Hertford East railway station is the northern terminus of the

Hertford East branch line The Hertford East branch line is a railway line in Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom, running between Hertford East and . The line follows the route of the Lea Valley, serving intermediate towns and villages. It branches off the West Anglia M ...

off the

West Anglia Main Line The West Anglia Main Line is one of the two main lines that operate out of , the other being the Great Eastern Main Line, which operates services to Ipswich and Norwich via Colchester. It runs generally north through Cheshunt, Broxbourne, Har ...

in the

east of England The East of England is one of the nine official regions of England. This region was created in 1994 and was adopted for statistics purposes from 1999. It includes the ceremonial counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire ...

, and is located in the town of

Hertford Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census. The town grew around a ford on the River Lea, ne ...

in Hertfordshire. It is down the line from

London Liverpool Street Liverpool Street station, also known as London Liverpool Street, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, in the ward of Bishopsgate Without. It is the t ...

and is one of two stations in the town, the other being on the Hertford Loop Line. Its three-letter station code is HFE. The station and all trains calling are operated by Greater Anglia. There are two platforms, although platform number one is generally only used during peak times, during times of disruption and primarily for trains to and from

Stratford station Stratford is a major multi-level railway station which rates as the 5th busiest station in Britain, serving the district of Stratford and the mixed-use development known as Stratford City, in the London Borough of Newham, east London. It is s ...

History

The first station opened on 31st October 1843 sited to the east of the present station. The current station, designed by

W. N. Ashbee William Neville Ashbee (1852 – 30 April 1919) was an English railway architect notable for railway station, stations on the Great Eastern Railway, including the London terminus at Liverpool Street Station. Career The son of John Ashbee, w ...

, was opened by the

Great Eastern Railway The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern R ...

on 27 February 1888, replacing the first station. The station was listed in 1974 as a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

; in 1996 the

buffer stop A buffer stop, bumper, bumping post, bumper block or stopblock (US), is a device to prevent railway vehicles from going past the end of a physical section of track. The design of the buffer stop is dependent, in part, on the kind of couplings ...

lights on platform 1 were separately listed in their own right. The Grade II listed signal box at the station was dismantled in October 2021 to allow for platform extensions. It will be relocated to the

Wensleydale Railway The Wensleydale Railway is a heritage railway in Wensleydale and Lower Swaledale in North Yorkshire, England. It was built in stages by different railway companies and originally extended to railway station on the Settle-Carlisle line. Since ...

Services

Dunstable, Hertford, Hitchin & St Albans RJD 35

The typical Monday-Saturday off-peak service is two trains per hour to

via

Tottenham Hale Tottenham Hale is a district of north London and part of the London Borough of Haringey, bounded by the River Lea and located to the south/south-east of Tottenham proper. From 1850 to 1965, it was part of the Municipal Borough of Tottenham, in Mi ...

. The typical morning peak service is three trains per hour, two of which are for Liverpool Street via Seven Sisters and one is for Stratford via Tottenham Hale. The typical evening peak service is three trains an hour, two of which are for Liverpool Street via Tottenham Hale and one of which is for

Broxbourne Broxbourne is a town and former civil parish, now in the unparished area of Hoddesdon, in the Broxbourne district, in Hertfordshire, England, north of London, with a population of 15,303 at the 2011 Census.Broxbourne Town population 2011 It is ...

. The typical service on a Sunday is two trains per hour to Stratford via Tottenham Hale. . Services are generally formed of Class 720 units. Oyster and contactless cards are accepted at the station. Hertford East Station 2019721

Proposed developments

Some options of the proposed

East West Rail East West Rail is a major project to establish a strategic railway connecting East Anglia with Central, Southern and Western England. In particular, it plans to build (or rebuild) a line linking Oxford and Cambridge via Bicester, Milton Keyne ...

involve reopening a route between Hertford East railway station and

Hertford North railway station Hertford North railway station is one of two stations serving the town of Hertford in Hertfordshire, England, the other being Hertford East railway station. Location Hertford North is about ten minutes walk from the town centre in North Ro ...

; however a 2009 discussion paper noted that while "the new connection appears technically feasible, doubts must be cast over its public acceptability and deliverability".

In popular culture

Hertford East doubles as Yeovil Railway Station in the 1960 film ''

School for Scoundrels School for Scoundrels may refer to: * ''School for Scoundrels'' (1960 film), a British comedy film starring Ian Carmichael, Terry-Thomas and Alistair Sim * ''School for Scoundrels'' (2006 film), an American film based on the above, featuring Bil ...

'', seen in the opening titles and closing credits.

References

External links

{{Railway stations served by Abellio Greater Anglia Railway stations in Hertfordshire DfT Category E stations Former Great Eastern Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1888 Greater Anglia franchise railway stations Buildings and structures in Hertford Grade II listed railway stations William Neville Ashbee railway stations