STEVENAGE TURNBACK ACCELERATION PLAN

Stevenage capacity issue: Nos 313045/059 arrive at Hertford North with the 13.49 Letchworth – Moorgate service on 21 July 2014. Antony Guppy

NETWORK RAIL is looking to accelerate plans to build an additional platform at Stevenage for terminating trains from the Hertford loop.

The bay platform was originally not due to be in place until 2021, meaning Govia Thameslink Railway was to withdraw services between Watton-at-Stone and Stevenage in May, replacing them with a bus service. However, NR is now looking to accelerate completion of the fifth platform at the station and 1½ miles of new track to May 2020.

Local media has reported a letter from Transport Minister Jo Johnson to Sir Oliver Heald, MP for North East Hertfordshire, in which the minister says: ‘An opportunity has now been identified to use an existing supplier alliance to undertake the design and development of the new infrastructure. By using this alliance, and thereby avoiding the need to run a competitive procurement process the expectation is that the design could be completed by January 2019: an improvement of 12-14 months on the initial plan.’

In a further improvement, the staged introduction of the enhanced Thameslink service (p10, December 2017 issue) means GTR can continue running direct services from the Hertford loop to Stevenage until December this year. The operator says the fact only one of the two Cambridge to Brighton trains each hour will be introduced in May means there will be capacity to turn around trains in the existing platforms at Stevenage station. It intends to provide an hourly peak service between Watton and Stevenage, a reduction compared to the current half-hourly service.

The plan is still to introduce a replacement bus from December 2018 until the new infrastructure is in place. The reduced length of the bus replacement follows extensive campaigning by local stakeholders and politicians.