The royal commission was established by Parliament to examine proposals for railway terminals in central London and advise if any should be allowed to be constructed within an area that parliament had proposed as a railway-free zone. At the time, Britain was in the midst of
railway mania with 435
bills submitted for parliamentary consideration in England and Wales with nineteen new lines and termini proposed for London. The commission's remit was limited to evaluating proposed lines that came into the urban area bounded by
Edgware Road,
New Road (now Old Marylebone Road,
Marylebone Road,
Euston Road,
Pentonville Road),
City Road,
Finsbury Square,
Bishopsgate Street,
London Bridge,
Borough High Street, Blackman Street,
Borough Road,
Lambeth Road, Vauxhall Road (now
Kennington Road,
Kennington Lane),
Vauxhall Bridge Road,
Grosvenor Place and
Park Lane. • A terminus for the
London and Birmingham Railway at Farringdon Street. An extension from
Camden Town primarily for goods traffic to a terminus in the same location as 3 above. • The London and Manchester Direct Railway and an extension to the City. A main terminus at Battle Bridge (now
Kings Cross) with a separate branch to two termini to each side of Farringdon Street. • The North London Junction Railway. A railway to connect
Paddington station to the City with a terminus near Fore Street as 2 above. • The Regent's Canal Railway. A railway to run along the
Regent's Canal from Paddington to the
River Thames at
Limehouse with a branch from
Islington to a terminus in the City near the
General Post Office at
St. Martin's Le Grand. • The Direct Northern Railway terminus at
Holborn between
Gray's Inn Road and
Leather Lane. • The extension of the London and Birmingham Railway to the
West and
East India Docks. A goods line outside of the commission's designated area running from Camden Town to
Hackney Wick and then south to the Docks. • The Central Terminus in Farringdon Street. A proposal for a central railway terminus to be shared by multiple railway companies entering the City from the north. • The Great Western, Brentford, and Central Terminus Junction Railway. A railway from
Charing Cross running on a new river embankment to
Westminster then via the south side of
St James's Park to
Pimlico,
Chelsea,
Brompton and, ultimately, to
Brentford and
West Drayton. and a railway running on a viaduct along the north side of the river to the terminus of the
London and Blackwall Railway at
Fenchurch Street. Also proposed was a railway also proposed to cross the river on elevated tracks above London Bridge and
Southwark Bridge to connect to lines south of the river. • The Thames Embankment Central Terminus. A terminus at Charing Cross for use of multiple railway companies. • The London Railway. A scheme to connect many of the existing and proposed railways with a series of connecting lines. Running from
Blackfriars Road, west across
Waterloo Bridge to
Bow Street then north-west to
Tottenham Court Road then west through
Fitzrovia and
Marylebone to Paddington station. A branch would continue north from Tottenham Court Road to New Road then join the London and Birmingham Railway at
Euston and the proposed
London and York Railway at King's Cross, then along City Road to the Eastern Counties Railway at Shoreditch. From Shoreditch it would run south, cross the river on Southwark Bridge and turn west back to its start at Blackfriars Road. Connections would also be made to the London and Blackwall Railway at Fenchurch Street, the
London and Greenwich Railway at
London Bridge station and the proposed extension of the
London and South Western Railway at Waterloo. • The London Connecting Railway and Railway Transit Line. A scheme to surround the metropolitan area with railways running from
Barking Reach and
Deptford to
Shepherd's Bush and with railways running along the north and south banks of the river from the eastern points to
Chelsea. • The National Junction Railway and City of London Terminus Company. An incomplete proposal for a central terminus in Farringdon with a railway from Southwark to Paddington via Kings Cross, Camden Town and a loop around the north and west of the capital.
South Side of the River Thames • The North Kent Railway. A line from north Kent running on a viaduct from
New Cross with a terminus at
Union Street,
Southwark with connections to the
London and Croydon Railway at New Cross and London and Greenwich Railway to the east. Proposals also considered a connection to the
London and South Western Railway's extension from Waterloo to London Bridge (see below). Also proposed was a continuation line across
Southwark Bridge to Bucklesbury near the
Bank of England. • The
South Eastern Railway extension from the London and Greenwich Railway north of New Cross to Waterloo Bridge. • The
London and South Western Railway extension from
York Road to London Bridge. The railway already had permission to build an extension to extend its line from its terminus at Nine Elms to a new terminus at
Waterloo. The extension would continue the line on viaduct to the river side near London Bridge. • The West End and Southern Counties Railway. A line running from
Deptford through
Peckham,
Camberwell and
Kennington then across Waterloo Bridge to a terminus at Wellington Place on the north side of the river. ==Report==