Huntingdon railway station

Huntingdon
General information
Location	Huntingdonshire
Owned by	Network Rail
Managed by	First Capital Connect
Platforms	3
Other information
Station code	HUN
Key dates
7 August 1850	Station opens as Huntingdon
1 July 1923	Station renamed Huntingdon North
15 June 1964	Station renamed Huntingdon
1976	Station rebuild began
11 May 1987	First Electric service from rebuilt station
2005	Station building subject to partial rebuild

Huntingdon Railway Station serves the town of Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire. The station is on the East Coast Main Line and has three platforms; one bay and two through platforms. Huntingdon is managed and served by First Capital Connect, with East Coast services often calling during engineering works and periods of disruption.

History

A 1914 Railway Clearing House map showing (upper centre) railways in the vicinity of Huntingdon (shown here as G.N. STA.)

Great Northern route
King's Lynn Watlington Downham Market Littleport Ely Waterbeach Cambridge North Cambridge M11 motorway Foxton Shepreth Peterborough Meldreth Huntingdon Royston St Neots Ashwell & Morden St Neots South/Tempsford Sandy Baldock Biggleswade A1(M) motorway Arlesey Letchworth Garden City Hitchin Stevenage Knebworth Watton-at-Stone Welwyn North Hertford North Welwyn Garden City Bayford Hatfield Cuffley Welham Green M25 motorway Brookmans Park Crews Hill Potters Bar Gordon Hill M25 motorway 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 London St Pancras International Highbury & Islington Thameslink route Essex Road Old Street Moorgate

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.

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.

The station was subject to an arson attack in 2005, and much of the station roof had to be rebuilt, as well as the booking hall.

Facilities

Huntingdon is staffed for most of the day. Automatic ticket barriers have been installed, as part of a wider First Capital Connect programme to place them across large parts of the network as a revenue protection exercise and to help increase security. The station has 3 touch screen ticket machines.

There are male and female toilet facilities at the station, as well as shelters on all platforms. The station has a combined newsagent and buffet on the London bound platform, and a vending machine on the Peterborough bound platform.

There is a taxi rank situated directly outside the entrance to the London bound platforms. A considerable amount of parking is provided - there are large car parks adjacent to both platforms.

Services

Huntingdon 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. Journey times range from around 1 hour to 1 hour 20 minutes on these services.

There are also extra services during the peak that run fast and direct to/from Kings Cross calling at St. Neots, as well as some that additionally call at Biggleswade or Stevenage, then are fast to Kings Cross, and these services usually take around 40-45 minutes to Kings Cross.

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

During times of engineering work in the Hitchin area, Huntingdon often operates as the terminus for East Coast services from Scotland and the north-east of England, which are normally destined for Kings Cross. A rail replacement service usually runs from Huntingdon to Biggleswade/Stevenage to connect with services to/from London Kings Cross. Huntingdon is also used as a stop for East Coast services if Peterborough cannot be used.

Ticket Office Opening Times & Station Staffing Hours

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

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

Station Staffing Hours
Day	From	Until
Monday to Saturday	06:00	20:20
Sunday	08:00	20:20

Transport Links

A bus service is provided to and from Godmanchester (Bus 476 - 5 times daily), Hartford and St Ives (Bus 55 - normally every 20 minutes), from a stop directly adjacent to the station. More buses are available from a stop on the main road (George Street) nearby - buses 65/66 to and from St Neots and St Ives via Hinchingbrooke Hospital/Brampton, and Houghton/Wyton respectively; Bus 30 to Hinchingbrooke Hospital, Warboys and Ramsey; 35 to Wyton, Chatteris, Doddington and March.

Gallery

• 
  The station viewed from the footbridge.
• 
  Steam loco Bittern going through the station.
• 
  Huntingdon railway station
• A First Capital Connect Class 365 en route to Kings Cross.
  A First Capital Connect Class 365 en route to Kings Cross.
• 
  Huntingdon in August 1949.
• 
  Steam loco Tangemere passing through Platform 2.

Route

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
St. Neots		First Capital Connect Great Northern Peterborough Line		Peterborough
Historical railways
Offord and Buckden Line open, station closed		Great Northern Railway East Coast Main Line		Abbots Ripton Line open, station closed

External links

• Train times and station information for Huntingdon railway station from National Rail
• Historic England. "Details from listed building database ({{{num}}})". National Heritage List for England.