Harpenden railway station is on the

Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line is a major railway line in England from London to Nottingham and Sheffield in the Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras station via Leicester, Derby/Nottingham and Chesterfield in the East Midlands ...

in England, serving the town of

Harpenden Harpenden () is a town and civil parish in the City and District of St Albans in the county of Hertfordshire, England. The population of the built-up area was 30,240 in the 2011 census, whilst the population of the civil parish was 29,448. Har ...

, Hertfordshire. It is down the line from

London St Pancras St Pancras railway station (), also known as London St Pancras or St Pancras International and officially since 2007 as London St Pancras International, is a London station group, central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Bor ...

and is situated between to the south and to the north. Its three-letter station code is HPD. The station is served by Govia Thameslink-operated trains on the Thameslink route.

History

Harpenden was the second station built in the town, by the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...

in 1868 on its extension to St. Pancras. Nothing remains of the original station buildings. Although located on Station Road, the road is actually named after the first station, , which was built in 1860 and closed in 1965. A branch line, built by the Hemel Hempstead Railway Company in 1877, known as the Nickey Line but operated by the Midland, formerly diverged from the main line north of the station. The intention had been to meet the

LNWR The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the L ...

Boxmoor Boxmoor is part of Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire. It is within the district of Dacorum and comprises mainly 19th-century housing and meadowland, with transport links from London to the Midlands. At the 2011 Census, the population of Boxmoor wa ...

, but the section from Hemel Hempstead never had a passenger service. In 1886, a south curve was added to the junction allowing passengers to join the London trains at Harpenden rather than Luton. The branch was closed in 1979, but the route remains in use as a cycleway, passing under the M1 in a tunnel. A row of five brick built former coal merchant's offices along the station approach are now used as small retail and office units.

Stationmasters

Alfred King, station master from 1920 to 1927, committed suicide at age 53 on 29 March 1927 by lying on the rails in front of an express train. The inquest found that he had been suffering from depression and delusions for a long time. *Joseph Vizall Bendall 1870 - 1872 (formerly station master at Ketton, afterwards station master at Cheltenham) *George Salmon 1872 - 1899 (formerly station master at Irchester) *Horace E. Horne 1899 - 1907 (afterwards station master at Cheltenham) *E. Jones 1907 - 1920 (formerly station master at Higham Ferrers, afterwards station master at St Albans) *Alfred John King 1920 - 1927 (formerly station master at Raunds and Olney) *E. Goode until 1932 *F.C. Cooper 1932 - 1942 (afterwards station master at Bath)

Facilities

The station has facilities toilets, a newsagent, dry cleaner, taxi office and rank, and a coffee shop. The station also has ticket machines on both sides of the station. The station has a

PlusBus Plusbus is an add-on ticket, which can be purchased with National Rail train tickets in the United Kingdom. It allows unlimited travel on participating bus and tram operators' services in the whole urban area of rail-served towns and cities. ...

scheme where train and bus tickets can be bought together for a cheaper price. All four platforms have been extended to support 12-carriage trains, as part of the Thameslink programme; this also required the widening of a road bridge. Work on these started on 21 November 2010 and was completed in May 2011. The construction of a new footbridge, with lifts for disabled access, has been completed and links up all four platforms. and The east side of the station (platform 1 side) has two entrances, both with ticket gates to ease congestion during peak times. The west side entrance is where the ticket office is located, but it also has ticket machines. An extra deck of parking spaces is planned to be built on top of the existing east side car park. When completed, it will add an extra 200 parking spaces.

Services

Service History

2006/07 services

The typical off-peak service pattern saw six trains per hour in each direction, operated by

First Capital Connect First Capital Connect (FCC) was a British train operating company, owned by FirstGroup, that operated the Thameslink and Great Northern sectors from April 2006 to September 2014 which later became the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (T ...

. Four of these were fast trains between and , via King's Cross Thameslink station in central

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and . The remaining two trains called at all stations between and

Sutton Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to: Places United Kingdom England In alphabetical order by county: * Sutton, Bedfordshire * Sutton, Berkshire, a List of United Kingdom locations: Stu-Sz#Su, location * S ...

(in

South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borou ...

December 2007

Following the closure of King's Cross Thameslink station, trains on the Thameslink route now operate between , ,

and calling at the new low level platforms at St Pancras. East Midlands Railway operates trains on the

route from St Pancras International to/from

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

and

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

through the station, but do not stop. Interchange with these trains can be made one or two stops to the north, either at

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...

Luton Airport Parkway Luton Airport Parkway railway station is on the Midland Main Line in England, serving south Luton and Luton Airport in Bedfordshire. It is situated in Park Town, Luton, and is down the line from London St Pancras between to the south and to ...

, dependent on the service.

2009

From March 2009,

, in partnership with

Southeastern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

, began running a Luton-

Sevenoaks Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506 situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter main line railway into London. Sevenoaks is from Charing Cross, the traditio ...

service, which called at Harpenden.

Current Services

All services at Harpenden are operated by

Thameslink Thameslink is a 24-hour main-line route in the British railway system, running from , , , and via central London to Sutton, , , Rainham, , , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying m ...

using

EMUs Emus may refer to: * Emu The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the g ...

. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: * 6 tph to of which 4 continue to * 2 tph to * 2 tph to Three Bridges via * 2 tph to via During the peak hours, the station is served by additional services to and from , and . The station is also served by a half-hourly night service between Bedford and on Sunday to Friday nights.

Gallery

References

Sources

External links

{{TSGN and SE Stations, CityFlyer=y, Rainham=y, SE None=y, SN None=y Railway stations in Hertfordshire DfT Category D stations Former Midland Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1868 Railway stations served by Govia Thameslink Railway Harpenden