Passenger Traffic

Hitchin station is on the East Coast Main Line in the four track section running between Woolmer Green Junction and Huntingdon North Junction and is the junction for the Cambridge branch. Access to the Cambridge line in the down direction is possible from both main and slow lines. In the up direction only the slow line can be directly accessed from the branch. The main line can be gained some ¼ mile south of Hitchin station at Hitchin South Jct. Platforms are provided on the slow lines only and can accommodate 12 coach trains, a legacy of the days when Hitchin was an intercity station and Great Northern, London North Eastern railway and, finally, British rail intercity trains stopped here from 1850 until the 1960s when a new intercity station was built at Stevenage to serve the expanding new town. Signalling is 4 aspect colour light controlled by Kings Cross power box, the boundaries of which are northwards to just beyond Sandy on the main line and to approximately 1 mile east of Royston on the Cambridge branch.

Services at Hitchin are provided by First group’s Capital Connect outer-suburban trains from London Kings Cross. The services run between Kings Cross and Cambridge – with an hourly extension to Kings Lynn – and Kings Cross to Peterborough. The off-peak service consists of 2 fast and 2 slow trains an hour to and from Kings Cross, one fast and one slow to both Cambridge and Peterborough destinations. In the down direction trains leave Kings Cross on a regular interval of 15 minutes slow/fast. This can lead to delays to the fast services approaching Hitchin where the slow train is only 4 minutes in front of the fast and, because it makes 6 stops, can easily delay the fast; in fact all down trains can be delayed at Cambridge Junction being a flat crossing of the busy East Coast main line.In the up direction the fast trains are scheduled to depart 5 minutes in front of the slows so no tail chasing occurs. An hourly each way off-peak extension of an inner suburban service between Moorgate and Stevenage via Hertford North calls at Hitchin to terminate at Letchworth Garden City, first station on the Cambridge branch. Peak hour services augment the regular timetable. There are no weekend trains to Moorgate.

Part of Network Rail's latest business plan proposes a new flyover to take the down Cambridge line over the main lines. This will remove all delays on the East Coast Main Line at this point. It is hoped funding will be approved for a Transport & Works Act to be submitted in November 2008.Construction of the flyover is envisaged to start in 2010 with completion in 2012/13. Thejunction will be just north of the existing Cambridbe Jct and pass to the North of the Hitchin industrial area and rejoin the existing line just before the Stotfold Road passes under the Cambridge line.

Class 365, consisting of 40 four car electric units of 1994/5, assisted by 12 four car BREL 317/1s of 1981/2 work the outer-suburban services to and from Kings Cross. All 365 units are now in First Group’s ‘Urban Lights’ livery, dark blue with pink, white and light blue patterned markings on the lower body side; the 12 class 317s have also started to appear in ‘Urban Lights’, but in the main still wear the old WAGN corporate purple with white ‘First Capital Connect’ lettering. Four 365s are in picturesque advertising liveries depicting scenes on the lines served; 365510 depicts ‘Cathedral Cities’, scenes from Cambridge and Ely, 519 shows Peterborough scenes as the ‘environmental capital’, 531, ‘Nelsons County’, wears Norfolk scenes while 540 shows off the two ‘Garden Cities of Hertfordshire’, Letchworth and Welwyn. The only restriction on unit utilisation seems to be on the ½ hourly non-stop Kings Cross to Cambridge services which are generally operated by 365s. WAGN dubbed these trains ‘Cambridge Cruisers’ but First Group seems to have dropped this title. The Moorgate trains are worked by Class 313 three car units all of which are now in first Group's 'Urban Lights' livery.

National Express Group recently took over the East Coast Main Line franchise as ‘National Express East Coast’ from ‘Great North Eastern’ which involves a livery change from GNER’s dark blue with red stripes and ‘Route of the Flying Scotsman’ logo to the lighter National Express grey and white with ‘East Coast’ logo. ‘National Express East Coast’ operates the majority of scheduled main line services not calling at Hitchin; serving Leeds and Bradford, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Edinburgh and Glasgow, with two daily services to Aberdeen and one to Inverness. There is one up morning and evening return Hull service, ‘The Hull Executive’.

Since 2004 the city on the Humber has gained its own dedicated London service, now provided by 4 class 222 (101 -104) Bombardier ‘Pioneer’ 4-car 125 m.p.h DMUs, virtually the same as the ‘East Midland’s’ ‘Meridian’ units operated by ‘Hull Trains’, the first open access operator. ‘Hull Trains’ provide 7 weekday journeys each way, 5 on Saturdays and 4 on Sundays. ‘Pioneer’ unit 222103 is currently rebuilding after accident damage and has been temporarily replaced by the unique East Coast sight of AC Loco Group’s preserved 86101 Robert Stephenson, powering 5 cargo-d Mark3 coaches with DVT 82115. More details are on the AC Locomotive Group's site.

A second open access operator has commenced ECML operations after over two years of negotiation. Grand Central Railways intends to run 3 return journeys, 7 days a week between Sunderland and Kings Cross via West Hartlepool, Eaglescliffe, Northallerton, and also calling at York. The service is the first direct London service from Wearside via the ‘coast route, for over 20 years and will be provided by 6 coach Mark3 HST sets, working out of Heaton depot and powered by off-lease Porterbrook buffered class 43 power cars being refurbished at Devonport Dockyard. To date 43067, 43080 and 43084 are the operative power cars with three more to follow. Grand Central’s timetable consists, at present, of three return trips between Sunderland and Kings Cross. The weekday morning service from Sunderland and evening return through trains are boldly named ‘The Zephyr’ and ‘The 21st Century Ltd.’ respectively.

Charter trains appear most weekends with haulege being behind a veriety of motive power. Class' 47, 66, 67 and 90 being the usual motive power. Some steam hauled charters also appear from time to time.

Freight Traffic

The last few years have seen an increase in the number of freight services using the southern end of the East Coast main line, and Hitchin up yard, adjacent to the station platform, on the site of the old steam loco shed, is now the focus of 2 freight flows; stone from Peak Forest terminates here, while fragmented scrap metal from a local scrap yard is stock-piled before being loaded and worked away. The metal is taken to reopened CELSA steelworks at both Sheerness and Cardiff (Tidal Sidings). While Freightliner Heavy Haul worked the first trains from June 2006, EWS 66s are now in charge. Hired-in DRS low-emission 66/4s also appeared while Freightliner had the traffic. On 27/10/07 EWS 66134 was piloted by 92003 on a Cardiff train diverted via the Kings Cross incline and Wembley. After discharge the empty stone train wagons are worked to Welwyn Garden City where the loco runs round before return to Peak Forest. The same procedure is followed by the Freightliner 66 worked aggregate trains from Mountsorrel to the Lafarge depot at Langley. These trains are conditional services depending on traffic demands and may appear several times a week or not at all.

Through freight is more frequent in recent years and is mainly worked by EWS , Freightliner and GBRf 66's. A Class 92 works a through train of loaded steel billets to Northern France which originates with diesel power from Scunthorpe to Doncaster before the electric takes over. The return empties are worked back to Doncaster by a class 92 before diesel takes over for the final section of the journey.

04/03/08