station.
WORTHING BR0499East Worthing, West Worthing, Worthing
WREXHAM BR0417May 1994Wrexham Central, Wrexham GeneralSometimes shown as WREXHAM CLWYD BR.
YEOVIL BR0448Yeovil Junction, Yeovil Pen Mill

The London group

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:
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 can be reached directly from each of the others.

In other countries

Station groupings are also used on transport networks in other countries, though not necessarily to the same extent as in the UK.

Australia

Tickets issued by Victorian regional train and coach operator V/Line for travel to Melbourne city are issued to the group MELBOURNE Z1/2, indicating Myki Zones 1 and 2, and therefore including all stations on the Melbourne suburban rail network as well as all bus and tram services within those zones.

Germany

Rail tickets in Germany for travel distances over can be issued to station groups, which are referred to as Abgang-/Zielbahnhöfe mit tariflicher Gleichstellung. For example, the BERLIN group includes all main-line and S-Bahn stations on and within the Berlin Ringbahn.