Stevenage railway station

Stevenage
The station in November 2021 looking north, with the new platform 5 on the far left
General information
Location	Stevenage, Borough of Stevenage England
Grid reference	TL234241
Owned by	Network Rail
Managed by	Great Northern
Platforms	5
Connections	Local Buses Regional Buses Local Taxis
Other information
Station code	SVG
Classification	DfT category C1
History
Opened	23 July 1973
Key dates
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
Passengers
2019/20	4.634 million
Interchange	1.654 million
2020/21	1.228 million
Interchange	0.238 million
2021/22	3.385 million
Interchange	0.833 million
2022/23	4.050 million
Interchange	1.957 million
2023/24	4.272 million
Interchange	0.983 million
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Remains of old station

Stevenage railway station serves the town of Stevenage in Hertfordshire, England. The station is around 44.4 kilometres (27.6 miles) north of London King's Cross on the East Coast Main Line. Stevenage is served and managed by Great Northern, who operate Thameslink stopping services southbound to King’s Cross via stations such as Welwyn Garden City and Potters Bar, to Brighton and Horsham via central London and Gatwick Airport and to Moorgate via Watton-at-Stone, Hertford North and Enfield Chase and services northbound to Cambridge and Peterborough. It is also frequently served by London North Eastern Railway, who operate fast non-stopping services southbound towards London and northbound towards cities including York, Leeds and Edinburgh. Hull Trains and Lumo operate very limited services from the station.

The present station was opened for trains on 23 July 1973. It was officially opened on 26 September 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 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.

In 2021, a tactile map was installed, in collaboration with the Royal National Institute of Blind People, to help blind and partially sighted passengers navigate the station.

Facilities

The station has two separate ticket offices (Great Northern and London North Eastern Railway), but in practice, each also sells the 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.

Southbound view of the station from Platform 2 in January 2015, before the construction of platform 5

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 Interchange and is opposite a leisure complex that includes the Gordon Craig Theatre.

Services

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
London King's Cross		London North Eastern Railway East Coast Main Line		Peterborough or Grantham
		Hull Trains East Coast Main Line Limited Service		Grantham
		Lumo East Coast Main Line		Newcastle
		Great Northern London to Peterborough Peak Hours Only		Biggleswade
Watton-at-Stone		Great Northern Hertford Loop Line		Terminus
Knebworth		Great Northern Great Northern Route		Hitchin
Finsbury Park		Thameslink Great Northern Route

Great Northern

Great Northern serve Stevenage with a half-hourly service to Moorgate which calls at all stations via the Hertford Loop Line. These services start and finish at Stevenage using Platform 5 at the station, which opened in 2020. These services are operated using Class 717 EMUs.

Great Northern also operate an hourly fast service during the weekday peak hours between London King's Cross and Peterborough. Southbound, this service runs non-stop to London King's Cross and northbound, calls only at Biggleswade, St Neots and Huntingdon. These services are operated using Class 387 EMUs.

London North Eastern Railway

London North Eastern Railway
Inverness Carrbridge Aviemore Kingussie Newtonmore Blair Atholl Pitlochry Dunkeld & Birnam Perth Gleneagles Dunblane Stirling Falkirk Grahamston Aberdeen Stonehaven Montrose Arbroath Dundee Leuchars Kirkcaldy Inverkeithing Glasgow Central Motherwell Haymarket Edinburgh Waverley Dunbar Reston Berwick-upon-Tweed Alnmouth Morpeth Sunderland Newcastle Durham Darlington Middlesbrough Thornaby Northallerton Skipton Keighley Bradford Forster Square York Shipley Harrogate Horsforth Hull Paragon Brough Selby Leeds Wakefield Westgate Doncaster Retford Lincoln Newark Northgate Grantham Peterborough Stevenage London King's Cross

London North Eastern Railway generally serve Stevenage with two trains per hour in each direction during the day. The station is served by an hourly service between London King's Cross and Leeds, with a train every two hours continuing to Harrogate. The station is also served by an hourly service from London King's Cross, alternating northbound between terminating at Lincoln or York via Retford.

During the peak hours, a small number of the services to Leeds are extended to and from Bradford Forster Square.

The station is also served by a small number of early morning and late evening services to and from Newcastle and Edinburgh Waverley.

Services are operated using Class 800 bi-mode trains, Class 801 EMUs and Intercity 225 loco-hauled sets.

Hull Trains

Hull Trains: Beverley & Hull to London
Beverley Cottingham Hull Paragon Brough Howden Selby Doncaster Retford Grantham Stevenage London King's Cross
Most trains run fast between Grantham and London King's Cross.

Hull Trains operate a limited service at Stevenage on Sunday afternoons only. The station is served by one northbound service to Hull and two southbound services to London King's Cross. Services are operated using Class 802 bi-mode trains.

Thameslink services

As of May 2023, most services at Stevenage are operated by Thameslink using Class 700 EMUs.

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

• 2 tph to London King's Cross (stopping)
• 2 tph to Brighton via London Bridge and Gatwick Airport (semi-fast)
• 2 tph to Horsham via London Bridge, Redhill and Gatwick Airport
• 2 tph to Peterborough (all stations)
• 2 tph to Letchworth Garden City of which 1 continues to Cambridge (all stations)
• 2 tph to Cambridge (semi-fast)

On Sundays, the services between Brighton and Cambridge are reduced to hourly, with the service to Horsham not operating.

Lumo

As of October 2021, Lumo operates a number of services at Stevenage. The station is served by two northbound services to Edinburgh Waverley and three southbound services to London King's Cross. Services are operated using Class 803 EMUs.

Additional platform

Until May 2018 most weekday trains on the Hertford Loop Line were extended to Letchworth, as there was insufficient capacity to accommodate terminating trains at Stevenage. However, in 2018, Govia Thameslink Railway cut back all services to start/terminate at Stevenage. To help alleviate the capacity problem, an additional south-facing bay platform was built at Stevenage, similar to the arrangement at Welwyn Garden City, which allows Hertford loop line services to start and terminate here. It was officially opened on 3 August 2020.

See also

• Nala, a cat who is popular with commuters and known to sit on the ticket barriers at the station.

External links

• Train times and station information for Stevenage railway station from National Rail