Hatfield railway station

Hatfield railway station serves the town of Hatfield in Hertfordshire, England. The station is managed by First Capital Connect.It is located approximately 18 mi north of London Kings Cross on the East Coast Main Line.

History
Hatfield was the junction for a now-closed branch line to Dunstable Town. It was also the junction of a second railway that ran to St Albans Abbey. The former was closed in 1965 under the Beeching Axe, and the latter succumbed some 14 years earlier (in 1951) as part of postwar economies brought in by the British Transport Commission. The route of the St Albans Abbey line is now a public footpath, the Alban Way, while the closure of the Dunstable Town line has left Dunstable as one of the largest towns in England without a direct rail connection.

Facilities
Hatfield has basic waiting rooms on both platforms, with extra shelters provided further along the platforms too, as well as a canopy on Platform 1. In front of the station entrance and on platform 1 is a small café-shop style business, "Chuggs". There are three platform faces in total - platform 1 is a side platform facing the Up Slow line & used by London-bound trains (there is no platform on the Up Fast line), whilst platforms 2 & 3 face the Down Fast and Down Slow lies respectively; the latter is used by the majority of northbound trains.

The station has a "Fast-Ticket" machine, as well as a standard touchscreen machine on either side of the building. Hatfield also has many vending machines throughout the station and a photo booth inside the entrance, which also contains toilets for both genders and a separate disabled toilet. Ticket barriers are in operation.

Services
During the daytime there is generally a half-hourly fast service to London Kings Cross southbound and also every 20 minutes a stopping service to Moorgate Monday to Fridays and half-hourly on weekends to Kings Cross.

Northbound there is a half-hourly service to Stevenage and Hitchen, with trains continuing to Cambridge and Peterborough every alternate half hour, giving an hourly service to each. There is also a stopping service to Welwyn Garden City on the same pattern as that to Moorgate (every 20 minutes weekdays, half-hourly evenings & weekends).

First Capital Connect Timetables for Hatfield can be seen and downloaded here.

Accidents
Two fatal rail crashes have occurred near Hatfield:
 * December 1870 accident, when a disintegrated wheel resulted in the deaths of six passengers and two bystanders.
 * October 2000 accident, when a GNER InterCity 225 train de-railed, killing four people and injuring 70.

Ticket Office Opening Times & Station Staffing Hours
Below are the current opening and staffing times for Hatfield,.

Redevelopment
Hatfield Station is to be redeveloped to include a new bus interchange and taxi rank, multi-storey car park, new ticket office, retail units and step-free access to all platforms.

Work on the project, which is to cost £9 million, will begin in 2013 and be completed by the end of that year.