in May the following year. The opening ceremony for the completed line from Nine Elms to Southampton took place on 11 May 1840, with a directors' train leaving London at 8 am and arriving at the permanent terminus, designed by William Tite, around three hours later.

The LSWR did not intend Nine Elms to be its permanent northern terminus, and in 1844 an extension of 1+3/4 mi to a new station at Waterloo Bridge was authorised. Three years later, the company acquired the Richmond and West End Railway,