Harpenden
Facing South from platform 1 (Southbound) at Harpenden
General information
Location	Harpenden,City of St Albans
Coordinates	51°48′54″N0°21′07″W / 51.815°N 0.352°W /51.815; -0.352
Grid reference	TL137142
Managed by	Thameslink
Platforms	4
Construction
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Station code	HPD
Classification	DfT category D
Key dates
1868	Opened
Location Harpenden Location within Hertfordshire

Harpenden railway station is on theMidland Main Line in England, serving the town ofHarpenden, Hertfordshire. It is 24 miles 51 chains (39.7 km) down the line fromLondon St Pancras and is situated betweenSt Albans City to the south andLuton Airport Parkway to the north. Its three-letter station code is HPD.

The station is served byGovia Thameslink-operated trains on theThameslink route.

Harpenden was the second station built in the town, by theMidland Railway in 1868 on its extension toSt. Pancras. Nothing remains of the original station buildings. Although located on Station Road, the road is actually named after the first station,Harpenden East, which was built in 1860 and closed in 1965.

A branch line, built by the Hemel Hempstead Railway Company in 1877, known as theNickey Line but operated by the Midland, formerly diverged from the main line north of the station. The intention had been to meet theLNWR atBoxmoor, but the section from Hemel Hempstead never had a passenger service. In 1886, a south curve was added to the junction allowing passengers to join the London trains at Harpenden rather than Luton.^[1] The branch was closed in 1979, but the route remains in use as a cycleway, passing under theM1 in a tunnel.

A row of five brick built former coal merchant's offices along the station approach are now used as small retail and office units.

Alfred King, station master from 1920 to 1927, committed suicide at age 53 on 29 March 1927 by lying on the rails in front of an express train. The inquest found that he had been suffering from depression and delusions for a long time.^[2]

The station has toilets, a newsagent, dry cleaner, taxi office and rank, and a coffee shop.

The station also has ticket machines on both sides of the station.

The station has aPlusBus scheme where train and bus tickets can be bought together for a cheaper price.

All four platforms have been extended to support 12-carriage trains, as part of the Thameslink programme; this also required the widening of a road bridge. Work on these started on 21 November 2010 and was completed in May 2011.^[8] The construction of a new footbridge, with lifts for disabled access, has been completed and links up all four platforms. and^[9] The east side of the station (platform 1 side) has two entrances, both with ticket gates to ease congestion during peak times. The west side entrance is where the ticket office is located, but it also has ticket machines.

An extra deck of parking spaces is planned to be built on top of the existing east side car park. When completed, it will add an extra 200 parking spaces.^[10]

The typical off-peak service pattern saw six trains per hour in each direction, operated byFirst Capital Connect. Four of these were fast trains betweenBedford andBrighton, viaKing's Cross Thameslink station in centralLondon andGatwick Airport. The remaining two trains called at all stations betweenLuton andSutton (inSouth London).

Following the closure of King's Cross Thameslink station, trains on theThameslink route now operate betweenBedford,Luton,Sutton andBrighton calling at the new low level platforms atSt Pancras.

From March 2009,First Capital Connect, in partnership withSoutheastern, began running a Luton-Sevenoaks service, which called at Harpenden.

All services at Harpenden are operated byThameslink usingClass 700EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:^[11]

• 6 tph toLuton of which 4 continue toBedford
• 2 tph toBrighton
• 2 tph toThree Bridges viaRedhill
• 2 tph toRainham viaDartford

During the peak hours, the station is served by additional services to and fromOrpington andEast Grinstead.

The station is also served by a half-hourly night service between Bedford andThree Bridges on Sunday to Friday nights.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Luton Airport Parkway		Thameslink Thameslink		St Albans City
	Disused railways
Roundwood Halt Line and station closed		Midland Railway Nickey Line		Terminus

Panorama of Harpenden station from north end of platform 1 during the day

Panorama of Harpenden station from south end of platform 1 at night

• Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995).The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.).Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd.ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7.OCLC 60251199.OL 11956311M.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toHarpenden railway station.

• Train times andstation information for Harpenden railway station fromNational Rail

• Railway stations in Hertfordshire
• DfT Category D stations
• Former Midland Railway stations
• Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1868
• Railway stations served by Govia Thameslink Railway
• Harpenden

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