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Harlow Town railway station

Coordinates: 51°46′52″N 0°05′42″E / 51.781°N 0.095°E / 51.781; 0.095
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Harlow Town
National Rail
Platform 3
General information
LocationHarlow, Harlow District
England
Coordinates51°46′52″N 0°05′42″E / 51.781°N 0.095°E / 51.781; 0.095
Grid referenceTL446112
Managed byGreater Anglia
Platforms4
Other information
Station codeHWN
ClassificationDfT category C1
History
Opened1842
Passengers
2018/19Increase 1.913 million
2019/20Decrease 1.877 million
2020/21Decrease 0.527 million
2021/22Increase 1.313 million
2022/23Increase 1.546 million
Listed Building – Grade II
FeatureHarlow Town Station including Platform Structures
Designated25 November 1995
Reference no.1117351[1]
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Harlow Town railway station is on the West Anglia Main Line serving the town of Harlow in Essex, England. It is 22 miles 59 chains (36.6 km) down the line from London Liverpool Street and is situated between Roydon and Harlow Mill stations. Its three-letter station code is HWN.

The station and all trains serving it are operated by Greater Anglia.

History

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The station was opened in 1842 as Burnt Mill, to serve the small village of the same name.

The station building in 2007

Between March 1959 and July 1960 the station was rebuilt[2] to serve the post-war new town of Harlow, to designs by Paul Hamilton with John Bicknell and Ian Fraser of the British Railways (Eastern Region) architects department (chief architect: H. H. Powell). Described by Pevsner as "low, crisp and entirely ungimmicky", its architectural quality was recognised in 1996 when it was made a Grade II listed building. The listing entry states "the Eastern Region Architect's Department was the most creative branch of British Railways, designing a number of powerful modern stations in conjunction with the Region's electrification. The new station for Harlow New Town was the flagship of this achievement. It is a building with powerful spatial qualities, of especial interest particularly for its architectural design".[3]

The Architect and Building News in 1959[4] said the architects have aimed at expressing the beauty of continuous surfaces of natural materials and paintwork has been reduced to a minimum.

On 13 July 1960, the station was renamed Harlow Town. Its status as a listed building has meant that alterations to conform with the Disability Discrimination Act have had to be carried out sensitively to protect the original architectural conception.

Services

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A Network SouthEast Class 317 at Harlow Town in the mid-1990s

All services at Harlow Town are operated by Greater Anglia (including some services which operate under the Stansted Express brand). Services are operated using Class 720 and 745 EMUs.[5][6]

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:[7]

During the peak hours, the station is served by a small number of services to and from Ely.

There is also a further 2tph on Stansted Express services in each direction between London Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport that pass through the station but do not stop, except for some peak hour trains.

On Sundays, the services between Stratford and Bishop's Stortford do not run.

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Roydon or Broxbourne   Greater Anglia
  Harlow Mill or Sawbridgeworth
Stansted Express

The station today

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The station has four platforms. Platform 2 is for services towards London Liverpool Street and Stratford. Platform 3 is for services towards Stansted Airport and Cambridge. Platforms 1 and 4 are used less frequently for slow trains and as a Waiting loop for freight trains from the aggregate terminal a mile down the line, they are however used by a number of peak starting/terminating services to/from Liverpool Street or Stratford and by a few through trains northbound and southbound. Currently all platforms accommodate 12 car trains.

In December 2009 ticket barriers were installed at the station, to help reduce penalty fare evasion from the station. The platforms can accommodate 12 car trains.[8][9]

References

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A WAGN EMU travelling through Harlow Town station in 2001
  1. ^ Historic England, "Harlow Town Station including Platform Structures (1117351)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 2 June 2019
  2. ^ Lawrence, David (2018). British Rail Architecture 1948-97. Crecy Publishing Ltd. p. 76. ISBN 9780860936855.
  3. ^ "Seax Archeaology - Unlocking Essex's Past". Archived from the original on 20 August 2008. Retrieved 14 July 2010.
  4. ^ "British Railways Architecture". The Architect and Building News. 216 (13): 409. 1959.
  5. ^ "GA withdraws all Class 379s". Today's Railways UK. No. 242. April 2022. p. 66.
  6. ^ "More passengers in Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire enjoy new trains". www.greateranglia.co.uk. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  7. ^ Table 22 National Rail timetable, May 2022
  8. ^ "Greater Anglia Route Utilisation Strategy" (PDF). Network Rail. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 8 May 2009.
  9. ^ "National Rail Enquiries - Harlow Town station information". www.nationalrail.co.uk.
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