Huntingdon railway station

History

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 to distinguish it from the nearby Huntingdon East on the line between Cambridge and Kettering via St Ives. The latter closed to passenger traffic in June 1959, along with the line.

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.

From 1977, when Kings Cross suburban electric services were introduced, until the main line to Peterborough was electrified in 1988, local services were provided by a diesel multiple-unit shuttle from Hitchin that started and terminated here – passengers for stations further south had to change at Hitchin onto the Kings Cross–Royston outer suburban electric service. Certain East Coast main line services between London, Doncaster and York or Hull stopped here to provide onward connections for through passengers and offer direct trains to the capital. There were also a number of Kings Cross–Peterborough through trains for commuters at peak times. Once electrification began, stops by longer-distance trains were gradually removed and had ceased by the time British Rail was privatised in 1995, as can be seen from the East Coast Main Line timetable of that era.

The station sustained an arson attack in 2005. Much of the station roof had to be rebuilt, as did the booking hall.

Facilities

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

There are 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 directly outside the entrance to the London-bound platforms. A considerable amount of parking space is provided adjacent to both platforms.

Services

Huntingdon station is served by a half-hourly service southbound to London Kings Cross and northbound to Peterborough throughout the day Monday to Saturday. There is an hourly service in each direction on Sundays. Journey times to London range from around 1 hour to 1 hour 20 minutes on these services, depending on the stopping pattern south of Hitchin.

There are also extra services during the weekday peak that run fast to/from Kings Cross, others only stop at St. Neots, as well as some that additionally only call at St. Neots, Biggleswade and/or Stevenage, then are fast to Kings Cross, and others stopping only at St. Neots, Biggleswade and/or Hitchin. These services usually take around 40–45 minutes to Kings Cross. Also a few additional peak services to/from London start/terminate here.

During times of engineering work in the Hitchin area, Huntingdon often operates as the terminus for Virgin Trains 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 or Stevenage to connect with services to or from London Kings Cross. Huntingdon is also used as a stop for Virgin Trains East Coast services if Peterborough cannot be used.

Bus links

A bus concourse adjacent to the station is served by Stagecoach East Bus-way B, Whippet 477 and Whippet 45.