Trains at Stevenage, ECML, 13/06/26

Stevenage railway station serves the town of Stevenage in Hertfordshire, England.

The station is around 44.4 kilometres north of London King's Cross on the East Coast Main Line. Stevenage is served and managed by Great Northern, who operate Thameslink stopping services southbound to King’s Cross via stations such as Welwyn Garden City and Potters Bar, to Brighton and Horsham via central London and Gatwick Airport and to Moorgate via Watton-at-Stone, Hertford North and Enfield Chase and services northbound to Cambridge and Peterborough.

It is also frequently served by London North Eastern Railway, who operate fast non-stopping services southbound towards London and northbound towards cities including York, Leeds and Edinburgh. Hull Trains and Lumo operate very limited services from the station.

The present station was opened for trains on 23 July 1973. It was officially opened on 26 September 1973 by Shirley Williams, then MP for Stevenage, replacing the previous station, which was 73 chains (1,500 m) to the north, and further away from the centre of the new town. The station was built by British Rail.

The original Stevenage railway station was built in 1850 by the Great Northern Railway, despite the apparent hostility towards the railway being built there at that time due to the inevitable decline it would cause to local coach businesses, which all ended shortly after the station was opened.

In 1946, Stevenage became one of the first New Towns, which resulted in a new town centre. In 1973, the railway station was relocated 73 chains (1.47 km) south, within walking distance (220 yd, 200 m) of the new town centre.

In 2021, a tactile map was installed, in collaboration with the Royal National Institute of Blind People, to help blind and partially sighted passengers navigate the station.

Great Northern serve Stevenage with a half-hourly service to Moorgate which calls at all stations via the Hertford Loop Line.

These services start and finish at Stevenage using Platform 5 at the station, which opened in 2020. These services are operated using Class 717 EMUs.

Great Northern also operate an hourly fast service during the weekday peak hours between London King's Cross and Peterborough.

Southbound, this service runs non-stop to London King's Cross and northbound, calls only at Biggleswade, St Neots and Huntingdon. These services are operated using Class 387 EMUs.

London North Eastern Railway generally serve Stevenage with two trains per hour in each direction during the day.

The station is served by an hourly service between London King's Cross and Leeds, with a train every two hours continuing to Harrogate.

The station is also served by an hourly service from London King's Cross, alternating northbound between terminating at Lincoln or York via Retford.

Until May 2018 most weekday trains on the Hertford Loop Line were extended to Letchworth, as there was insufficient capacity to accommodate terminating trains at Stevenage.

However, in 2018, Govia Thameslink Railway cut back all services to start/terminate at Stevenage.

To help alleviate the capacity problem, an additional south-facing bay platform at Stevenage which allows Great Northern trains on the Hertford Loop Line to terminate here - similar to the arrangement at Welwyn Garden City - increasing capacity on both the Hertford Loop and the East Coast Main Line, and allow for an enhanced service frequency on both routes was officially opened on 3 August 2020.

Duration of the video: 16:01 - 17:56

We’ll be seeing services by LNER, Great Northern, Hull Trains, Grand Central, Thameslink and hopefully some freight as well.

I hope you enjoy this video if you did smash that like button and don’t forget to subscribe for more upcoming videos and feel free to leave any comments or recommendations of stations that you would like for me to do in the comments below as I’ll try get back to them as soon as possible.

It’s been quite a while since I last revisited Stevenage but it’s always an enjoyable place to come and visit for any train spotting plus it was a positive that I managed to see some LNER 225 sets making an appearance which is always great to see plus it was a bonus that I managed to see a steam train railtour come through in the duration of the time that I spent there.

My next station will be New Cross which is situated on the Southeastern Mainline it’s been at least a year ago since I last revisited that station but I’m sure it’ll be good revisiting so until then thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next video.