Berkhamsted railway station
Berkhamsted 
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Main entrance, with Grand Union canal in foreground
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| Location | |
| Place | Berkhamsted |
| Local authority | Borough of Dacorum |
| Grid reference | SP993081 |
| Operations | |
| Station code | BKM |
| Managed by | London Midland |
| Number of platforms | 4 |
| DfT category | C2 |
| Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries |
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| Annual rail passenger usage* | |
| 2011/12 |
 1.544 million |
| 2012/13 |
1.605 million |
| 2013/14 |
1.660 million |
| 2014/15 |
1.680 million |
| 2015/16 |
1.740 million |
| History | |
| Key dates | Opened 1838 |
| 1875 | relocated to present site |
| National Rail – UK railway stations | |
| * Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Berkhamsted from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year. | |
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Berkhamsted railway station is in the town of Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England. It is located just beside Berkhamsted Castle, overlooking the Grand Junction Canal. The station is 28 miles (45 km) north west of London Euston on the West Coast Main Line. London Midland operates services to London, Northampton and many other destinations.
There are 4 platforms of 12-car length on both the fast and slow lines. The platforms are arranged around a central island and two side platforms. The station is relatively unusual on the route in that most of the original buildings have been retained.
The present Berkhamsted station dates from 1875, and is located on the Lower King's road on the junction with Brownlow Road. The original station building, opened in 1838, was located approximately 330 feet (100 m) south-east of the present structure, near the bridge onto Castle Street. It was designed in an Elizabethan style of architecture with a brick gabled booking hall. The building was replaced by a new station with additional sidings in 1875 when the railway was widened, the sidings replacing an earlier goods yard near Gravel Path. In 1887, the fastest train would depart at 08:54 and arrive at London Euston at 09:35, with one stop at Willesden Junction, a 41-minute journey.
During the building of the London and Birmingham Railway (the L&BR, today's West Coast Main Line) in the 1830s, Berkhamsted was for a few years a centre of railway construction. The armies of navvies, bricklayers and miners brought in from the English Midlands, Ireland, London and the North of England led to overcrowding in Berkhamsted and the rowdy behaviour of the labourers was said to have offended the genteel townsfolk. Seven young men aged 18–26 were killed while working on the Berkhamsted section of the railway.
Before construction work on the Berkhamsted section of the L&BR began, the project was subject to public protest. Many landowners and turnpike trustees in Hertfordshire were opposed to the new railway line, and protest meetings were held at the King's Arms Hotel in Berkhamsted. Although local opposition to the iron horse was led by noblemen such as the Earls of Essex, Clarendon and Brownlow, the railway line received Royal Assent in 1833.
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