ON
TOUR

NORWOOD INTERNATIONAL

With six platforms and a line shared with Southern and Thameslink services on the main London to Brighton line, Norwood Junction is one of our busiest stations.
It’s also home to a team of experienced colleagues, who are proud of the relationships they’ve built with their customers.

“The number of people and services passing through is our biggest challenge,” says service delivery manager Peter Kodua, who has worked at the station for 17 years. “But I love what I do, so whatever the situation, I try to think of the customer first and understand what they want or where they want to go. They’re the reason I enjoy working on the railway.”

Norwood Junction is a key changeover between the Overground and services to Gatwick Airport, which means there are plenty of overseas visitors and airport workers among the customers.

“We found having a translation app on our phones is very useful for customers who don’t speak English,” says station assistant dispatcher Grace-Anne Stephenson. “We’ll ask them to speak into the phone and then we can get them where they need to go. It works very well.”

Station assistant dispatch Khalid Shaik has got to know a number of airline cabin crew who use the station regularly. They sometimes offer travel tips too.

DID YOU KNOW?
Nearby South Norwood Country Park, a popular nature reserve and wildlife haven, wasn’t always so tranquil and appealing. It used to be the site of a sewage treatment works.

EAGLE EYES

It may be a stop down the line from Crystal Palace station but Norwood Junction is the main stop for Crystal Palace FC’s Selhurst Park stadium. This means the station team have to be well prepared for the arrival and departure of thousands of home and away fans. Keeping them moving and safe, in a busy station with narrow platforms, calls for detailed planning, vigilance and experience.

Grace-Anne Stephenson adds: “It takes real teamwork. We make sure we prepare ahead of time with signs, setting up a one-way system and knowing exactly which gates and stairways to use. It’s all about good planning, keeping calm and being prepared for anything.”

DOGGED (AND DOGGY) DETECTIVES

Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle lived just a few yards away from Norwood Junction.

The station is mentioned in his story The Adventure of the Norwood Builder but there’s another four-legged former resident with a super-sleuthing pedigree.

In 1966, Pickles the dog discovered, under a bush in Upper Norwood, the FIFA World Cup that had been stolen from an exhibition days earlier. As a result, Pickles and his owner Dave Corbett became almost as famous as Holmes and Watson!

LEARNING ZONE A community garden at the station has been helping local schoolchildren grow their knowledge for several years. Maintained by station colleagues, along with members of British Transport Police, the regular visits by school groups also enables colleagues to get vital safety messages across to young people.

BOOKING OFFICE

Customers waiting at Norwood Junction can dip into a novel, thanks to a mini library in one of the station waiting rooms. Rather than throw out an old office shelf unit, the station team decided it would make a perfect place to keep second-hand books – bringing their own reading material as well as taking donations from customers.

MUSICAL YOUTHS

Rapper Stormzy grew up in South Norwood, and punk rock musician Captain Sensible went to school here. The Sensible Garden, a derelict piece of land turned into a community green space, is named in his honour. The BRIT performing arts school is not far from the station – former students include pop superstars Amy Winehouse and Adele, and Spider-Man movie actor Tom Holland.