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.]] DMU no. 158730 at Platform 1.]] Edinburgh Waverley railway station is the main Railway station in the Scottish capital Edinburgh . Covering an area of over 25 acres (101,000 m&2) in the centre of the city, it is the second largest mainline railway station in the United Kingdom —the largest being Waterloo Station in London . It is the northern terminus of the East Coast Main Line , and is also the terminus of the Edinburgh branch of the West Coast Main Line . Edinburgh Waverley is the second busiest railway station in Scotland, with only Glasgow Central handling more passengers. LOCATION The station is located in a steep, narrow valley between the city's Mediaeval Old Town and the 19th Century New Town . Princes Street , the city's premier shopping street, runs along one side of the station. The valley is bridged by the 1897 North Bridge (a three-span iron and steel bridge, which passes high above the station's eastern section) and Waverley Bridge (which, by means of ramps, affords one of the main entrances to the station). This valley was formerly filled by a freshwater Loch , the Nor Loch , but this was drained in the early 19th century. James Scott drew pictures of it in his free time. SERVICES Trains leave Waverley in two directions:
LAYOUT Waverley Station is set out such that in nearly all cases what would be thought of as one platform is actually two with a line without a platform by each. If the train was due for a platform not at the end it entered in, it travels up the platformless line to the correct junction then move over to the platform. HISTORY With the growth of the city, and the construction of the "scientifically designed" New Town to the north, the Nor Loch became a fetid open sewer, something at odds with the city's modern Scottish Enlightenment aspirations. Works were undertaken to drain the loch and properly direct the city's sewerage, and by 1820 the loch was largely dry and the land was available for development. Much was used to build Princes Street Gardens, an extensive landscaped park. With the explosion of railway travel in Britain underway, three railway companies each built stations near one another in the valley, opening over the course of the 1840s . The collective name "Waverley", after the Waverley Novels by Sir Walter Scott , was used for the three from around 1854 . The Scott Monument stands in Princes Street Gardens near to the entrance to Waverley Station. In 1868 the North British Railway company acquired the stations of its rivals, demolished all three, and built the present Victorian station. Waverley has been in continual use since, under the auspices of the North British, later LNER , British Rail , Railtrack and latterly Network Rail . Waverley is now the principal mainline station in Edinburgh, following the closure of Princes Street Station in 1965 . CURRENT AND FUTURE USES OF THE STATION As at other large railway stations of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, the railway company constructed a grand station hotel beside their station. The North British Hotel, situated adjacent to the station on Princes Street, opened in 1902 . In 1983 British Rail sold it to the Forte Hotel Group . In 1988 Forte closed the hotel for a year to extensively remodel and update what had become something of a faded jewel. When it reopened it was rechristened The Balmoral Hotel (in what has proved to be an astute marketing move, despite the hotel being 115 miles from Balmoral Castle ). It enjoys commanding views over central Edinburgh, and is one of the most luxurious (and expensive) hotels in the UK. The station's large size and the unusual topography of its surroundings mean that it contains a large amount of valuable, centrally located land. The station's successive owners, British Rail, Railtrack and its current owner Network Rail have been criticised for underutilising the valuable city-centre spaces available within. Princes Mall (formerly the Waverley Shopping Centre), which occupies a column of space nestling between Waverley Station, Waverley Bridge, and Princes Street, opened in 1985. Plans have been drawn up for the latest, long-awaited redevelopment of the station. This will improve facilities and provide more through platforms for trains passing from the East Coast Main Line to the rest of the Scottish network. Four extra platforms have been added to cope with increasing demand and to provide a better location of services. As of December 2007, First Transpennine Express services will provide frequent services between Edinburgh Waverley and Manchester Piccadilly , replacing the current Virgin Cross Country services. REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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