Stevenage railway station
Stevenage railway station serves the town of Stevenage in Hertfordshire, England. The station is 27 miles 45 chains (44.4 km) north of London King's Cross on the East Coast Main Line.[1] Stevenage is managed and served by Great Northern. It is also served by Hull Trains and London North Eastern Railway.
Stevenage  | |
|---|---|
 Southbound view of the station from Platform 2 in January 2015 | |
| Location | |
| Place | Stevenage |
| Local authority | Borough of Stevenage |
| Grid reference | TL234241 |
| Operations | |
| Station code | SVG |
| Managed by | Great Northern |
| Owned by | Network Rail |
| Number of platforms | 5 |
| DfT category | C1 |
| Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries | |
| Annual rail passenger usage* | |
| 2014/15 |  |
| 2015/16 | |
| 2016/17 | |
| 2017/18 |  |
| 2018/19 | |
| – Interchange | 2.452 million |
| History | |
| Key dates | Opened 23 July 1973 |
| 8 August 1850 | Original station opened by GNR |
| 22 July 1973 | Station closed |
| 23 July 1973 | Relocated 73 chains(1.5km) south to present location and opened by BR |
| 29 September 1973 | Officially opened by Shirley Williams MP |
| National Rail – UK railway stations | |
| * Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Stevenage from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year. | |
The present station was opened for trains on 23 July 1973[2] It was officially opened on 26 September 1973 by Shirley Williams,[3] then MP for Stevenage, replacing the previous station, which was 73 chains (1,500 m) to the north,[1] and further away from the centre of the new town. The station was built by British Rail.
History
The original Stevenage railway station was built in 1850 by the Great Northern Railway, despite the apparent hostility towards the railway being built there at that time due to the inevitable decline it would cause to local coach businesses,[4] which all ended shortly after the station was opened.
In 1946, Stevenage became one of the first New Towns, which resulted in a new town centre. In 1973, the railway station was relocated 73 chains (1.47 km) south, within walking distance (220 yd, 200 m) of the new town centre.[5]
Facilities
The station has two separate ticket offices (Great Northern and London North Eastern Railway), but in practice, each sell each other's tickets. There are also seven ticket machines. There are toilets at street level (but not on the platforms) and lifts from the station building to both platforms.
The station also has automatic ticket barriers, which were installed by First Capital Connect (the previous train operator) shortly after it took over the route, as a revenue protection exercise, and to improve security at the station. There is a snack bar, at street level, and two coffee bars at platform level, with one per platform. The newsagent previously at street level closed in March 2014, pending the redevelopment of the station which has since been completed. Since December 2013, the previous train operator, First Capital Connect started refurbishing the station completely, introducing passenger lifts between platform and street level, and refurbishing the concourse area plus retail units. The works were due to be completed by April 2014, but were delayed. Since Great Northern took over the franchise in September 2014, these works have been completed.
Both island platforms have indoor waiting rooms that were refurbished in May 2012 as part of a wider scheme to refurbish and add waiting rooms across the Great Northern Route, and there is also outdoor seating along the length of the platforms.
The station is a short walk on a walkway from Stevenage Bus Station and is opposite a leisure complex that includes the Gordon Craig Theatre.
Services
| Preceding station | |
Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| London King's Cross | Great Northern London-Peterborough/Huntingdon (fast) |
Biggleswade | ||
| Watton-at-Stone | Great Northern London-Stevenage |
Terminus | ||
| London King's Cross | London North Eastern Railway London-North East & Scotland |
Peterborough | ||
| London King's Cross | London North Eastern Railway London-Leeds and West Yorkshire |
Peterborough | ||
| Grantham | ||||
| London King's Cross | Hull Trains London-Hull/Beverley |
Grantham | ||
Finsbury Park | Thameslink Horsham to Peterborough | |||
Finsbury Park | Thameslink Brighton to Cambridge | |||
| Thameslink London to Cambridge | ||||
| Future Services | ||||
| London King's Cross | East Coast Trains East Coast Main Line London – Edinburgh |
Newcastle | ||
Great Northern
Before May 2018, most of the trains serving Stevenage station were operated by Great Northern, lying on its Great Northern Route from London King's Cross to Peterborough and Cambridge. It was served by trains between London and Letchworth via Hertford North; these trains use Moorgate station in London. In May 2018 however, most Great Northern services were swapped with Thameslink services, and now the only Great Northern trains are two southbound departures per hour to Moorgate on Sundays only calling at all stations via Hertford North, and some weekday peak-hour trains between London King's Cross and Peterborough.
- 2 Great Northern trains per hour south to Moorgate via Hertford North, calling at all stations en route;
London North Eastern Railway
Stevenage is also served by some London North Eastern Railway services on the East Coast Main Line. During the day, there is an hourly service between London King's Cross and Leeds and an hourly service between King's Cross and Newark North Gate (extended to York every 2 hours); at other times there are also services to Edinburgh Waverley and Newcastle.[8] These services use platform 2 southbound and platform 3 northbound.
Hull Trains
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Hull Trains offer a very limited service, only calling at Stevenage on Sunday afternoons, 1 train northbound and 2 trains southbound. This service runs between King's Cross and Hull.[9]
Thameslink services
New services were rolled out in 2018 under the Thameslink Programme. The East Coast Mainline/Great Northern routes, from Peterborough and Cambridge and stations in between, including Stevenage, became connected to Thameslink via the Canal Tunnels and destinations south of central London.[10]
- Southbound:
- 2 trains per hour to Brighton (fast) via London St Pancras, London Bridge, East Croydon, Gatwick Airport and Burgess Hill. These services originate at Cambridge.
- 2 trains per hour to Horsham (fast north of London, stopping south of London) via London St Pancras, London Bridge, East Croydon, Redhill, Gatwick Airport and Crawley. These services originate at Peterborough.
- 2 trains per hour to London Kings Cross (stopping). These services originate at either Cambridge or Cambridge North.
- Northbound:
- 4 trains per hour to Cambridge (4 semi-fast, 2 stopping) via Letchworth Garden City and Royston. The semi-fast services originate at Brighton, while the stopping services originate at London Kings Cross. One stopping train per hour extends to Cambridge North.
- 2 trains an hour to Peterborough (stopping) via St. Neots. These services originate at Horsham.
Additional platform
Until May 2018 most weekday trains on the Hertford Loop Line were extended to Letchworth,[11] as there was insufficient capacity to accommodate terminating trains at Stevenage. However, in 2018, Govia Thameslink Railway (the operator of Great Northern services) has cut back all services to start/terminate at Stevenage. To help alleviate the capacity problem, an additional south-facing bay platform at Stevenage which allows Great Northern trains on the Hertford Loop Line to terminate here - similar to the arrangement at Welwyn Garden City - increasing capacity on both the Hertford Loop and the East Coast Main Line, and allow for an enhanced service frequency on both routes was officially opened on August 3, 2020.[12]
East Coast Trains
In May 2016 ORR gave the green light to a new open-access operator called East Coast Trains, which would operate services to Edinburgh Waverley via Stevenage, Newcastle and Morpeth. Services are planned to begin in 2021.[13][14][15]
References
- Yonge, John (September 2006) [1994]. Jacobs, Gerald (ed.). Railway Track Diagrams 2: Eastern (3rd ed.). Bradford on Avon: Trackmaps. map 15B. ISBN 0-9549866-2-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 219. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- A brass plaque in the upstairs walkway/bridge commemorates this.
- http://www.wordoxers.com/hos/main7.htm%5B%5D
- "A History of Stevenage". www.localhistories.org.
- Table 25 National Rail timetable, May 2019
- Table 24 National Rail timetable, May 2019
- GB National Rail Timetable May 2016 Edition, Table 26
- "Hull Trains - Our Timetables" Retrieved 23 August 2016
- Timetable consultation : Southern As of May 2018, the current timetable for Thameslink trains is:
- Timetables : Thameslink and Great Northern (A1)
- New bay platform opened
- Applications for the East Coast Main Line Office of Rail and Road 12 May 2016
- First Group to run Edinburgh to London budget rail service BBC News 12 May 2016
- VTEC and FirstGroup granted East Coast Main Line paths Railway Gazette International 12 May 2016