Kettering railway station

Infobox UK station
name = Kettering


manager = East Midlands Trains
locale = Kettering
code = KET
borough = Kettering (borough)
start = 1857
platforms = 4
usage0405 = 0.933
usage0506 = 0.921
usage0607 = 1.012

Kettering railway station is to the south-west of the Kettering town centre in Northamptonshire, England. It lies on the Midland Main Line, 115 km (72 miles) north of London St. Pancras and is served primarily by slower East Midlands Trains Class 222 "Meridian" services, with HST services at peak times.

Through-fares were made available from 68 UK towns and cities to Paris, Brussels and other destinations in France and Belgium in late 2007, which must be booked through Eurostar. [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]

Being relatively close to London, the frequency of trains to the capital in the morning and evening peak is excellent for commuting, with a train running (occasionally non stop) every twenty minutes with the quickest journeys taking forty-five minutes.

History

The station was opened in May 1857 by the Midland Railway on a line linking the Midland to the Great Northern Railway at Hitchin. (Later the Midland gained its own London terminus at St Pancras railway station) It was designed by C H Driver, with particularly fine "pierced grill" cast ironwork on the platforms. Although it was altered between 1879 and 1884 when the line was quadrupled and again in 1896, it is one of best remaining examples of Midland architecture.

At the time, the leather trade being in recession, over half of its population was on poor relief. The railway enabled the town to sell its products over a much wider area and restored it to prosperity.

In the 1970s the glass canopies became a maintenance headache for British Rail, who proposed to remove the tops of the cast iron columns and replace the glass canopies with plastic sheeting. Kettering Civic Society objected to the plans and the canopies and columns were reprieved, later to be sympathetically restored by Railtrack in 2000.

Services

There is a half-hourly service to London St. Pancras and via Leicester to either Derby (on the hour) or Nottingham (on the half hour), both operated by East Midlands Trains Meridian trains.

The morning and evening peak periods see additional trains stop, these are generally operated by Inter City 125 (HST) trains. Northbound evening peak trains operate to Sheffield and Leeds. In addition to these, the Meridian services are extended to Burton upon Trent and from December 2008, services are proposed to continue to Lincoln via Newark and Melton Mowbray via Corby.

The weekend sees trains operating to Barnsley and York. In the summer months there are also weekend trains to Scarborough, and in future (possibly around 2010) to Skegness.

Facilities

Kettering is a staffed station, who are present during operational hours (05:00-00:30), and is locked and inaccessible during non operational times (01:00-04:30). The station is monitored via CCTV cameras which are monitored locally and at the town council offices.
*Lifts to all platforms.
*Large pay and display car park (currently 2007 - £6.50 per day).
*Waiting rooms on all platforms.
*Pumpkin Cafe.
*Less able toilet and Baby change.
*Corby bus link (connecting with all arrivals).
*FastTicket machine
*Food Vending machines.
*Payphones.
*Taxis.

The station has the PlusBus scheme where train and bus tickets can be bought together at a saving.

Destinations

Major urban centres

Many of the UK's major cities can be reached with one or two changes. Many continental cities can be reached via one change at St Pancras International.

The following places can be reached directly from Kettering (Journey times approximate)
*London (St Pancras International) - 50-65 minutes
*Derby - 55 mins
*Nottingham - 55 mins
*Sheffield - 1 hour 25 mins
*Luton - 40 mins

The following places are only reached directly from Kettering at certain times:
*Doncaster - 1 hour 45 mins (Evenings)
*Wakefield - 1 hour 55 mins (Evenings)
*Leeds - 2 hours 15 mins (Peak times)
*York - 2 hours 30 mins (1 journey each way - weekends only)

The following places can be reached from Kettering by changing once (Journey times approximate)
*Stoke-on-Trent, Crewe - Change at Derby
*Edinburgh, Newcastle - Change at Sheffield or Derby
*Manchester, Liverpool - Change at Nottingham
*Inverness - Change at York

Passengers are able to travel to Paris and Brussels by changing at St Pancras Int. East Midlands Trains,have said they will introduce earlier journeys to London to allow passengers to arrive in Paris or Brussels before 9am. [ cite web|url=http://www.eastmidlandstrains.co.uk/fleet.php|title=East Midlands Trains > General Information > Our Plans > Fleet improvement ]

Local important centres

The following places can be reached directly from Kettering (Journey times approximate)
*Bedford - 32 mins
*Loughborough - 36 mins
*Market Harborough - 10 mins
*Wellingborough - 7/9 mins
The following places are only reached directly from Kettering at certain times:
*Burton-on-Trent - 1 hour 30 mins
*Barnsley - 2 hours
The following places can be reached from Kettering by changing once (Journey times approximate)
*Bradford, Halifax - change at Leeds
*Norwich - Change at Nottingham
*Huddersfield, Rotherham, Hull, Grimsby - Change at Sheffield
*Grantham, Skegness - Change at Nottingham
*Mansfield, - Change at Nottingham

Corby

Just to the north of Kettering is the junction for the Oakham to Kettering Line, which leads through Corby to Manton Junction where it joins the Leicester to Peterborough Line. This historically provided an alternative route for expresses to Nottingham via Old Dalby.

Passenger services were withdrawn from this line in the 1960s, though it remains open for freight. In 1987 Network South East experimentally introduced a shuttle service between Kettering and a new station in the nearby town of Corby. The service was however withdrawn a few years later. Corby is often quoted as being the largest town in western Europe with no rail station. There is a campaign on to have the service reinstated. In the mean time East Midlands Trains runs a shuttle bus from Corby to Kettering station. Occasionally the line is used as a diversionary route when the route between Kettering and Leicester is closed for whatever reason.

There may be a new station at Corby built by December 2008 which will have 1tph to and from Corby as a shuttle serivce to and form London. Trains will call at Kettering, Wellingborough, Bedford, Luton/Luton Airport Parkway and St Pancras. From 2010 EMT are planning to run a northbound service from the town to Oakham. [cite web|url=http://www.northantset.co.uk/news/Rail-service-could-run-north.3799253.jp|title=Rail service could run north of town|date=February 21 2008|publisher=Northants Evening Telegraph]

Tickets

The ticket office is open to retail all rail products for any journey from 06:00 until 20:30 Monday to Sunday, at all other times a vending machine is accessible to issue tickets for that day.

Fares on many routes were increased at the start of 2008 (which is common with rail operators), which has made some fares disproportionately more expensive than those at other local stations. To enable more affordable travel, passengers can ask retailers to 'split their ticket' - eg. buying a day return to Bedford then a day return from Bedford to London can make the overall fare to London much cheaper (this is possible on many routes, not just London). Be aware that retailers are instructed not to do this unless asked, also, that the train must stop at the station where the tickets change over, although you don't have to get off.

Season tickets offer good value for anyone travelling at peak commuter times, making the same journey, often only twice in a week.

References

External links