Alexandra Palace railway station

Infobox London station| name = Alexandra Palace|
|
years = 1 May 1859
events = Station opens as Wood Green
years1 = 1 August 1864
events1 = Station renamed Wood Green (Alexandra Park)
years2 = 18 March 1971
events2 = Station renamed Wood Green
years3 = 17 May 1982
events3 = Station renamed Alexandra Palace
platforms=3 | railexits0405=0.610|railcode=AAP|railexits0506=0.693 | railexits0607=1.043

Alexandra Palace railway station is in the London Borough of Haringey in north London, and is in Travelcard Zone 3. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by First Capital Connect.

It is the only surviving station of three that have served Alexandra Palace. "Alexandra Palace", sited actually at the palace, was on the Highgate - Alexandra Palace line, and "Palace Gates (Wood Green)" was on the Palace Gates Line. This station's name (originally Wood Green) was changed to Alexandra Palace though it has been through other variants including "Wood Green (Alexandra Palace)".

Just outside the station to the north is Bounds Green Depot, used for storage and maintenance of the high speed trains used on the East Coast Main Line. A line adjacent to the station platforms is used by shunters moving carriages and engines around in the depot.

History

Opened by the Great Northern Railway, it became part of the London and North Eastern Railway during the Grouping of 1923. The line then passed on to the Eastern Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.

When Sectorisation was introduced, the station was served by Network South East until the Privatisation of British Railways.

tation layout

The station has old buildings on Buckingham Road, with a modern footbridge connection to the platforms and across the tracks to Bedford Road. On the platforms there are only rudimentary modern buildings but during 2004 a station refreshment kiosk opened at Alexandra Palace.

Platform 1 is on the up slow line to London (served from either the Welwyn or Hertford directions), platform 2 is the up fast line, with few scheduled departures. The down fast is a through road, without a platform face. Platform 3 is used by northbound trains on the ECML slow line and trains on the Hertford Loop Line use platform 4. Note that trains to/from Hertford must use the outer platform lines.

ervices

Services from the station run to Moorgate on weekdays until about 10.00pm, and into London Kings Cross after 10.00pm Mondays to Fridays and all day on Saturdays and Sundays. Normally the service uses class 313 EMUs, as these are the only units cleared to Moorgate, although on weekends sometimes class 317 EMUs are used instead. Early mornings and late nights see a couple of four car (class 317 or class 365) trains scheduled to call (to/from Cambridge or Peterborough).

North of the station, the line divides, with half the trains running to Welwyn Garden City and the other half running to Hertford North or Letchworth Garden City. The typical Monday to Friday off-peak service frequency is:
*6tph (trains per hour) to Moorgate
*3tph to Welwyn Garden City, via Potters Bar
*3tph to Hertford North, with 1tph extended to Letchworth Garden City via Stevenage

On Saturdays and Sundays (when there is no engineering work) this drops to:
*4tph to Kings Cross
*2tph to Welwyn Garden City, via Potters Bar
*2tph to Hertford North, with 1tph extended to Stevenage

References

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External links

* [http://www.livedepartureboards.co.uk/ldb/summary.aspx?T=AAP Train times] and [http://nrekb.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/index.html?a=findStation&station_query=AAP station information] for Alexandra Palace railway station from National Rail (Station code: AAP)