St Albans City railway station

Infobox UK station
name = St Albans


caption = Exterior of the main building on Station Way.
code = SAC
manager = First Capital Connect
locale = St Albans
borough = City and District of St Albans
usage0405 = 5.340
usage0506 = 5.635
usage0607 = 6.041
platforms = 4
start = 1 October 1868

St Albans railway station is one of two railway stations in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. It is located about half a mile east of the city centre. It is the more important of the two, situated on the Midland Main Line and served by First Capital Connect on the Thameslink service.

It was built by the Midland Railway in 1868 on its extension to St Pancras. Formerly, St Albans was famous for producing watercress which was sent in 56 pound lots to London and Manchester.

The station is also often referred to as St Albans City. This is so not to confuse it with the city's other station, St Albans Abbey, which was built by the London and North Western Railway in 1858. There was a further station - London Road - built by the Hatfield and St Albans Railway in 1863 to connect with the Great Northern Railway.

Through-fares were made available from St Albans as well as 67 other UK towns and cities to Paris, Brussels and other destinations in France and Belgium in late 2007. [cite web |url=http://www.eurostar.com/UK/uk/leisure/about_eurostar/press_release/through_fares_UK_continental_europe_available_eurostar.jsp |title=Through-fares from 68 UK towns and cities to continental Europe now available on eurostar.com |work=Eurostar.com |accessdate=2007-12-28]

Description

The station has four platforms, two for each direction: one "fast" and one "slow". The main entrance, ticket office, multi-storey car park, taxi rank and bus connections are on Station Way, east of the station. There is a second exit to the west, to a small surface car park off Ridgmont Road and Victoria Street, located at the original entrance to the station. Somewhat controversially, a larger surface car park to the east of the railway lines gained planning permission in 2003, in connection with a large residential development. [http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/ld__stalbans.pdf]

The station has a PlusBus scheme where train and bus tickets can be bought together for a cheaper price.

There is also a newsagents, a dry cleaners, a flower stall and a stall selling hot pies. The two free cash machines have recently been replaced with machines that charge £1.85 for a cash withdrawal.

ervices

2008 (Thameslink)

The typical off-peak service sees eight trains per hour in each direction. There are four fast trains per hour between Bedford and Brighton, via Luton to the north, and London St Pancras and Gatwick Airport to the south. There are also four trains per hour to Sutton and Wimbledon via Central London, two of which start from Luton.

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InterCity Services

East Midlands Trains InterCity services from Leeds, Sheffield and Leicester run through at high speed, but do not stop. Interchange with InterCity services can be made at Luton and St Pancras International.

During British Railways days Intercity services from St Pancras stopped at St Albans.

Gallery

References

ources

*

ee also

* St Albans railway station, Melbourne

External links