Hemel Hempstead is a stop on the West Coast Main Line in Hertfordshire in between Berkhamstead and Apsley.
Information
Type:
National Rail
(West Coast Main Line)
Station code:
HML
Opened:
1837
Platforms:
4
Hemel Hempstead was opened as Boxmoor in 1837 by the London & Birmingham Railway. It was the Northern terminus of the line from London Euston for a few months until the line was extended to Tring later in the year. The station was built about a mile outside of the town centre due to opposition from land owners.
A later station, called Hemel Hempstead, was built by the Midland Railway in the town centre. To compete with this interloper the original station, then owned by the LNWR, was renamed Boxmoor & Hemel Hempstead in 1912. The name went through a few tweaks in the following decades, becoming Hemel Hempstead & Boxmoor in 1930. The ex-Midland station was closed in 1963 allowing the original station to finally be named Hemel Hempstead!
Hemel Hempstead is served by regular trains between Milton Keynes Central and Tring to London Euston, operated by London Midland who manage the station. Less frequent services from further afield including Birmingham New Street also stop at the station.
Southern services between Milton Keynes Central and East Croydon via the West London Line also stop. Virgin Trains services pass through the station but do not stop. The station has platforms on both the WCML slow and fast lines, the latter are more intensively used. There was once a South facing bay platform but this is now disused. The platforms (and lines) are built on an embankment with access between the platforms being via a subway.
LM 350 254 on a Euston bound service
Hemel Hempstead has gold name signs honouring Olympic success as common with LM managed stations
Platform buildings
Looking down towards London
Southern 377 705 pulls into the station on a South bound service
