Harpenden railway station

Harpenden railway station serves the town of Harpenden, Hertfordshire, England. It is situated on the Midland Main Line. The station is managed by First Capital Connect and is served by its Thameslink route service.

History
The second station in Harpenden, it was built by the Midland Railway in 1868 on its extension to St. Pancras, however nothing remains of the original station buildings. Although located on Station Road, the road is actually named after the first station, Harpenden East, now closed.

A branch line, built by the Hemel Hempstead Railway Company in 1877, known as the Nicky Line but operated by the Midland, formerly diverged from the main line north of the station. The intention had been to meet the LNWR at Boxmoor but the section from Hemel Hempstead never had a passenger service. In 1886 a south curve was added to the junction allowing passengers to join the London trains at Harpenden rather than Luton. The branch was closed in 1964. The route remains in use as a cycleway, passing under the M1 in a tunnel.

A row of five brick built former coal merchant's offices along the station approach are now used as small retail and office units.

Facilities
The station has facilities toilets, a newsagent, dry cleaner, taxi office and rank, and a coffee shop.

The station also has ticket machines on both sides sides of the station.

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

All four platforms have been extended to support 12-carriage trains as part of the Thameslink programme. This also required widening a road bridge. Work on these started on 21 November 2010 and was completed in May 2011. The construction of a new footbridge with lifts for disabled access has been completed and links up all four platforms. and The East side of the station (platform 1 side) has two entrances both with ticket gates to ease congestion during peak times. The west side entrance is where the ticket office is located, but it also has ticket machines too.

2006/07 services
The typical off-peak service pattern saw six trains per hour in each direction operated by First Capital Connect. Four of these were fast trains between Bedford and Brighton, via Kings Cross Thameslink station in central London and Gatwick Airport. The remaining two trains called at all stations between Luton and Sutton (in South London).

December 2007
Following the closure of Kings Cross Thameslink, First Capital Connect now operate trains on the Thameslink route between Bedford, Luton, Sutton and Brighton calling at the new low level platforms at St Pancras.

East Midlands Trains operate trains on the Midland Main Line route from St Pancras International to/from Leeds, Sheffield, Derby, Nottingham and Leicester through the station, but do not stop. Interchange with these trains can be made 1 or 2 stops to the north, either at Luton or Luton Airport Parkway, dependent on the service.

2009
From March 2009, First Capital Connect, in partnership with Southeastern began running a new Luton-Sevenoaks service. These trains call at Harpenden.

Future
From 2015, Wimbledon trains are likely to be withdrawn.

Thameslink
The following off-peak services will be in operation after the Thameslink programme is completed in 2018:


 * 4tph Bedford - Brighton semi-fast
 * 2tph Luton - Sevenoaks slow