Bishop's Stortford railway station

Bishop's Stortford railway station serves the town of Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire, England. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by Greater Anglia; this includes the 2 or 3tph Stansted Express service.

History
The station was opened by the Northern and Eastern railway as a temporary terminus on 16 May 1842, and became a through station on 30 July 1845 when the line was extended through to Norwich.

In 1843 the train from London to Bishop's Stortford was timetabled to run at 36 miles an hour, exclusive of stops - the fastest booked run on any English railway at the time.

The station site included a large goods yard occupying the land now used for car parking as well as sidings running as far west as the riverside wharves of the Stort Navigation. To the east, a small turntable and engine sheds lay on land recently used as a garage and (as of 2012) earmarked for supermarket use. During the station's heyday, the station had two signal boxes, "South", located opposite the current building and behind platform 3, and "North", controlling access to the Bishop's Stortford-Braintree Branch Line.

For most of the station's life, four lines passed through it (as opposed to the current three lines); up and down main lines to the west of the now much extended island platform, and a branch line and passing loop (with access to turntable) to the east of the island platform, the northern end of which was located where the footbridge is today.

Bishop's Stortford was also a junction station for the cross-country route to Dunmow and Braintree, which opened to passengers on 22 February 1869 and closed on 3 March 1952. The line continued in use for freight trains and occasional excursions, closing in stages with the final section to Easton Lodge closing on 17 February 1972.

Services
The typical off-peak service is (two or three more trains are added for peak times):
 * 4 trains per hour (tph) to London Liverpool Street, of which:
 * 2 call at Tottenham Hale to set down only
 * 1 calls at Sawbridgeworth, Harlow Town, Broxbourne, Cheshunt and Tottenham Hale
 * 1 calls at Sawbridgeworth, Harlow Mill, Harlow Town, Roydon, Broxbourne, Cheshunt and Tottenham Hale
 * 1 tph to Stratford, calling at Sawbridgeworth, Harlow Mill, Harlow Town, Roydon, Broxbourne, Cheshunt, Enfield Lock, Northumberland Park and Tottenham Hale
 * 3 tph to Stansted Airport, of which:
 * 2 run non stop
 * 1 calls at Stansted Mountfitchet
 * 2 tph to Cambridge, of which:
 * 1 calls at Audley End and Whittlesford
 * 1 calls at Stansted Mountfitchet, Elsenham, Newport (Essex), Audley End, Great Chesterford, Whittlesford Parkway and Shelford.

On Sundays this is reduced to:
 * 3 tph to London, of which:
 * 2 call at Tottenham Hale only
 * 1 call at Sawbridgeworth, Harlow Town, Broxbourne, Cheshunt and Tottenham Hale
 * 1 tph to Stratford, calling at stations as above until Cheshunt, then at Waltham Cross, Enfield Lock, Brimsdown, Ponders End and Tottenham Hale
 * 2 tph to Stansted Airport, of which:
 * 1 runs non stop
 * 1 calls at Stansted Mountfitchet
 * 2 tph to Cambridge, of which:
 * 1 calls at Audley End and Whittlesford
 * 1 calls at Stansted Mountfitchet, Elsenham, Newport (Essex), Audley End, Great Chesterford, Whittlesford and Shelford

Other services
On Mondays to Fridays four trains per day during and around the evening peak are extended beyond Cambridge. One terminates at Ely, the rest continue to King's Lynn. At all other times it is necessary to change at Cambridge for onward travel to Ely using services provided by Cross Country Trains, East Midlands Trains or First Capital Connect, the last of these three TOCs also serving King's Lynn.

The station today
The station has 3 platforms. Platform 1 is for services towards Stansted Airport and Cambridge. Platform 2 is used for services to London Liverpool Street and London Stratford. Platform 3 is not used as much as the other two, it is normally used for some trains that terminate at Bishops Stortford rather than going on to Stansted Airport. In the days before 1985 when Bishop's Stortford was the northern limit of electrification it was used for slow trains to London Liverpool Street and to Cambridge; therefore platform 2 was used for fast trains (Stansted Express). The station has two entrances. One from Station Road where there is ticket hall, waiting room and Real Time information. The other entrance is for direct access to Platforms 2 and 3. Ticket barriers have been installed at the station to prevent fare evasion.