St Albans City railway station 2115508 abd38a94

St Albans City railway station is one of two stations serving

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

, England, the other being . It is the larger of the two, on the

Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line (MML), sometimes also spelt Midland Mainline, is a major Rail transport in Great Britain, railway line from London to Sheffield in Yorkshire via the East Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras railway ...

from London St Pancras, served by Govia Thameslink trains on the Thameslink route.

History

The station was built by the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 in rail transport, 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 ...

in 1868, on its extension to St Pancras. St Albans was famous for producing watercress, which was sent in lots to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

. , the other station serving the city, is a decade older and was built by the

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the LNWR was the largest joint stock company in the world. Dubbed the "Premier Line", the LNWR's main line connec ...

in 1858. There was originally a further station called '' London Road'', built by the Hatfield and St Albans Railway in 1863 to connect with the Great Northern Railway.

Description

The station has four platforms, two for each direction: one "fast" and one "slow". The main entrance, ticket office, multi-storey car park, taxi rank and bus connections are on Station Way, east of the station. There is a second exit to the west, to a small surface car park off Ridgmont Road and Victoria Street, located at the original entrance to the station. A larger surface car park to the east of the railway lines gained planning permission in 2003, in connection with a large residential development. There are ticket barriers at both entrances. The station participates in the Plusbus scheme where combined train and bus tickets can be bought at a reduced price. The station underwent a refurbishment which saw the main entrance being completely rebuilt. This refurbishment included a complete rebuild of the retail unit located at the main entrance, Moving the toilets from platform 2 and 3 to Platforms 1 and 4. A new entrance on Platform 4 was also built, which included brand new Cycle storage facilities. Refurbishment of the station was completed in December 2021. The station currently houses a Sainsbury's Local which opened in February 2022 There are also 3 more retail units, 2 on Platform 1 and one on Platform 4. The 2 units on Platform 1 contain a Costa Coffee and a newsagent. The remaining retail unit on Platform 4 remains empty since the station refurbishment in 2021. St Albans South signal box has been restored immediately south of the station and has been opened as a visitor attraction by the St Albans Signal Box Preservation Trust. Construction of a second footbridge was completed in 2022 .

Services

All services at St Albans City are operated by

Thameslink Thameslink is a mainline route on the British railway network, running from , , , , , and via central London to , , , Rainham, , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying more than ...

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

References

Bibliography

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Albans City Railway Station Transport in St Albans Railway stations in Hertfordshire DfT Category B stations Former Midland Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1868 Railway stations served by Govia Thameslink Railway Buildings and structures in St Albans