St Albans railway station is one of two railway stations in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. It is located about half a mile east of the city centre. It is the more important of the two, situated on the Midland Main Line and served by First Capital Connect's Thameslink service.
St Albans | |
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 | |
| General information | |
| Location | City and District of St Albans |
| Managed by | First Capital Connect |
| Platforms | 4 |
Description
The station has four platforms, two for each direction: one "fast" and one "slow". The main entrance, ticket office, multistorey car park, taxi rank and bus connections are on Station Way, east of the station. There is a second exit to the west, to a small surface car park off Ridgmont Road and Victoria Street. Somewhat controversially, a larger surface car park to the east of the railway lines gained planning permission for a large residential development in 2003.
Services
The typical off-peak service sees eight trains per hour in each direction. There are four fast trains per hour between Bedford and Brighton, via Luton to the north, and Kings Cross Thameslink (in London) and Gatwick Airport to the south. There are also four trains per hour to Sutton and Wimbledon via Central London, two of which start from Luton.
On June 11, the train company that operates from the station, First Capital Connect (FCC), caused consternation among commuters by restricting off-peak travel in the evenings, so that commuters who for many years have used the off-peak service suddenly found they could not get home at their usual evening time. This selectively applied "congestion charge" is under review, the argument being that it unfairly penalises a subset of existing customers for congestion caused by all of them. In addition, the company has threatened to bar off-peak commuters from trains even outside the restricted hours if the train is a delayed one that should have traveled within the restriction time. Thus, customers are being additionally penalised for the company's failure to run their trains on time. The spectacle of commuters milling around on the platform waiting for up to two hours for late-running trains to clear the line is one that promises to be entertaining. We hope FCC will review this policy forthwith.
External links
- Train times and station information for St Albans City railway station from National Rail
| Preceding station |  National Rail
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Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harpenden | First Capital Connect | Radlett | ||
| First Capital Connect | Kings Cross Thameslink | |||
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