[UnclePete]

Students will be pleased to know that the long awaited Hatfield rail station re-vamp will start in Nov 2012, first of all with a new multi-story car park and step-free access in the form of a lift being put in. This will be followed by a new bus interchange and separate taxi area, plus new retail units.

This will be a great help for those of you with heavy luggage either coming off the trains from London, or going onto trains northbound, having currently to climb the footbridge, which was put in when the line was electrified in the early 70`s and had to be quite a lot higher than the old original one for the high voltage overhead (25,000volts) electric traction cable clearance.

And because of current H & S regulations, station staff are not allowed any more to escort people across the track between the platforms even if there was provision to do so, as was the case with the old pre-1970 station. Most of the Intercity trains passing through on the fast up and down lines (in railway talk `up` is always in the direction of London, `down` away from it) are travelling in excess of 100mph/160kmh.

Please note also there have been some changes, mostly for the better (route 634 excepted) of the UNO bus services.

Please read my threads regarding buses etc. on pages 4 to 9.

[Pop_tart]

(Original post by UnclePete)
Students will be relieved to know that the long awaited Hatfield rail station re-vamp will start in Nov 2012, first of all with a new step free access in the form of a lift being put in.

This will be a great help for those of you with heavy luggage either coming off the trains from London or going onto trains northbound having currently to climb the footbridge, which was put in when the line was electrified and had to be higher than the old one for high voltage overhead electric cable clearance.
And because of current regulations, station staff are not allowed to escort people across the track even if there was provision to do so, as was the case with the old pre-1970 station.

Please note also there have been some changes mostly for the better ( route 634 excepted) of the UNO bus services.

Please read my threads regarding buses etc. on pages 3,4 & 5.

Thanks for sharing this!

[UnclePete]

Hi again Pop_tart!

Thanks for comment. I think the station will be a great improvement, at least if nothing else, it will be better than present. I visited the public exhibition that Network Rail and First Capital Connect held in Old Hatfield around a month ago.

Also,the new generation of trains coming on-stream soon will be stopping at the station more conveniently at the London end of the platform, closer to the bridge/new lift,as they used to do. The reason that since about two years ago they stop at the far end of the `down` platform was in case a driver with an eight coach train mistakenly stopped short at the four coach marker, making it possible for people in the last four coaches to open the doors on to the track. With the new trains this will not be possible, but unfortunately I understand in the interim the new sensor technology cannot be adapted to the current rolling stock.

I have been in contact with both UNO and the council at least twice in the last year regarding including the `Temporary Flag`bus stop in Albratross Way in the " where to get on and off your bus" plan on pages 2 & 5 of the UNO timetable book, which is a very convenient stop for students in De Hav, for say the 607 to and from the station (days) but unfortunately to no avail. As it stands at the moment the timetable book gives the impression the daytime 607 can only be caught town/station bound from The Parkhouse, where as we know it can also be caught from the Albratross Way stop at the back of the de Hav Campus.