| Hertford East branch line | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 The single track line throughWare railway station | |||
| Overview | |||
| Status | Operational | ||
| Owner | Network Rail | ||
| Locale | East of England | ||
| Termini | |||
| Stations | 4 | ||
| Service | |||
| Type | Heavy rail,Commuter rail | ||
| System | National Rail | ||
| Operator(s) | Greater Anglia | ||
| Depot(s) | Ilford | ||
| Rolling stock | Class 720 | ||
| History | |||
| Opened | 1843 | ||
| Technical | |||
| Line length | 5 miles 64 chains (9.3 km) | ||
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)standard gauge | ||
| Electrification | 25 kV 50 Hz ACOHLE | ||
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TheHertford East branch line is a railway line inHertfordshire, England running betweenHertford East andBroxbourne. The line follows the route of theLea Valley, serving intermediate towns and villages. It branches off theWest Anglia Main Line[1] north ofBroxbourne, and could be seen as part of theLea Valley lines—a collection of commuter routes into London. It is 5 miles 64 chains (9.33 km) in length.
In June 1841, theNorthern and Eastern Railway (N&ER) was given parliamentary assent to construct a branch from Broxbourne to Hertford. Work on the line began early in 1843 and the branch (and all stations on it) was opened as a single track on 31 October of that year.[2] Operation by the N&ER was short-lived as it had already agreed that theEastern Counties Railway would lease its lines (then from Stratford to Bishop's Stortford as well as the Hertford East branch). The line was doubled in October 1846.[3]
The original Hertford station was opened in 1843. It was sited to avoid two nearby schools, but later it was closed and in 1888Hertford East station was opened further west and closer to the town centre. Another station existed in 1858 on the line fromHatfield, but this closed as soon asHertford North station opened in 1924.[4]
Part of the Hertford East branch was used for theBuntingford Branch Railway, or "The Bunt", a railway which ran fromBuntingford toLondon from 1863 to 1964. The Buntingford Railway split off this line just to the north of St Margarets station.[5]
The line curves away from Broxbourne to the left and heads towards Hertford. For most of its length, it is bounded by theNew River on its south side and theRiver Lea andLee Navigation on the north side.
Towns and villages served are:
The line is part of theNetwork Rail Strategic Route 5, SRS 05.03 and is classified as a London and South East Commuter line.[6]
There are currently two trains an hour on this line serving all stations.[1] Future plans for this line see the lengthening of platforms to facilitate longer trains and create extra capacity on the line. Services on this line are currently operated byGreater Anglia usingClass 720 units consisting of 5 or 10 car formations.
Usually, trains on the Hertford East branch line go toLiverpool Street (on Mondays to Saturdays, viaTottenham Hale andHackney Downs), andStratford (on Sundays). On days of engineering works, train services often terminate at Broxbourne.
Below is the passenger usage from the year beginning April 2002 to the year beginning April 2022.[7]
| Station usage | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Station name | 2002–03 | 2004–05 | 2005–06 | 2006–07 | 2007–08 | 2008–09 | 2009–10 | 2010–11 | 2011–12 | 2012–13 | 2013–14 | 2014–15 | 2015–16 | 2016–17 | 2017–18 | 2018–19 | 2019–20 | 2020–21 | 2021–22 | 2022–23 |
| Hertford East | 275,158 | 303,404 | 278,010 | 626,244 | 613,405 | 613,476 | 657,574 | 718,590 | 666,550 | 774,547 | 794,857 | 827,167 | 880,042 | 935,471 | 965,862 | 1,313,442 | 1,286,402 | 242,688 | 674,184 | 900,942 |
| Ware | 700,233 | 770,239 | 747,625 | 830,244 | 904,420 | 921,512 | 792,180 | 838,360 | 871,904 | 970,726 | 1,053,174 | 1,083,188 | 1,131,318 | 1,154,290 | 1,062,048 | 1,074,608 | 1,047,118 | 234,248 | 651,464 | 806,844 |
| St Margarets | 294,763 | 302,701 | 300,745 | 306,446 | 313,656 | 315,202 | 244,574 | 286,948 | 324,960 | 351,624 | 350,808 | 355,530 | 351,450 | 376,376 | 369,706 | 365,922 | 364,990 | 89,100 | 232,120 | 267,988 |
| Rye House | 264,582 | 312,736 | 312,505 | 323,112 | 336,314 | 368,796 | 329,172 | 345,928 | 337,576 | 384,006 | 427,966 | 432,202 | 468,178 | 531,024 | 506,538 | 502,976 | 479,934 | 136,228 | 283,748 | 336,600 |
| The annual passenger usage is based on sales of tickets in stated financial years fromOffice of Rail and Road estimates of station usage. The statistics are for passengers arriving and departing from each station and cover twelve-month periods that start in April. Methodology may vary year on year. Usage from the periods 2019-20 and especially 2020-21 onwards have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic | ||||||||||||||||||||
The line isdouble track throughout except for a small section throughWare where it is single track. It iselectrified at25 kV AC usingoverhead line equipment, and has aloading gauge of W6.[6]
