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Hatfield
Hatfield
	Hatfield Location of Hatfield in Hertfordshire
Location	Hatfield
Local authority	Borough of Welwyn Hatfield
Grid reference	TL232087
Managed by	Great Northern
Station code(s)	HAT
DfT category	C2
Number of platforms	3 (facing 4 tracks)
Accessible	Yes
National Rail annual entry and exit
2019–20	2.340 million
2020–21	0.591 million
2021–22	1.552 million
2022–23	2.188 million
2023–24	2.318 million
Railway companies
Original company	Great Northern Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Northern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
7 August 1850	Station opened
September 2013	Station redevelopment began
17 November 2014	Multi-storey Car Park opened
Other information
External links	Departures; Facilities;
Coordinates	51°45′50″N 0°12′58″W / 51.764°N 0.216°W
	London transport portal

Great Northern route

Legend

					King's Lynn
					Watlington
					Downham Market
					Littleport
					Ely
					Waterbeach
					Cambridge North
					Cambridge
					M11 motorway
					Foxton
					Shepreth
Peterborough					Meldreth
Huntingdon					Royston
St Neots					Ashwell & Morden
St Neots South/Tempsford
Sandy					Baldock
Biggleswade					A1(M) motorway
Arlesey					Letchworth Garden City

Hitchin
Stevenage

Knebworth					Watton-at-Stone
Welwyn North					Hertford North
Welwyn Garden City					Bayford
Hatfield					Cuffley
Welham Green					M25 motorway
Brookmans Park					Crews Hill
Potters Bar					Gordon Hill
M25 motorway					Enfield Chase
Hadley Wood					Grange Park
New Barnet					Winchmore Hill
Oakleigh Park					Palmers Green
New Southgate					Bowes Park

Alexandra Palace
Hornsey
Harringay
Finsbury Park

London King's Cross					Drayton Park
London St Pancras International					Highbury & Islington
Thameslink route					Essex Road
					Old Street
					Moorgate

Hatfield railway station serves the town of Hatfield in Hertfordshire, England. The station is managed by Great Northern. It is 17 miles 54 chains (28.4 km) measured from London King's Cross on the East Coast Main Line.^[2]

History

Hatfield was formerly the junction of a branch to St Albans. The Hatfield and St Albans Railway closed to passenger traffic in 1951 as part of postwar economies brought in by the British Transport Commission.^[3] The route of the line is now a public footpath, the Alban Way.

Station masters

Mr. Unwin ca. 1850 (acting)
Edmund Cooter 1856 - 1866^[4] (formerly station master at Hornsey)
Mr. Bellamy ???? - 1878
Robert Vodden 1878 - 1906^[5]
Thomas Christopher 1910 - 1915^[6] (afterwards station master at Doncaster)
John Thomas Cross 1917 - 1923
Frederick B. Martin 1932 - 1939
Arthur W. Bellamy 1940 - 1949
T.J. Piggott 1951^[7] - ???? (formerly station master at Sandy)
A.G. Dixon ca. 1960

Facilities

Hatfield has waiting rooms on all platforms, with extra shelters provided at various points along the platforms, as well as a canopy on Platform 1. There is a small café-shop style business, "Chuggs" on Platform 1, and three new retail units which opened in the new station building. There are three platform faces in total - platform 1 is a side platform facing the Up Slow line & used by London-bound trains (there is no platform on the Up Fast line), whilst platforms 2 & 3 face the Down Fast and Down Slow lines respectively; the latter is used by the majority of northbound trains.

The station has a "Fast-Ticket" machine, as well as a standard touchscreen machine on either side of the building. Hatfield also has many vending machines throughout the station and a photo booth inside the booking hall, which also contains male/female toilets and a separate disabled toilet. Ticket barriers are in operation.

Services

Off-peak, all services at Hatfield are operated by Great Northern using Class 387 and 717 EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:^[8]

2 tph to London King's Cross (semi-fast)
2 tph to Moorgate (all stations)
2 tph to Welwyn Garden City
2 tph to Letchworth Garden City of which 1 continues to Cambridge

Additional services, including a number of Thameslink operated services to and from Sevenoaks via Catford call at the station during the peak hours.

Preceding station	National Rail		Following station
Welham Green		Great Northern Great Northern Route Stopping Services	Welwyn Garden City
Potters Bar		Great Northern Great Northern Route Semi-Fast Services
Potters Bar		Thameslink Thameslink Peak Hours Only
	Disused railways
Lemsford Road Halt Line and station closed		London and North Eastern Railway Hatfield and St Albans Railway	Terminus

Redevelopment

Hatfield Station was redeveloped in 2013—15 to include a new bus interchange and taxi rank, multi-storey car park, refurbished ticket office, three new retail units and step-free access to all platforms.^[9]

Work on the project, which was to cost £9 million,^[10] began in 2013 and was completed by the end of 2015.

The new multi-storey car park opened on 17 November 2014.^[11]

Accidents

Three fatal rail crashes have occurred near Hatfield:

December 1870 accident, when a disintegrated wheel resulted in the deaths of six passengers and two bystanders.
Two accidents occurred on 26 January 1939. In the first, an empty fish train was involved in a rear-end collision with a passenger train. The second involved a passenger train which ran into the rear of another. Two people were killed and seven were injured.^[12]
October 2000 accident, when a GNER InterCity 225 train de-railed, killing four people and injuring 70.

Gallery

Hatfield railway station viewed from the public footbridge.
A Grand Central train speeds through Hatfield en route from Sunderland.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Estimates of station usage". Rail statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Please note: Some methodology may vary year on year.
^ Padgett, David (October 2016) [1988]. Brailsford, Martyn (ed.). Railway Track Diagrams 2: Eastern (4th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. map 15A. ISBN 978-0-9549866-8-1.
^ Cockman, F.G. (1983). The Railways of Hertfordshire. Stevenage, UK: Hertfordshire Publications. p. 24.
^ "Hatfield". Herts Guardian, Agricultural Journal and General Advertiser. England. 27 November 1866. Retrieved 7 March 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "Hertfordshire". Luton Times and Advertiser. England. 3 August 1906. Retrieved 7 March 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "Mr Thomas Christopher". Hull Daily Mail. England. 21 April 1915. Retrieved 7 March 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "Promotion". Biggleswade Chronicle. England. 14 September 1951. Retrieved 7 March 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ Table 24, 25 National Rail timetable, December 2023
^ "Better stations - Hatfield". First Capital Connect. Archived from the original on 1 April 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
^ Logan, Ross (10 October 2012). "£9m Hatfield rail station refurbishment approved". Welwyn Hatfield Times. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
^ "New multi-storey car park opens". Great Northern.
^ Trevena, Arthur (1980). Trains in Trouble. Vol. 1. Redruth: Atlantic Books. p. 41. ISBN 0-906899-01-X.