The Russian word for 'train station' is 'vokzal'.

It has long been suggested that a Russian delegation visited South London in 1840 to inspect the construction of the London and South Western Railway, and mistook the name 'Vauxhall' for a generic title of the building type.

However the word has in fact been used in some form in Russian since the late 18th century, referring to an amusement park or pleasure garden, presumably deriving from Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, a major public entertainment space in London from the mid 17th century.

The first Russian railway, constructed in 1837, running from Saint Petersburg, terminated at Pavlovsk, where extensive Pleasure Gardens had earlier been established. In 1838 a music and entertainment pavilion was constructed, and was known as the Vokzal. The name soon came to be applied to the station itself, and later to all major railway termini.