St Albans Abbey railway station

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St Albans Abbey

Location

Place

St Albans

Local authority

St Albans

Operations

Managed by

London Midland

Platforms in use

Annual Rail Passenger Usage

2004/05 *

0.175 million

2005/06 *

0.187 million

History

Key dates

Opened 1858

National Rail - UK railway stations

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

* Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at St Albans Abbey from Office of Rail Regulation statistics.

UK Railways Portal

St Albans

Legend

Midland Main Line

St Albans City

St Albans Abbey

St Albans London Road

St Albans Branch Line

Sanders Siding

Salvation Army Halt

Hertfordshire County

Mental Hospital

Hill End

Hatfield to St Albans Line

Midland Main Line

St Albans Abbey railway station serves the town of St Albans, in Hertfordshire, England, being situated about 1 km south of the town centre in the St Stephen's area of the town. It is the terminus of the St Albans Branch Line from Watford Junction, which is part of the London Midland franchise. It is one of two stations in St Albans, the other being the much larger and busier St Albans City station.

The station consists of a single open-air platform and a car park. Tickets can be purchased on the train from the conductor.

As of April 2008, improvement works are being carried out on the station. This has taken several spaces in the car park out of service.

1 History
- 1.1 Branch to Hatfield
2 Services
3 Future
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

St Albans Abbey was the first railway station in St Albans, being built by the London and North Western Railway in 1858. It was, as it is now, the terminus of the line from Watford; the company's original plans to extend this line northwards to Luton and Dunstable never materialised. Although the Midland Railway opened their station (the present St Albans City station) in 1868, it was not until 1924 that "Abbey" was added to the station's title to avoid confusion (although by this stage, both stations were controlled by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway).

[edit] Branch to Hatfield

In 1865, the Great Northern Railway opened a branch line between St Albans and Hatfield which also terminated at St Albans Abbey with an intermediate stop at St Albans (London Road), and later at Smallford (1866), Salvation Army Halt (1897, originally Sanders Siding), Hill End (1899), Nast Hyde Halt (1910) and Lemsford Road Halt (1942). This branch line closed to passengers in 1951.^[1] Freight transport finally stopped in 1969^[2] and the track was removed. In the mid 1980s, the route was opened as a cycle path, now known as The Alban Way. The remains of the branch can be seen to the left of the single platform when looking down the line in the direction of Watford Junction, including overgrown remnants of the second platform which would have served the branch.

[edit] Services

Trains operate to Watford Junction every 45 minutes during Monday to Saturday daytimes, and every 60 minutes during weekday evenings and on Sundays. These services are all operated by London Midland.

[edit] Future

In November 2007 responsibility for the branch line, including St Albans Abbey, passed from Silverlink trains to Govia London Midland trains. Installation of Oyster Card readers on the stations along the branch is a possibility, although there are other ticketing options too.

Restoration of the old passing loop at Bricket Wood is being considered by the local authorities and Network Rail; if implemented, this would facilitate trains running every 30 minutes, instead of the current 45-minute service.