Harlow Town railway station

Harlow Town
Platform 3
Location
Place	Harlow
Local authority	Harlow
Operations
Station code	HWN
Managed by	Greater Anglia
Number of platforms	4
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage
2004/05 *	1.667 million
2005/06 *	1.627 million
2006/07 *	1.653 million
2007/08 *	1.713 million
2008/09 *	1.667 million
History
Opened 1842 (1842)
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 Harlow Town from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Please note: methodology may vary year on year.

A Network SouthEast Class 317 at Harlow Town in the mid 1990s

Harlow Town railway station serves the town of Harlow in Essex, England. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by Greater Anglia.

History

The station was opened in 1842 as Burnt Mill railway station, to serve the small village of the same name.

In 1959-60 the station was totally rebuilt to serve the post-war new town of Harlow, to designs by Paul Hamilton with John Bicknell and Ian Fraser of the British Railways (Eastern Region) architects department (chief architect: HH Powell). Described by Pevsner as "low, crisp and entirely ungimmicky", its architectural quality was recognised in 1996 when it was made a Grade II listed building. The listing entry states "the Eastern Region Architect's Department was the most creative branch of British Railways, designing a number of powerful modern stations in conjunction with the Region's electrification. The new station for Harlow New Town was the flagship of this achievement. It is a building with powerful spatial qualities, of especial interest particularly for its architectural design".

On July 13, 1960 the station was renamed Harlow Town. Its status as a listed building has meant that alterations to conform with the DDA have had to be done sensitively to protect the original architectural conception.

Services

All services at the station are operated by the rail company Greater Anglia, although some are branded as Stansted Express. All services use Class 317 and Class 379 electric multiple units.

Typical hourly off-peak service pattern:

• 4tph to Liverpool Street (2 fast, 2 semi-fast)
• 1tph to Stratford (stopping)
• 3tph to Stansted Airport (2 fast, 1 stopping)
• 2tph to Cambridge (1 semi-fast, 1 stopping)

(tph = trains per hour)

On Sundays there is one fewer train per hour to Liverpool Street and one fewer train per hour to Stansted Airport.

Stansted Express services take 33 minutes to Liverpool Street calling at Tottenham Hale only, and take 21 minutes to Stansted Airport.

The station today

The station has 4 platforms. Platform 2 is for services towards London Liverpool Street and Stratford. Platform 3 is for services towards Stansted Airport and Cambridge. Platforms 1 and 4 are used less frequently for slow trains and as a Waiting loop for freight trains from the aggregate terminal a mile up the line. Currently all platforms accommodate 12 car trains although the longest currently used on the line is 8 car.

Future developments

It is planned by December 2009 that ticket barriers will be in place at the station. This should reduce penalty fare evasion from the station. If Stansted Airport's expansion is given the go-ahead it is planned that the platforms will be extended to accommodate 12 car trains.

References

A WAGN EMU travels trough Harlow station in 2001.

External links

• Train times and station information for Harlow Town railway station from National Rail
• Images of England entry

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Roydon		Greater Anglia West Anglia Main Line		Harlow Mill
Tottenham Hale		Greater Anglia Stansted Express		Stansted Airport