Great Northern Route - History

History

The term Great Northern is related to the Great Northern Railway, the original builders of the line.

The July 1922 Bradshaw's Railway Guide contains a typical rail service on the Cambridge Line as follows:

Six stopping and two (three on Saturday) Semi-fast services to Cambridge (Monday to Saturday) - One Sunday stopping service to Cambridge with two back. The fastest service taking about 1hr30 to travel from London King's Cross to Cambridge.

An additional two (three on Wednesday) services reached Royston (Monday to Saturday) - one additional service reaching Royston on Sunday.

An additional seven services reached Baldock (Monday to Saturday)

An additional three services reached Letchworth (Monday to Saturday), the last service running just after midnight Thursday morning.

Since the 1960s, Great Northern has been used to describe the suburban part of the East Coast Main Line, south of Peterborough and south of Royston. The Great Northern Railway proposed electrification of part of the line in 1903, but it was not until 1971 that a scheme to electrify the line from London King's Cross and Moorgate was authorised.

The Inner Suburban Lines to Welwyn Garden City and Hertford North were electrified in 1976 with Class 313 EMUs. In 1978 the electrification was complete to Royston with Class 312 EMUs providing the service. The route was then promoted as the Great Northern Electrics.. The route between Hertford and Langley Junction, south of Stevenage, was also electrified but not regularly used by electric trains until 1979 when one Moorgate-Hertford service per hour was extended to Letchworth; prior to this diesel multiple units provided an infrequent service over this route, running between Hertford and Huntingdon/Peterborough. From 1979 until 1987 DMUs provided the service between Hitchin and Huntingdon/Peterborough. DMUs also provided a shuttle service between Royston and Cambridge between 1978 and 1988, connecting with the electric trains and replacing the former through Cambridge buffet expresses between Kings Cross and the university city.

In 1982 a new station at Watton-at-Stone was opened between Hertford and Stevenage.

With the electrification of the East Coast Main Line electric services could be extended to Peterborough and the Outer Suburban Service was changed from Class 312 to Class 317, some of which were cascaded from the newly created Thameslink route, with the remainder newly-built.

In 1984 the decision to electrify the line between Royston and Shepreth Branch Junction with the West Anglia Main Line north of Shelford allowed the reinstatement of through services to Cambridge from London King's Cross via the East Coast Main Line, resulting in faster journey times than from Liverpool Street via the West Anglia Main Line. This electrification was completed in 1988.

Later the track between these points was also upgraded with welded joint track instead of the jointed track that had existed, and line speeds were raised to 90mph.

Rapid growth on the route, especially on the Cambridge Line resulted in consultation on a new service pattern, which was then implemented at the timetable change in Spring 2009. During the peak hours, the route is now saturated and can support no further service improvements.