St Albans City railway station

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St Albans
Exterior of the main building on Station Way.
Location
Place	St Albans
Local authority	City and District of St Albans
Operations
Station code	SAC
Managed by	First Capital Connect
Platforms in use	4
Live departures and station information from National Rail
Annual Rail Passenger Usage
2004/05 *	5.340 million
2005/06 *	5.635 million
History
Key dates	Opened 1 October 1868
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 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 railway station is one of two railway stations in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. It is located about half a mile east of the city centre. It is the more important of the two, situated on the Midland Main Line and served by First Capital Connect on the Thameslink service.

It was built by the Midland Railway in 1868 on its extension to St Pancras. Formerly, St Albans was famous for producing watercress which was sent in 56 pound lots to London and Manchester.

The station is also often referred to as St Albans City. This is so not to confuse it with the city's other station, St Albans Abbey, which was built by the London and North Western Railway in 1858. There was a further station - London Road - built by the Hatfield and St Albans Railway in 1863 to connect with the Great Northern Railway.

Through-fares were made available from St Albans as well as 67 other UK towns and cities to Paris, Brussels and other destinations in France and Belgium in late 2007.^[1]

Contents 1 Description 2 Services 2.1 2008 (Thameslink) 2.2 InterCity Services 3 Gallery 4 References 5 Sources 6 See also 7 External links

[edit] 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. Somewhat controversially, a larger surface car park to the east of the railway lines gained planning permission in 2003, in connection with a large residential development. [1]

The station has a PlusBus scheme where train and bus tickets can be bought together for a cheaper price.

[edit] Services

[edit] 2008 (Thameslink)

The typical off-peak service sees eight trains per hour in each direction. There are four fast trains per hour between Bedford and Brighton, via Luton to the north, and London St Pancras and Gatwick Airport to the south. There are also four trains per hour to Sutton and Wimbledon via Central London, two of which start from Luton.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Harpenden		First Capital Connect Thameslink Bedford-Brighton		West Hampstead Thameslink
		First Capital Connect Thameslink Bedford-Brighton		St Pancras
Harpenden		First Capital Connect Thameslink Sutton Loop		Radlett
Terminus		First Capital Connect Thameslink Sutton Loop

[edit] InterCity Services

East Midlands Trains InterCity services from Leeds, Sheffield and Leicester run through at high speed, but do not stop. Interchange with InterCity services can be made at Luton and St Pancras International.

During British Railways days Intercity services from St Pancras stopped at St Albans.

[edit] Gallery

Northward view from the island platforms (Platforms 2 and 3). The points at the right are used by northbound terminating train to access the southbound platform 1 for the return trip.

Northbound Midland Mainline train, formed of Class 222 Meridian units, passing through Platform 4.

General view across the station, from the Victoria Street bridge.

Buildings on the island platform.

[edit] References

[edit] Sources

• Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present, 1st, Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0508-1. OCLC 60251199. 

[edit] See also

• St Albans railway station, Melbourne

[edit] External links

• Train times and station information for St Albans City railway station from National Rail

Coordinates: 51.750419° N 0.327439° W