Royston railway station

Royston
The entrance to the station
Location
Place	Royston
Local authority	North Hertfordshire
Grid reference	TL353412
Operations
Station code	RYS
Managed by	First Capital Connect
Number of platforms	2
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	1.027 million
2005/06	1.061 million
2006/07	1.079 million
2007/08	1.148 million
2008/09	1.155 million
2009/10	1.113 million
2010/11	1.194 million
2011/12	1.218 million
National Rail – UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Royston from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Royston railway station serves the town of Royston in Hertfordshire, England. The station is 44.9 mi (72.3 km) north east of London Kings Cross and 13.03 mi (20.97 km) south west of Cambridge on the Cambridge Line. Trains serving the station are operated by First Capital Connect.

The station is an important stop on the commuter line between King's Cross and Cambridge as the majority of semi-fast services between London and Cambridge stop at Royston - one exception being the 'Cambridge Cruiser' fast services from London. It is also the last station before Cambridge with platforms capable of handling 8-car or 12-car trains. Therefore it is used by many commuters, not only from Royston but also from smaller stations north of Royston who transfer from stopping services to faster trains at the station.

Electrification

The railway from London King's Cross to Royston was electrified in 1978. Class 312 electric trains from King's Cross terminated at Royston; passengers wishing to travel to Cambridge had to change to a connecting diesel multiple unit train. From 1988 the whole line from London to Cambridge was electrified, ending the need to change trains at Royston.^[1]

Services

First Capital Connect serves Royston on its Great Northern service inbound to London King's Cross and outbound to Cambridge. Trains are usually formed of Class 317, Class 321 or Class 365 electric multiple units.

Trains to London King's Cross are either slow or semi-fast, departing at approximately half hour intervals. Slow services call at all major stations to King's Cross (not inner suburban-only stations), taking 62 minutes to arrive in London at an average of 43.5 mph (70.0 km/h)^[2] Semi-fast services call at only Baldock, Letchworth, Hitchin, Stevenage and Finsbury Park. During early morning peak-time there are some fast services running non-stop or stopping only at Letchworth, reaching London in under 40 minutes.

Two trains per hour also operate towards Cambridge.^[2] Slow trains call at all stations and take 26 minutes to arrive at Cambridge, operating at an average of 30.1 mph (48.4 km/h).^[2] Fast trains run non-stop to Cambridge, taking 17 minutes at an average of 46.0 mph (74.0 km/h).^[2] Some Cambridge-bound services continue to Ely and King's Lynn.

From the completion of the Thameslink Programme in 2018 it is proposed that there will be a 2tph to Maidstone East service.^[3]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Baldock		First Capital Connect Great Northern semi-fast		Cambridge
Ashwell and Morden		First Capital Connect Great Northern stopping		Meldreth

Trivia

Royston and Ashwell & Morden railway stations are available for SimSig, a signal simulation game.

Royston station is mentioned in the novel About a Boy by Nick Hornby.

The train at the end of Jim Diamond's 1984 music video for I Should Have Known Better was heading to Royston from Finsbury Park.

References

External links

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

Coordinates: 52°03′11″N 0°01′37″W / 52.053°N 0.027°W / 52.053; -0.027