Железнодорожная станция Hither Green в Лондоне пересекает нулевой меридиан

Transport Hither Green Lewisham Hither Green station - The London station on the Prime Meridian   By Holly Brencher Reporter 0 Comments Hither Green station lets commuters cross the Prime Meridian during their journey (Image: Google Maps) This article is brought to you by our exclusive subscriber partnership with our sister title USA Today, and has been written by our American colleagues. It does not necessarily reflect the view of The Herald. A south-east London railway station has an unusual geographical quirk which means passengers can cross from the Western Hemisphere to the Eastern Hemisphere during their everyday commute. Hither Green station, in Lewisham, straddles the Prime Meridian, the imaginary line at zero degrees longitude used to divide the Earth into its eastern and western hemispheres. The line passes through the station site and is even marked inside the pedestrian tunnel used to access the station. It means passengers walking through Hither Green can technically cross from one side of the world to the other without leaving south-east London. Read more Huge hidden pub inside King's Cross linked to 1852 Victorian railway age The London Tube station that's in two Travelcard zones and beside two boroughs Wimbledon restaurant run by MasterChef winner awarded two AA Rosettes The Prime Meridian is most famously associated with the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, where visitors regularly stand with one foot on either side of the internationally recognised longitude line. However, the meridian does not stop at Greenwich. The zero-longitude line continues north and south around the globe and passes through other parts of London, including Hither Green railway station several miles south of the observatory. Published geographical coordinates place Hither Green extremely close to zero degrees longitude, while descriptions of the station record that it straddles the Prime Meridian and that the line is marked across the roof of its pedestrian tunnel. This means parts of the station sit to the west of zero longitude while others are on the eastern side. Unlike London stations which have entrances in different boroughs, Hither Green's quirk is therefore not an administrative boundary. The station is in Lewisham, but it happens to sit across one of the world's most significant geographical reference lines. The Prime Meridian is the line designated as zero degrees longitude and provides the starting point from which longitude is measured east and west around the Earth. Greenwich became internationally associated with the world's prime meridian following the International Meridian Conference in Washington DC in 1884. Today, Greenwich remains synonymous with the line and Greenwich Mean Time, although the modern reference meridian used for satellite navigation differs slightly from the historic line marked at the Royal Observatory. For commuters at Hither Green, however, the geographical oddity means a routine walk through their local station can involve crossing zero longitude. Hither Green station opened on June 1, 1895 and today serves a major junction on south-east London's rail network. It is around seven miles from Charing Cross and is served by Southeastern, with trains connecting the area with central London as well as destinations across south-east London and Kent. Network Rail describes Hither Green as a key interchange on the South Eastern Main Line, with around three million passenger entries and exits each year, alongside roughly half a million interchanges. The station is currently undergoing a major accessibility upgrade. A new footbridge linking all platforms with new entrances at Fernbrook Road and Springbank Road was lifted into place in May 2026, with the wider project including four new 16-person lifts, new staircases, and a link passageway between platforms four and five. The improvements are intended to provide step-free access across the station. But alongside its role as a busy commuter interchange, Hither Green retains a geographical claim to fame that many of the passengers passing through it each day may never have noticed. Walk through the station in the right direction and you are not simply crossing from one platform to another – you can also cross the Prime Meridian. Transport Hither Green Lewisham 0 Comments Get involved with the news Send your news & photos