Harlow Town  | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Platform 3 | |||||
| General information | |||||
| Location | Harlow,Harlow District England | ||||
| Coordinates | 51°46′52″N0°05′42″E / 51.781°N 0.095°E /51.781; 0.095 | ||||
| Grid reference | TL446112 | ||||
| Managed by | Greater Anglia | ||||
| Platforms | 4 | ||||
| Other information | |||||
| Station code | HWN | ||||
| Classification | DfT category C1 | ||||
| History | |||||
| Opened | 1842 | ||||
| Passengers | |||||
| 2019/20 |  1.877 million | ||||
| 2020/21 | 0.527 million | ||||
| 2021/22 |  1.313 million | ||||
| 2022/23 | 1.546 million | ||||
| 2023/24 | 1.818 million | ||||
Listed Building – Grade II | |||||
| Feature | Harlow Town Station including Platform Structures | ||||
| Designated | 25 November 1995 | ||||
| Reference no. | 1117351[1] | ||||
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Harlow Town railway station is on theWest Anglia Main Line serving the town ofHarlow inEssex, England. It is 22 miles 59 chains (36.6 km) down the line fromLondon Liverpool Street and is situated betweenRoydon andHarlow Mill stations. Its three-letter station code is HWN.
The station and all trains serving it are operated byGreater Anglia.
The station was opened in 1842 asBurnt Mill, to serve the small village of the same name.
Between March 1959 and July 1960 the station was rebuilt[2] to serve the post-warnew town ofHarlow, to designs byPaul Hamilton with John Bicknell and Ian Fraser of theBritish Railways (Eastern Region) architects department (chief architect:H. H. Powell). Described by Pevsner as "low, crisp and entirely ungimmicky", its architectural quality was recognised in 1996 when it was made a Grade IIlisted building. The listing entry states "the Eastern Region Architect's Department was the most creative branch of British Railways, designing a number of powerful modern stations in conjunction with the Region's electrification. The new station for Harlow New Town was the flagship of this achievement. It is a building with powerful spatial qualities, of especial interest particularly for its architectural design".[3]
The Architect and Building News in 1959[4] saidthe architects have aimed at expressing the beauty of continuous surfaces of natural materials and paintwork has been reduced to a minimum.
On 13 July 1960, the station was renamedHarlow Town. Its status as a listed building has meant that alterations to conform with theDisability Discrimination Act have had to be carried out sensitively to protect the original architectural conception.
All services at Harlow Town are operated byGreater Anglia (including some services which operate under theStansted Express brand). Services are operated usingClass 720 and745EMUs.[5][6]
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:[7]
During the peak hours, the station is served by a small number of services to and fromEly.
There is also a further 2tph on Stansted Express services in each direction between London Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport that pass through the station but do not stop, except for some peak hour trains.
On Sundays, the services between Stratford and Bishop's Stortford do not run.
| Preceding station |  National Rail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roydon orBroxbourne | Greater Anglia | Harlow Mill orSawbridgeworth | ||
| Stansted Express | ||||
The station has four platforms. Platform 2 is for services towards London Liverpool Street and Stratford. Platform 3 is for services towards Stansted Airport and Cambridge. Platforms 1 and 4 are used less frequently for slow trains and as awaiting loop for freight trains from the aggregate terminal a mile down the line, they are however used by a number of peak starting/terminating services to/from Liverpool Street or Stratford and by a few through trains northbound and southbound. Currently all platforms accommodate 12 car trains.
In December 2009ticket barriers were installed at the station, to help reducefare evasion from the station.[8][9]
