Huntingdon railway station

Huntingdon
Location
Place	Huntingdon
Local authority	District of Huntingdonshire
Coordinates	52°19′44″N 0°11′31″W / 52.329°N 0.192°WCoordinates: 52°19′44″N 0°11′31″W / 52.329°N 0.192°W
Grid reference	TL232715
Operations
Station code	HUN
Managed by	Great Northern
Owned by	Network Rail
Number of platforms	3
DfT category	C2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2002/03	1.277 million
2004/05	1.360 million
2005/06	1.373 million
2006/07	1.448 million
2007/08	1.564 million
2008/09	1.593 million
2009/10	1.542 million
2010/11	1.630 million
2011/12	1.673 million
2012/13	1.685 million
2013/14	1.692 million
2014/15	1.768 million
History
7 August 1850	Station opens as Huntingdon
1 July 1923	Station renamed Huntingdon North
15 June 1964	Station renamed Huntingdon
1976	Station rebuild began
11 May 1987	First electric service from rebuilt station
2005	Station building subject to partial rebuild
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Huntingdon from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Huntingdon Railway Station serves the town of Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire, England. The station is on the East Coast Main Line and has three platforms; one bay and two through platforms. Huntingdon is managed and served by Great Northern. During engineering works or periods of disruption Virgin Trains East Coast services sometimes call at Huntingdon, but there is no regular Virgin Trains service from the station.

History

A 1914 Railway Clearing House map showing (upper centre) railways in the vicinity of Huntingdon (shown here as G.N. STA.)

Great Northern Route

Legend King's Lynn Watlington Downham Market Peterborough Littleport Ely Huntingdon Waterbeach Cambridge St Neots Foxton Shepreth Sandy Meldreth Royston Biggleswade Ashwell & Morden Baldock Arlesey Letchworth Gdn City Hitchin Stevenage Knebworth Watton-at-Stone Welwyn North Hertford North Welwyn Gdn City Bayford Hatfield Cuffley Welham Green Crews Hill Brookmans Park Gordon Hill Potters Bar Enfield Chase Hadley Wood Grange Park New Barnet Winchmore Hill Oakleigh Park Palmers Green New Southgate Bowes Park Alexandra Palace Hornsey Harringay Finsbury Park King's Cross Drayton Park Highbury & Islington Essex Road Old Street Moorgate

When originally opened by the Great Northern Railway on 7 August 1850, the station was just named Huntingdon, however, from 1 July 1923 until 15 June 1965 the station was known as Huntingdon North to distinguish it from the nearby Huntingdon East on the line between Cambridge and Kettering via St Ives.^[1] The latter closed to passenger traffic in June 1959, along with the line.

From the mid 1970s to the late 1980s the station was slowly rebuilt, going from a station with one platform connected to the ticket office and an island platform to an electrified station with the main platform, a bay platform as well as a separate platform for the slow line. The reason for this was that pre-1976, only three tracks went through the station causing a major bottleneck in the area.

The station was subject to an arson attack in 2005, and much of the station roof had to be rebuilt, as well as the booking hall.

Facilities

Huntingdon is staffed for most of the day. Automatic ticket barriers have been installed, as part of a wider programme by the former franchisee First Capital Connect to place them across large parts of the network as a revenue protection exercise and to help increase security. The station has three touch screen ticket machines.

There are toilet facilities at the station, as well as shelters on all platforms. The station has a combined newsagent and buffet on the London bound platform, and a vending machine on the Peterborough bound platform.

There is a taxi rank situated directly outside the entrance to the London bound platforms. A considerable amount of parking space is provided: there are large car parks adjacent to both platforms.

Services

Huntingdon station is served by a half-hourly service southbound to London Kings Cross and northbound to Peterborough throughout the day Monday to Saturday. There is an hourly service in each direction on Sundays. Journey times to London range from around 1 hour to 1 hour 20 minutes on these services.

There are also extra services during the peak that run fast to/from Kings Cross, others only stop at St. Neots, as well as some that additionally only call at St. Neots, Biggleswade and/or Stevenage, then are fast to Kings Cross, and others stopping only at St. Neots Biggleswade and/or Hitchin and these services usually take around 40–45 minutes to Kings Cross. Also additional peak services to/from London start/terminate here.^[2]

During times of engineering work in the Hitchin area, Huntingdon often operates as the terminus for Virgin Trains East Coast services from Scotland and the north-east of England, which are normally destined for Kings Cross. A rail replacement service usually runs from Huntingdon to Biggleswade or Stevenage to connect with services to or from London Kings Cross. Huntingdon is also used as a stop for Virgin Trains East Coast services if Peterborough cannot be used.

Transport links

A bus service is provided to and from Godmanchester (Bus 476 - 5 times daily), Hartford and St Ives (Bus 55 - normally every 20 minutes), from a stop directly adjacent to the station. More buses are available from a stop on the main road (George Street) nearby - buses 65/66 to and from St Neots and St Ives via Hinchingbrooke Hospital/Brampton, and Houghton/Wyton respectively; Bus 30 to Hinchingbrooke Hospital, Warboys and Ramsey; 35 to Wyton, Chatteris, Doddington and March.

Gallery

• 

  The station viewed from the footbridge.

• 

  Steam loco Bittern going through the station.

• 

  Huntingdon railway station

• 

  Huntingdon in August 1949.

• 

  Steam loco Tangmere passing through Platform 2.

Route

References

1. Mitchell, Vic; Mott, Allan (2003). Hitchin to Peterborough. Midhurst: Middleton Press. volume I, pic. 64,65. ISBN 1-904474-07-1.
2. http://www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk/Main.php?sEvent=Timetables&crs_code=HUN

External links

• Train times and station information for Huntingdon railway station from National Rail
• Historic England. "Details from image database (53491)". Images of England.