The first section of the Great Northern Railway - that from to a junction with the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway at Grimsby - opened on 1 March 1848, but the southern section of the main line, between and, was not opened until August 1850. Hitchin was one of the original stations, opening with the line on 7 August 1850. On 21 October 1850 Hitchin became a junction station with the opening of the first section of the Royston and Hitchin Railway, between Hitchin and . The Midland Railway opened a route from via to Hitchin on 1 February 1858, by which MR trains used the GNR to reach London. After the opening of the Midland Railway's own line from Bedford via to London, and the line's terminus at in 1868, their line between Bedford and Hitchin was reduced to branch status. It lost its passenger service in 1961 and was closed completely in 1964, with the exception of a stub from Bedford to Cardington which itself was closed in 1969. In May 1964 part of the line was used for the railway scene in the film Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines. The embankment for the line could, until early 2012, still be walked from just north of the station, through the fields to Ickleford, but this section is now closed off. Opened in June 2013 a new embankment now carries a single-track line onto a viaduct for Letchworth-bound trains over the East Coast Main Line as part of the Hitchin Flyover project.
Accidents and incidents
On 14 April 1949, the solicitor and historian Reginald Hinedied by suicide here by jumping in front of the slow train from Cambridge.
On 19 November 1958, a freight train overran signals and was in a rear-end collision with another. A third freight train ran into the wreckage.
Facilities
There are 12 car platforms on the Up and Down Slow lines only. to the north of the station is Cambridge Junction, where northbound trains for Cambridge need to cross the two Up lines. Following a refurbishment of the station by First Capital Connect in 2007, the station's subway was refurbished at a cost of £300k. The refurbishment also involved general cosmetic work throughout the station, as well as a new high quality waiting room in the existing station buildings on Platform 2. This waiting room is fully accessible at all times via the automatic doors. There is a small shop located by the stairs on Platform two, and various vending machines throughout the station. The station has a large booking office and a variety of modern Touch Screen ticket machines located in the booking office, and the station's cycle facilities were completely upgraded in 2007 and now include sheltered spaces for 68 bicycles provided next to the station buildings. The station also has help points throughout. Hitchin station now has automatic ticket gates at the station entrance, which were installed by First Capital Connect during 2007. In 2013, Network Rail proposed plans for two new lifts, one on each platform to improve access via the existing subway for those with pushchairs or disabilities, funded through the Department for Transport’s Access for All scheme. In September 2014 the new lifts opened, after a two-month delay, giving step-free access to the southbound number 1 platform.
Services
Hitchin railway station is managed by Great Northern and has two platforms situated on the slow lines. Platform 1 is used for trains towards London and a few starting/terminating services to/from London. Platform 2 is used for trains towards Peterborough and Cambridge. Platform 1 also provides access to the sidings, used for removing stone and scrap metal. In the current 2019-2020 off-peak timetable, there are two trains per hour to both Peterborough and Cambridge northbound. Two of the Cambridge services calls at principal stations only whilst the other two serves all intermediate stations; Peterborough trains call at all stations north of here. Southbound there are two trains per hour to Brighton, two trains per hour to Horsham and two trains per hour to King's Cross - the services to Brighton and Horsham are limited stop and then run via whilst the trains to King's Cross serve principal stations then, Finsbury Park and King's Cross. There are a number of peak hour service variations and extra calls, including some trains that start & finish at Royston, trains to and limited stop expresses to Peterborough and London. On Sundays, there is a southbound service of two trains per hour to London and one semi-fast train per hour to Gatwick Airport via London St Pancras. There are two trains per hour to Cambridge, and an hourly service to Peterborough.
Future Thameslink services
After the Thameslink Programme is complete, Great Northern services will be extended to destinations south of central London. In September 2016, a proposed timetable was released; the only planned service not on the current Thameslink timetable is:
Southbound:
* 2 trains per hour to via, London St Pancras, London Bridge and. This service would originate from.
Prior to 2016, it was proposed to run the stopping Cambridge services to/from instead, however this proposal has since been cancelled, in favour of Maidstone East.
Junction development
Down trains from London to Cambridge used to use a ladder crossing over the up lines in order to reach the Cambridge Line, which often caused significant delays to trains in both directions.Together with the Digswell Viaduct some to the south, the flat junction just north of was a major bottleneck. In June 2013 Network Rail completed a flyover to carry Down trains to Cambridge over the top of the main line, built at a final cost of £47million
