St Albans City railway station 2115508 abd38a94

St Albans City railway station, also known simply as St Albans, is one of two railway stations serving the city of

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

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For gov ...

, England (the other being ). The 'City' station is the larger of the two, as it is on the better-connected

Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line is a major railway line in England from London to Nottingham and Sheffield in the Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras station via Leicester, Derby/Nottingham and Chesterfield in the East Midlands ...

from London St Pancras, being 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. 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 ...

in 1868, on its extension to St Pancras. St Albans was famous for producing

watercress Watercress or yellowcress (''Nasturtium officinale'') is a species of aquatic flowering plant in the cabbage family Brassicaceae. Watercress is a rapidly growing perennial plant native to Europe and Asia. It is one of the oldest known leaf v ...

, which was sent in lots to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

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

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 A multistorey car park ( British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck or indoor parking, is a bui ...

, 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 Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building per ...

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 Sainsburys local which opened in February 2022 There are also 3 more retail units, 2 on Platform 1 and one on Platform 4. However, these have not been filled 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 is under way.

Services

All services at St Albans City are operated by

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 ...

using

EMUs Emus may refer to: * Emu The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the ...

. 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 and . 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