|
Huntingdon railway station
(formerly known as Huntingdon North) serves the town of
Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire, England. It is on the East Coast
Main Line, 58 miles 70 chains (58.88 miles, 94.75 km) from
London King's Cross, and has three platforms: one bay and two
through platforms. The station is managed by Great Northern,
although most services are operated by Thameslink. During
engineering works or periods of disruption London North Eastern
Railway services sometimes call at Huntingdon, but there is no
regular London North Eastern Railway service from the station.
When originally opened by the Great Northern Railway on 7 August
1850, the station was just named Huntingdon, however, from 1
July 1923 until 15 June 1965 the station was known as Huntingdon
North to distinguish it from the nearby Huntingdon East on the
line between Cambridge and Kettering via St Ives. The latter
closed to passenger traffic in June 1959, along with the line.
From the mid 1970s to the late 1980s the station was slowly
rebuilt, going from a station with one platform connected to the
ticket office and an island platform to an electrified station
with the main platform, a bay platform as well as a separate
platform for the slow line. The reason for this was that
pre-1976, only three tracks went through the station causing a
major bottleneck in the area.
From 1977, when King's Cross suburban electric services were
introduced, until the main line to Peterborough was electrified
in 1988, local services were provided by a diesel multiple-unit
shuttle from Hitchin that started and terminated here –
passengers for stations further south had to change at Hitchin
onto the King's Cross–Royston outer suburban electric service.
Certain East Coast main line services between London, Doncaster
and York or Hull stopped here to provide onward connections for
through passengers and offer direct trains to the capital. There
were also a number of King's Cross–Peterborough through trains
for commuters at peak times. Once electrification began, stops
by longer-distance trains were gradually removed and had ceased
by the time British Rail was privatised in 1995, as can be seen
from the East Coast Main Line timetable of that era.
The station sustained an arson attack in 2005. Much of the
station roof had to be rebuilt, as did the booking hall.
Huntingdon is staffed for most of the day. Automatic ticket
barriers have been installed, as part of a wider programme by
the former franchisee, First Capital Connect, to place them
across large parts of the network as a revenue-protecting and
security exercise. The station has three touch-screen ticket
machines.
There are toilet facilities at the station, as well as shelters
on all platforms. The combined newsagent and buffet on the
London-bound platform closed in August 2017, and new tenants are
being sought. Vending machines are available on both platforms.
There is a taxi rank directly outside the entrance to the
London-bound platforms. A considerable amount of parking space
is provided adjacent to both platforms.
A bus concourse adjacent to the station is served by Stagecoach
East Busway B, Whippet 477, Whippet 45 and Dews Coaches 400/401.
|