Welwyn Garden City railway station

Welwyn Garden City
Welwyn Garden City Platform 1
Location
Place	Welwyn Garden City
Local authority	Welwyn Hatfield
Coordinates	51.801°N 0.204°W / 51.801; -0.204
Grid reference	TL240129
Operations
Station code	WGC
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 *	1.717 million
2004/05 *	2.002 million
2005/06 *	2.021 million
2006/07 *	2.322 million
2007/08 *	2.502 million
2008/09 *	2.522 million
2009/10 *	2.385 million
History
Opened 20 September 1926 (20 September 1926)
History
Original company	London and North Eastern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway
1 September 1920	First station Welwyn Garden City Halt opened
20 September 1926	First station closed; present station Welwyn Garden City opened
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 Welwyn Garden City 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

Welwyn Garden City railway station serves the town of Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire, England. The station is approximately 20 miles (32 km) north of London Kings Cross on the East Coast Main Line. Welwyn Garden City station is managed and served by First Capital Connect.

History

A station named Welwyn Junction was opened with the Hertford and Welwyn Junction Railway on 1 March 1858. This station ceased to be used for services on 1 September 1860.

A halt named Welwyn Garden City Halt opened on 1 September 1920, shortly after the town was incorporated; this was on the now defunct Luton/Dunstable branch line, slightly further north than the present station. This line cuts west and north through Sherrardspark Wood, and on towards Wheathampstead via what is now Ayot Greenway.

The present Welwyn Garden City station opened on 20 September 1926; Welwyn Garden City Halt was closed at the same time. Prior to this, services to Luton and the Hertford line, which cut east through the town, were handled from nearby Hatfield. The Hertford branch line was closed to rail passenger traffic in 1951 and to goods in 1966, whilst the Dunstable line fell victim to the Beeching Axe in April 1965 (although goods traffic survived until 1971).

When the Howard Centre shopping centre was opened in October 1990, the original ticketing hall was demolished. It is now inside of the Howard Centre with steps linking down to the original bridge and then platforms.

The line near the station has seen two serious train crashes. One in 1935, and another in 1957.

Facilities

Welwyn Garden City was refurbished by First Capital Connect during 2007, which saw new lighting be installed and new waiting rooms and toilets on each platform, using existing buildings. The refurbishments also saw the installation of Automatic Ticket Gates and two new platform shelters further along the platforms from the canopies. There is also a station buffet/bar located on Platforms 1 and 2.

The station has direct access to the Howard Centre. The shopping centre also incorporates the station's ticket office on the first floor. There are 5 ticket machines; 3 standard touch screen machines, one "FAST-TICKET" machine and one "Credit/Debit Card Only" machine. There are also telephones and help-points throughout the station.

Towards the end of 2007 Welwyn Garden City was awarded "Secure Station" status, along with many other stations along the Great Northern route as part of a stations improvement programme by First Capital Connect. As part of this award, many additional cameras were installed at the station.

Services

Monday to Saturdays, trains operate half-hourly on First Capital Connect's "London-Cambridge/Peterborough" line towards London Kings Cross and hourly towards Cambridge and Peterborough respectively. On Sundays there is an hourly service southbound to London and northbound to Cambridge.

Welwyn Garden City is a terminus for First Capital Connect's "London - Welwyn line" stopping service. Trains depart every 20 minutes to Moorgate in London weekdays and outside of these times every half hour to London Kings Cross. A rail flyover was constructed south of the station to allow the Moorgate trains to arrive and depart from Platform 4. There is also a limited stop service to London King's Cross at peak times, notably just after 7am where a train runs non-stop to Finsbury Park and 8am where the next stop is Potters Bar.

The station is also served by various buses operated by both Arriva and Centrebus.

Ticket Office Opening Times & Station Staffing Hours

Below are the current opening and staffing times for Welwyn Garden City, as of 2010.

Ticket Office Hours
Day	Opens	Closes
Monday to Friday	06:00	20:00
Saturday	07:00	19:30
Sunday	07:30	19:00

Station Staffing Hours
Day	Times
Monday to Sunday	24 Hours

Station layout

The sidings at Welwyn Garden City consist of 6 bays, currently used for the twice-weekly reversal of empty gypsum wagons returning from Hitchin to Peak Forest along occasional Rail tamper units and departmental wagon storage.

The carriage sidings, just north of the station currently, consist of 9 sidings with the 8-car 317/365's able to use only 5 of the sidings because if they used the other sidings, they would block the siding next to it.

Platforms 2 & 3 are in regular use for services to/from London Kings Cross, Peterborough and Cambridge, also used for terminating trains for the carriage sidings and where trains from the carriage sidings form into passenger service.

Platform 4 is used for services to/from Moorgate, also used for terminating trains for the carriage sidings and where trains from the carriage sidings form into passenger service.

Platform 1 is the reserve platform and is in regular use although not as much as Platform 4.

The West exit off the passenger footbridge leads into the Howard centre where the main station ticket office is located on the first floor while the East exit leads to the Broadwater industrial area.

Route

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Hatfield		First Capital Connect Great Northern Semi-Fast		Welwyn North
Hatfield		First Capital Connect Great Northern Stopping		Terminus
	Disused railways
Hatfield Line and station open		Great Northern Railway Dunstable Branch		Ayot Line and station closed
		Great Northern Railway Hertford and Welwyn Junction Railway		Cole Green Line and station closed

Bibliography

• Body, G. (1986). PSL Field Guides - Railways of the Eastern Region Volume 1. Wellingborough: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 0-85059-712-9. 
• Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1 85260 508 1. R508. 
• Conolly, W. Philip (January 1976). British Railways Pre-Grouping Atlas and Gazetteer (5th ed.). Shepperton: Ian Allan. ISBN 0 7110 0320 3. EX/0176. 

External links

• Train times and station information for Welwyn Garden City railway station from National Rail
• Timetable downloads for Welwyn Garden City at First Capital Connect