Bishop's Stortford | |
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Location | |
Place | Bishop's Stortford |
Local authority | District of East Hertfordshire |
Coordinates | 51°52′01″N 0°09′54″E / 51.867°N 0.165°ECoordinates: 51°52′01″N 0°09′54″E / 51.867°N 0.165°E |
Grid reference | TL491208 |
Operations | |
Station code | BIS |
Managed by | Abellio Greater Anglia |
Number of platforms | 3 |
DfT category | C2 |
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries |
|
Annual rail passenger usage* | |
2011/12 | 2.660 million |
– Interchange | 73,066 |
2012/13 | 2.820 million |
– Interchange | 79,512 |
2013/14 | 2.920 million |
– Interchange | 82,687 |
2014/15 | 3.030 million |
– Interchange | 85,714 |
2015/16 | 3.104 million |
– Interchange | 73,276 |
History | |
Original company | Northern and Eastern Railway |
Pre-grouping | Great Eastern Railway |
Post-grouping | London and North Eastern Railway |
16 May 1842 | Station opened |
National Rail – UK railway stations | |
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Bishop's Stortford from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year. | |
Bishop's Stortford railway station serves the town of Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire, England. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by Abellio Greater Anglia; this includes the two trains per hour Stansted Express service.
The station was opened by the Northern and Eastern Railway as a temporary terminus on 16 May 1842, and became a through station on 30 July 1845 when the line was extended through to Norwich.
In 1843 the train from London to Bishop's Stortford was timetabled to run at 36 miles per hour (58 km/h), exclusive of stops - the fastest booked run on any English railway at the time.
The station site included a large goods yard occupying the land now used for car parking as well as sidings running as far west as the riverside wharves of the Stort Navigation. To the east, a small turntable and engine sheds lay on land recently used as a garage and (as of 2012) earmarked for supermarket use. During the station's heyday, the station had two signal boxes, "South", located opposite the current building and behind platform 3, and "North", controlling access to the Bishop's Stortford-Braintree Branch Line.
For most of the station's life, four lines passed through it (as opposed to the current three lines); up and down main lines to the west of the now much extended island platform, and a branch line and passing loop (with access to turntable) to the east of the island platform, the northern end of which was located where the footbridge is today.
Bishop's Stortford was also a junction station for the cross-country route to Dunmow and Braintree, which opened to passengers on 22 February 1869 and closed on 3 March 1952. The line continued in use for freight trains and occasional excursions, closing in stages with the final section to Easton Lodge closing on 17 February 1972.