Marylebone station, also known as London Marylebone, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex. It stands midway between the mainline stations at Euston and Paddington, about 1 mile (1.6 km) from each. Originally the London terminus of the former Great Central Main Line to Sheffield and Manchester, which was closed north of Aylesbury in 1966, it now serves as the terminus of the Chiltern Main Line route to Birmingham.
Marylebone is the Central London terminus for Chiltern Railways which provides a large number of commuter/regional services principally along the M40 corridor to destinations in Buckinghamshire, parts of Oxfordshire and Warwickshire as well as long distance services to the West Midlands.
Opened in 1899, it is the youngest of London's mainline terminal stations, and also one of the smallest, having opened with half the number of platforms originally planned. It is also the only London terminal station to host only diesel trains, having no electrified lines. From 1967 for many years it was served only by diesel multiple-unit trains (DMUs). It now once again also sees locomotive-hauled trains daily.
Two new platforms were added in 2006 to accommodate increases in services and passengers. Marylebone is in Travelcard Zone 1.
The station stands just off Marylebone Road, a major thoroughfare in the Marylebone area of central London. Nearby attractions include Regent's Park, Lord's Cricket Ground, Baker Street and Madame Tussauds.
The mainline station has six platforms; two originally built in 1899, two inserted into the former carriage road, and two built in September 2006. It is the only non-electrified terminal in London. Marylebone is operated by Chiltern Railways (part of Deutsche Bahn AG), making it the only London terminal station not to be managed by Network Rail.
Chiltern Railways operates all services at the station, using the Chiltern Main Line and London to Aylesbury Line routes; these serve High Wycombe, Aylesbury, Bicester, Banbury, Leamington Spa, Warwick, Solihull, Birmingham Moor Street, Birmingham Snow Hill, and (at peak hours) Stourbridge Junction and Kidderminster. There are also services to Stratford-upon-Avon via the Leamington to Stratford branch line.
The station concourse contains a small selection of shops, notable examples being Marks and Spencer, Burger King and WH Smiths. There are also four cashpoints, a barber, a flower shop, a public house called the Victoria & Albert, and office space and meeting rooms.
The underground station is served by the Bakerloo line. It is between Baker Street and Edgware Road stations and is in Travelcard Zone 1. Access is via a set of escalators from the mainline station concourse, which also houses the underground station's ticket office.
Compared to some of the other London termini, the mainline station's Underground links are poor. This is because the mainline station was opened thirty-six years after the Metropolitan Railway constructed the first part of what is now the northern section of the Circle line which bypasses the station to the south.
For mainline passengers wishing to use services on the Circle, Jubilee, Hammersmith and City or Metropolitan Lines, it may often be quicker to walk the short distance to nearby Baker Street station, than to make the journey on the Bakerloo line and change trains there.
The underground station is accessed through a separate set of ticket barriers to the main line platforms. Until 2004 a wooden escalator led downwards into the station, one of the last left on the London Underground that had yet to be replaced with a newer metal equivalent.
The underground station was opened on 27 March 1907 by the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway under the name Great Central (following a change from the originally-intended name Lisson Grove), and was renamed Marylebone on 15 April 1917. The original name still appears in places on the platform wall tiling, although the tiling scheme is a replacement designed to reflect the original scheme.
The present entrance opened in 1943 following the introduction of the escalators and wartime damage to the original station building that stood to the west, at the junction of Harewood Avenue and Harewood Row. This building, designed by the Underground Electric Railways Company of London's architect, Leslie Green, had used lifts to access the platforms. It was demolished in 1971 and the site is now occupied by a budget hotel.