Shepreth railway station

Shepreth railway station serves the village of Shepreth in Cambridgeshire, England. The station is on the Cambridge Line, 49 miles 67 chains (80.21 km) from London King's Cross.[1]

Shepreth
Location	Shepreth, South Cambridgeshire England
Grid reference	TL392481
Managed by	Great Northern
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	STH
Classification	DfT category F2
History
Opened	1851
Passengers
2015/16	105,852
2016/17	110,756
2017/18	114,294
2018/19	115,600
2019/20	117,102
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

It was opened in 1851 by the Royston and Hitchin Railway as the northern terminus of an extension of the original route from Royston, after earlier plans by the Eastern Counties Railway to build a Cambridge to Bedford line through the village fell through due to lack of finance. The ECR did complete the line north through to a junction with its main line from London to Cambridge in 1852 and initially ran services on the R&HR, but they later gave way to the Great Northern Railway when its lease of the Royston company expired in 1866. The GNR then began running through trains between Kings Cross & Cambridge over the line from 1 April that year, having gained full running powers over ECR metals and access to Cambridge station as part of an agreement ratified by parliament two years previously.[2]

Goods traffic was handled at the station until 1965. From 1978, through trains to the capital temporarily ceased when electric operation was inaugurated to Royston as part of the Kings Cross Outer Suburban electrification scheme. Passengers then had to use a Cambridge to Royston DMU shuttle and change at the latter station for London. Government approval for extending the wires through to Cambridge was eventually granted in 1987 (as a 'fill-in' scheme to link wired routes either side) and the work was completed 12 months later, allowing through running to Kings Cross to resume.[3]

Platform 2 (for trains to Cambridge) was extended in Summer 2017 to be able to accommodate 8-car trains (including Class 700 units), without straddling the level crossing.[4] Although platform 1 was not lengthened, 8-car trains now call there using Selective door operation which opens the doors on the front four carriages only.[5] Shepreth will be connected to the Thameslink network via the canal tunnels at Kings Cross St Pancras from 2018.[6]

Services

Shepreth Rail Station from the level crossing

Shepreth station is served by trains operated by Thameslink. The typical weekday off-peak service in trains per hour is: [7]

• 2 tph to London King's Cross
• 2 tph to Cambridge

Additional services run during the Monday-Friday peak hours.

On weekends, the service reduces to hourly in each direction.

References

1. Padgett, David (October 2016) [1988]. Brailsford, Martyn (ed.). Railway Track Diagrams 2: Eastern (4th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. map 24C. ISBN 978-0-9549866-8-1.
2. "The Railway in the Rhee Valley" Spain, J Wordpress.com; Retrieved 23 August 2016
3. "Cambridge - Its Railways & Station"Disused Stations Site Record; Retrieved 23 August 2016
4. "Platform extensions in South Cambridgeshire - Thameslink Programme". Thameslink Programme. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
5. "Praise for platform extensions at Shepreth and Foxton but rail bosses say Meldreth work not needed". Royston Crow. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
6. "Improved rail connections through London". Thameslink Programme. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
7. "Timetable 13: Cambridge, Royston and Letchworth to London" (PDF). Govia Thameslink Railway, December 2019.

External links

• Train times and station information for Shepreth railway station from National Rail