Peterborough Syston line 2 geograph-2189554

Peterborough railway station serves the city of

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire unti ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to t ...

, England. It is down the

East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running b ...

from . The station is a major interchange serving both the north–south

ECML The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broad ...

, as well as long-distance and local east–west services. The station is managed by

London North Eastern Railway London North Eastern Railway (LNER) is a British train operating company. It is owned by the DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT). The company's name echoes that of the London and North Eastern Railway, one of the Big Fou ...

. Ticket gates came into use at the station in 2012.

History

There have been a number of railway stations in Peterborough:

Peterborough East Peterborough East was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1925. It was located in the province of Ontario. It was created by the British North America Act of 1867 which divided the County of Pete ...

(1845–1966), the current station which opened in 1850 (previously known by various names including Peterborough North); and briefly Peterborough Crescent (1858–1866). Peterborough was the site of the first

mast Mast, MAST or MASt may refer to: Engineering * Mast (sailing), a vertical spar on a sailing ship * Flagmast, a pole for flying a flag * Guyed mast, a structure supported by guy-wires * Mooring mast, a structure for docking an airship * Radio mas ...

to be installed as part of the ECML

electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histo ...

project, which is located behind platform 1.

Openings

opened on 2 June 1845 along with the

Ely to Peterborough Line Ely or ELY may refer to: Places Ireland * Éile, a medieval kingdom commonly anglicised Ely * Ely Place, Dublin, a street United Kingdom * Ely, Cambridgeshire, a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England ** Ely Cathedral ** Ely Rural District, a ...

built by

Eastern Counties Railway The Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) was an English railway company incorporated in 1836 intended to link London with Ipswich via Colchester, and then extend to Norwich and Yarmouth. Construction began in 1837 on the first nine miles at the ...

(ECR) and the Northampton and Peterborough Railway built by the

London and Birmingham Railway The London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom, in operation from 1833 to 1846, when it became part of the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR). The railway line which the company opened in 1838, betw ...

, both of which provided routes to London. The Syston and Peterborough Railway by

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 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 its headquarters. It ama ...

was opened in 1846. On 7 August 1862, the ECR became part of 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 Ra ...

(GER). The Great Northern Railway (GNR) arrived in Peterborough with the opening of the major portion of its "loop line" between Peterborough, Spalding,

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and Lincoln, which opened on 17 October 1848; at first GNR trains used the ECR station at Peterborough East. During the construction of the GNR line south to London, it was decided that the GNR would need their own station at Peterborough; this was decided upon in December 1849, and opened on 7 August 1850 together with the new line, which originally terminated at Maiden Lane, the permanent London terminus at King's Cross not being ready until 14 October 1852. The GNR's Peterborough station is the current station, but it has had several names: originally simply ''Peterborough'', it later became ''Peterborough Priestgate'', then ''Peterborough Cowgate'' in 1902, reverting to ''Peterborough'' in 1911. On 1 January 1923 the GER and GNR became constituents of the

London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At th ...

(LNER), which found itself with two similarly named stations in Peterborough; to distinguish them, they were given new names on 1 July 1923: the ex-GER station became ''Peterborough East'', and the ex-GNR station ''Peterborough North''. After Peterborough East closed on 6 June 1966, Peterborough North once again became ''Peterborough'', the name by which it is still known. The Great Northern Railway heading north to

Grantham Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln a ...

and

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

(the Towns Line) opened in 1853 using the GNR station. This line was built alongside the Midland Railway as far as

Helpston Helpston (also, formerly, "Helpstone") is an English village formerly in the Soke of Peterborough, geographically in Northamptonshire, subsequently (1965–1974) in Huntingdon and Peterborough, then in Cambridgeshire, and administered by the Cit ...

, resulting in adjacent but separate level crossings at various places, including the Crescent level crossings in Peterborough city centre. Interchange between Peterborough East and the GNR station was inconvenient, so on 1 February 1858 the Midland Railway opened Peterborough Crescent station, a short distance from the GNR station and close to the level crossing of the same name. Some GER trains were working through to the GNR Station by 1863. and the Crescent station closed on 1 August 1866 when Midland Railway trains began using the GNR station instead. The

Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway The Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway (M&GNJR) was a railway network in England, in the area connecting southern Lincolnshire, the Isle of Ely and north Norfolk. It developed from several local independent concerns and was incorporated ...

(M&GNR) branch to

Wisbech Wisbech ( ) is a market town, inland port and civil parish in the Fenland district in Cambridgeshire, England. In 2011 it had a population of 31,573. The town lies in the far north-east of Cambridgeshire, bordering Norfolk and only 5 miles ...

and

Sutton Bridge Sutton Bridge is a village and civil parish in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the A17 road, north from Wisbech and west from King's Lynn. The village includes a commercial dock on the west bank of th ...

opened in 1866. To access this line trains headed north and diverged left at Westwood junction, then continued north adjacent to the Midland Railway line but gaining height, then curved east and bridged over the Midland line, the GNR line and Lincoln Road and headed off towards Eye Green along approximately the route of the current A47 Soke Parkway. Services to

Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

(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 L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

from Peterborough East) and to

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

(by the GNR from their Station) started in 1879 when the

(LNWR) built a line from Yarwell junction near Wansford and Seaton linking the Northampton and Peterborough Railway and the

Rugby and Stamford Railway The Rugby and Stamford Railway was an early railway in England built in 1850. The London and Birmingham Railway had already built a branch from Blisworth to serve Northampton and extend to Peterborough. The success of this, the Northampton and ...

. Also the Fletton curve via Woodston to

Orton Waterville Orton is a mostly residential area of the city of Peterborough, in the Peterborough district, in the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. For electoral purposes it comprises Orton Longueville, Orton Waterville and Orton with Hampton wa ...

by the GNR. In 1913 the two troublesome Crescent level crossings were finally abolished when Crescent Bridge was opened.

Train services in 1910

Rail services from the station were at their peak in 1910, before economies were made during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, most of which were never reversed. The express services calling at Peterborough were mainly those between London and

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popul ...

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, but there were also through coaches to

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of L ...

via Spalding and

, to

Cromer Cromer ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish on the north coast of the English county of Norfolk. It is north of Norwich, north-northeast of London and east of Sheringham on the North Sea coastline. The local government authorities are Nor ...

via the M&GNR line, to Sheffield Victoria and Manchester London Road via

Retford Retford (), also known as East Retford, is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England, and one of the oldest English market towns having been granted its first charter in 1105. It lies on the River Idle and the Chesterf ...

and the Great Central line, and to

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

, Halifax,

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa ...

and

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

via

. Bradford trains used a direct route either using the GNR line via Morley Top, or the LYR line via Thornhill. Most trains between London and Newcastle, and further north, passed through Peterborough without stopping, so it was usually necessary to change at Doncaster or York. In 1910, the GNR were still running trains to

via Wansford and Seaton, in direct competition with the

which ran via Stamford. The GNR route and times were competitive but in 1910 they offered only three trains compared to six by the

, and they did not serve any significant population centres en route. Services to

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England ...

and

ran from the East station.

Closures

GNR service to Leicester ended in 1916 during

. In March 1959 the line to Wisbech and to Sutton Bridge closed along with most of the rest of the M&GNR and local services on the GNR main line ended with a number of minor stations including Yaxley and Farcet and

Tallington Tallington is a village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 497. It is situated east from Stamford and north-east from the centre of Peterbor ...

being closed. The Northampton and Peterborough Railway closed in May 1964, followed 2 years later by the closure of Peterborough East station and the passenger services to Rugby in June 1966 (part of this line was eventually reopened as the Nene Valley Railway heritage line). In the same year several minor stations on the Birmingham line were closed including

and Ketton & Collyweston. The final closure came in October 1970 when the lines to Spalding, Boston and Grimsby were closed, although the Peterborough to Lincoln Line to Spalding was reopened on 7 June 1971 with a shuttle service of 3 trains each way per day. This service was improved in 1982 with the closure of the

March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March ...

to Spalding section of the former

Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway The Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway, colloquially referred to as "the Joint Line"''Joint Line Joy'', in the Railway Magazine, June 2015 was a railway line connecting Doncaster and Lincoln with March and Huntingdon in the eastern ...

when the Lincoln to

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

service became the Lincoln to Peterborough service.

Renewal

In the 1970s major alterations occurred under

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four (British ra ...

to the former North station. In 1972 the track layout was remodelled, to provide high speed through lines and two new platforms. GNR bay platforms 4 and 5 (redundant since the withdrawal of East Lincolnshire line services) and through platform 6 were removed, together with all of the buildings between platforms 3 and 6, the new through lines scything through the site of the latter. New platforms 4 and 5, an island to the west of the fast lines, on the site of the former Midland Railway lines, were opened. In 1976, the life-expired GNR booking hall and east side buildings were demolished, due to their condition, and were replaced by Portakabins. A contract was awarded to local company, Bernard Stokeley Ltd., to provide replacement buildings (which, with alterations, are those in use today) and these were opened a couple of years later. Further new facilities were provided, post privatisation, as part of Great North Eastern Railway's £10 million station improvement programme to modernise facilities at key stations along the ECML. The modern travel centre is part of a £1 million upgrade which includes new passenger lounges on platforms 2 and 3 (since renumbered 1 and 2, following the closure of the original bay platform at the south end of the former platform 2), new toilet facilities on platforms 2 (now 1), 4 and 5, new customer information screens and improved security including the installation of

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly ...

cameras within the station and car park. A further major remodeling occurred in 2013, when three new platforms were opened and the original platform 1 bay was removed. Original platforms 2 and 3 were renumbered 1 and 2. A new platform face on the southbound through line was opened and numbered 3, together with a new island platform to the west of the station, on the site of the former fly-ash sidings and reversible freight line, these being numbered 6 and 7. Both the passenger footbridge and the former parcels bridge at the north end of the station were extended to the new island, lifts being added to the passenger footbridge.

Changes in 2014

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's len ...

spent a reported £2.5 million on Peterborough station and its surroundings, in a move that is intended to increase passenger capacity on trains and ease freight movements through the station. This upgrade has seen changes to the booking office and station concourse building along with the introduction of ticket gates. In addition some refurbishment work and changes have been made to the waiting rooms and other facilities on platform 4/5.

Station Masters

*Donald Mackenzie 1897 - 1916 (formerly station master at Holbeck) *Harry Sutcliffe 1916 - 1918 *F.J. Trotter 1918 - 1921 *George Sutcliffe 1921 - 1927 (afterwards station master at King's Cross) *Harry Ireland 1927 - 1932 (afterwards station master at King's Cross) *William E. Stephenson 1932 - ???? (formerly station master at Monkseaton, Whitley Bay and Cullercoats) *Reginald Repath 1950 - 1956 (afterwards station master at Bolton) *Maurice Hughes 1956 - ????

Facilities

The station has a concourse and ticket office area which was internally redesigned and reopened in mid-2012. The concourse features both a newsagents and a cafe. For general assistance there is a customer information point located on platform 1 by the concourse, as well as customer service offices on platform 5 and near the toilets on platform 2. All platforms are accessible by means of a passenger footbridge with lifts and also by a ramp bridge at the north end of the station. There is on site car parking. Within a few minutes walk is Peterborough city centre, and the Queensgate shopping centre. As of March 2013, there is an automated cycle hire scheme outside the south end of the station building.

Services

There are regular services to and from , operated by

and by

Great Northern Great Northern may refer to: Transport * One of a number of railways; see Great Northern Railway (disambiguation). * Great Northern Railway (U.S.), a defunct American transcontinental railroad and major predecessor of the BNSF Railway. * Great ...

. Southbound EC services run either non-stop to the capital or call only at : northbound destinations include

Edinburgh Waverley Edinburgh Waverley railway station (also known simply as Waverley; gd, Waverley Dhùn Èideann) is the principal railway station serving Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the second busiest station in Scotland, after Glasgow Central. It is the north ...

, , , , and (though many Scottish services now run non-stop from London to ). Great Northern trains start and terminate at Peterborough (twice each hour with peak period extras Mon-Sat) and serve the intermediate stations southwards. This has now become a

Thameslink Thameslink is a 24-hour main-line route in the British railway system, running from , , , and via central London to Sutton, , , Rainham, , , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying ...

service largely to and from

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

CrossCountry CrossCountry (legal name XC Trains Limited) is a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Arriva UK Trains, operating the Cross Country franchise. The CrossCountry franchise was restructured by the Department for Transport (DfT ...

regional services run hourly between

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

via

and .

East Midlands Railway Abellio East Midlands Limited, trading as East Midlands Railway (EMR), is a train operating company in England, owned by Abellio, and is the current operator of the East Midlands franchise. History In March 2017, the Department for Transport ...

are also hourly, between

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the Episcopal see, See of ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

via , and

Manchester Piccadilly Manchester Piccadilly is the principal railway station in Manchester, England. Opened as Store Street in 1842, it was renamed Manchester London Road in 1847 and became Manchester Piccadilly in 1960. Located to the south-east of Manchester city ...

. EMR also operate local services to Spalding, and Lincoln on an approximately hourly frequency (though morning peak and evening services only run as far as Spalding). Greater Anglia operate a two-hourly service to via Ely and . Sunday services run less frequently on the ECML, but on similar frequencies on the regional routes other than the Spalding Line, which has no service.

Station layout

*Platform 1: Through platform, predominantly used by terminating

services from Horsham via St. Pancras International, as well as Great Northern (peak times only) and

services to King's Cross. The

shuttle services to/from Spalding occasionally use this platform. Renumbered from 2 in December 2013. A south-facing

bay platform In the United Kingdom and in Australia, a bay platform is a dead-end railway platform at a railway station that has through lines. It is normal for bay platforms to be shorter than their associated through platforms. Overview Bay and isl ...

, former Platform 1, was decommissioned & lifted in December 2013. *Platform 2: An island through platform (formerly numbered 3), predominantly used by terminating

services from Horsham via St. Pancras International, as well as Great Northern (peak times only) and London North Eastern Railway services to King's Cross. It is also used by the hourly East Midlands Railway service to & Lincoln, typically operated by Class 156 DMUs. *Platform 3: New through island platform alongside the up fast line, commissioned in December 2013. Used almost entirely by London North Eastern Railway fast services to London, though some Great Northern suburban trains also use it; non-stop southbound trains also pass through this platform. *Down Fast: Through track between Platforms 3 and 4 for non-stop passenger services. These are used by northbound non-stop London North Eastern Railway,

Hull Trains Hull Trains is an open-access railway operator in England owned by the multinational transport company FirstGroup. It operates long-distance passenger services between Hull / Beverley and London King's Cross. It has a track-access agreement u ...

, Grand Central and Lumo services. *Platform 4: Through island platform, used predominantly by northbound London North Eastern Railway services to , and

. It is also used, albeit infrequently, by some

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, L ...

train services. *Platform 5: Through island platform, adjacent to platform 4, used predominantly for freight;

between and

and northbound London North Eastern Railway services can be diverted to platform 5 if required. **Platforms 4 & 5 are used in the evening peak by terminating Great Northern services from King's Cross, so the stock can be taken to Nene Carriage Sidings, located to the south of the station. *Platforms 6 & 7: These new platforms were commissioned over the Christmas break 2013,Peterborough railway station closed to complete £43m upgrade
''BBC News'' 24 December 2013; Retrieved 11 January 2014 and are now used by

services between / via and

Birmingham New Street Birmingham New Street is the largest and busiest of the three main railway stations in Birmingham city centre, England, and a central hub of the British railway system. It is a major destination for Avanti West Coast services from , and vi ...

via ;

services between and

; and Greater Anglia services to . No overhead line electrification. *Two-Way Goods Line: bi-directional freight loop located beyond platform 7. This is frequently used by the many freight services that pass through Peterborough along with Platforms 4–7. Much freight is to/from

Felixstowe Felixstowe ( ) is a port town in Suffolk, England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest container port in the United Kingdom. Felixstowe is approximately 116km (72 miles) northeast of London. H ...

although other destinations are served.

Route

Below are the routes that Peterborough is currently on, as well as those that it has been on in the past:

References

* *

External links

{{Railway stations served by London North Eastern Railway Railway stations in Cambridgeshire DfT Category B stations Former Great Northern Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1850 Railway stations served by CrossCountry Greater Anglia franchise railway stations Railway stations served by East Midlands Railway Railway stations served by Govia Thameslink Railway Railway stations served by London North Eastern Railway Buildings and structures in Peterborough Transport in Peterborough Train driver depots in England 1850 establishments in England