Biggleswade railway station

Biggleswade
The entrance to the station
Location
Place	Biggleswade
Local authority	Central Bedfordshire
Grid reference	TL192443
Operations
Station code	BIW
Managed by	First Capital Connect
Number of platforms	4
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage
2002/03 *	0.582 million
2004/05 *	0.638 million
2005/06 *	0.654 million
2006/07 *	0.689 million
2007/08 *	0.751 million
2008/09 *	0.734 million
2009/10 *	0.703 million
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 estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Biggleswade from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Please note: methodology may vary year on year.

FCC Great Northern Route

Legend King's Lynn Watlington Peterborough Downham Market Littleport Ely Huntingdon Waterbeach Cambridge St Neots Foxton Shepreth Sandy Meldreth Royston Biggleswade Ashwell & Morden Baldock Arlesey Letchworth Garden City Hitchin Stevenage Knebworth Watton-at-Stone Welwyn North Hertford North Welwyn Garden City Bayford Hatfield Cuffley Welham Green Crews Hill Brookmans Park Gordon Hill Potters Bar Enfield Chase Hadley Wood Grange Park New Barnet Winchmore Hill Oakleigh Park Palmers Green New Southgate Bowes Park Alexandra Palace Hornsey Harringay Finsbury Park London King's Cross Drayton Park Highbury & Islington Essex Road Old Street Moorgate

Biggleswade Railway Station serves the town of Biggleswade in Bedfordshire, England. The station is 41 miles (66 km) north of London Kings Cross on the East Coast Main Line. Biggleswade is managed and served by First Capital Connect.

Biggleswade station was originally built in 1850 for the Great Northern railway. This made Biggleswade the first town in Bedfordshire to have a mainline railway station.^{[citation needed]} The original station consisted of two lines but was rebuilt in 1901 to allow the present 4 line arrangement to be built.

Biggleswade has two large platforms and 4 main rail lines, a pair of "up and down" slow lines used by stopping services and a pair of "up and down" fast lines used by high speed services passing through. A fifth line extends off the "up" slow line which links into the remaining sidings used by Plasmor.

The stations platforms are about to be lengthened so that they can cope with 12 car trains, which will serve the station following the completion of the Thameslink Programme.

Facilities

Following a recent £60,000 refurbishment by First Capital Connect the station now has two waiting rooms and two sets of toilets on Platforms 1/2, and also a small cafe at the bottom of the stairs. Platforms 3/4 currently only have a small shelter. The station has another small cafe in the old station buildings and a ticket office.

There are two modern Touch Screen ticket machines located in front of the booking office, and both sheltered and secure cycle storage is provided next to the station buildings. There are currently 4 helpoints located at various points in the station, including one in the main car park.

Biggleswade station does not currently have automatic ticket gates, and is unlikely to do so in the future, as with the current footbridge it is not possible.

Services

Biggleswade station is served by a half-hourly service southbound to London Kings Cross and northbound to Peterborough. There is an hourly service in each direction on Sundays. There are also extra services during the peak that run fast to Biggleswade direct to/from Kings Cross.

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

History

Biggleswade station was once a busy goods yard with several sidings used for loading trains of market produce to be taken to London markets. The decline of this led to a reduction in the use of the station, and it is now used solely for passenger traffic. Plasmor bricks own the site where the former goods depot was sited, and these lines into the sidings are still active with train workings of breeze block bricks brought down from Heck to Biggleswade, where they are then unloaded onto lorries for distribution. The goods depot was demolished but the old weighbridge & office remain on site, although out of use.

Biggleswade also had a signal box but this was closed when semophore signals were replaced. The station was also used as a red star parcel office but this was closed in the mid 1980s when parcel traffic was forced to use Stevenage station.

Ticket Office Opening Times & Station Staffing Hours

Below are the current opening and staffing times for Biggleswade, as of 2010.

Ticket Office Hours
Day	Opens	Closes
Monday to Friday	06:20	14:15
Saturday	08:00	14:15
Sunday	08:15	14:15

Station Staffing Hours
Day	From	Until
Monday to Friday	06:05	14:35
Saturday	07:45	14:35
Sunday	08:00	14:35

Gallery

• 

  The station entrance in 2006.

Route

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Arlesey		First Capital Connect Great Northern Peterborough Line		Sandy

External links

• Train times and station information for Biggleswade railway station from National Rail