A busy and warm evening at Stevenage station situated on the East Coast Mainline during the evening peak of Friday 22nd June 2018. This is the last week of VTEC with the last day on Saturday.
Stevenage info:
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. Stevenage is managed and served by Great Northern. It is also served by Hull Trains and Virgin Trains East Coast.
The present station was opened on 26 July 1973 by Shirley Williams, then MP for Stevenage, replacing the previous station, which was 73 chains (1,500 m) to the north, 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, which all ended shortly after the station was opened. In 1946, Stevenage was one of the first communities selected to become a 'New Town' as part of the governments New Towns Act, 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.
Services:
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 is 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 train is one southbound departure per hour to Moorgate calling at all stations via Hertford North.
The Monday-Saturday off-peak service is:
1 train per hour south to London Moorgate via Hertford North, calling at all stations en route;
LNER:
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. These services use platform 2 southbound and platform 3 northbound.
Hull Trains:
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.
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 and destinations south of central London.
Southbound:
1 train per hour to Brighton (fast) via London St Pancras, London Bridge, East Croydon, Gatwick Airport and Burgess Hill. This service originates from either Cambridge or Cambridge North.
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. This service originates from Peterborough.
2 trains per hour to London Kings Cross (stopping). This service originates from either Cambridge or Cambridge North.
Northbound:
3 trains per hour to Cambridge (1 semi-fast, 2 stopping) via Letchworth Garden City and Royston. The semi-fast service would originate from Brighton, while the stopping service originates from London Kings Cross. One per hour extends to Cambridge North.
2 trains an hour to Peterborough (stopping) via St. Neots. This service would originate from Horsham.
Additional platform:
Govia Thameslink Railway (the owner of Great Northern) have long aspired to terminate all services on the Hertford Loop Line at Stevenage, rather than have them continue through to Letchworth Garden City. Currently, services on the line do terminate here on weekends, however on weekdays most are extended to Letchworth due to insufficient capacity to accommodate terminating trains at Stevenage. To help alleviate this problem, there is a proposal to build an additional south-facing bay platform at Stevenage; this platform would allow Great Northern trains on the Hertford Loop Line to terminate here, which would increase capacity on both the Hertford Loop and the East Coast Main Line, and allow for an enhanced service frequency on both routes.
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.
27 авг 2024
