Hertford East branch line

The Hertford East branch line is a railway line in Hertfordshire, England running between Hertford East and Broxbourne. The line follows the route of the Lea Valley, serving intermediate towns and villages. It branches off the West Anglia Main Line north of Broxbourne, and could be seen as part of the Lea Valley lines—a collection of commuter routes into London. It is 5 miles 64 chains (9.33 km) in length.

Hertford East branch line
The single track line through Ware railway station
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	East of England
Termini	Broxbourne Hertford East
Stations	4
Service
Type	Heavy rail, Commuter rail
System	National Rail
Operator(s)	Greater Anglia
Depot(s)	Ilford
Rolling stock	Class 720
History
Opened	1843
Technical
Line length	5 miles 64 chains (9.3 km)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	25 kV 50 Hz AC OHLE
Route map (Click to expand)

Hertford East Branch Line
Miles from London Liverpool Street Hertford Loop Line to ECML and Stevenage Stapleford Hertford North Hertford and Welwyn Jn Rly to ECML and Hatfield Hertford Loop Line to ECML and King's Cross Hertford Cowbridge 24¼ Hertford East Hertford (original) Kingsmead Viaduct (A10) New River 22¼ Ware Buntingford branch line to Buntingford 20¼ St Margarets 19¼ Rye House West Anglia Main Line to Cambridge 17¼ Broxbourne Lea Valley lines to London

History

In June 1841, the Northern and Eastern Railway (N&ER) was given parliamentary assent to construct a branch from Broxbourne to Hertford. Work on the line began early in 1843 and the branch (and all stations on it) was opened as a single track on 31 October of that year. Operation by the N&ER was short-lived as it had already agreed that the Eastern Counties Railway would lease its lines (then from Stratford to Bishop's Stortford as well as the Hertford East branch). The line was doubled in October 1846.

The original Hertford station was opened in 1843. It was sited to avoid two nearby schools, but later it was closed and in 1888 Hertford East station was opened further west and closer to the town centre. Another station existed in 1858 on the line from Hatfield, but this closed as soon as Hertford North station opened in 1924.

Part of the Hertford East branch was used for the Buntingford Branch Railway, or "The Bunt", a railway which ran from Buntingford to London from 1863 to 1964. The Buntingford Railway split off this line just to the north of St Margarets station.

Route and services

The line curves away from Broxbourne to the left and heads towards Hertford. For most of its length, it is bounded by the New River on its south side and the River Lea and Lee Navigation on the north side.

Towns and villages served are:

• Broxbourne
• Rye House on the outskirts of Hoddesdon
• St Margarets and neighbouring Stanstead Abbotts
• Ware
• Hertford East.

The line is part of the Network Rail Strategic Route 5, SRS 05.03 and is classified as a London and South East Commuter line.

There are currently two trains an hour on this line serving all stations. Future plans for this line see the lengthening of platforms to facilitate longer trains and create extra capacity on the line. Services on this line are currently operated by Greater Anglia using Class 720 units consisting of 5 or 10 car formations.

Usually, trains on the Hertford East branch line go to Liverpool Street (on Mondays to Saturdays, via Tottenham Hale and Hackney Downs), and Stratford (on Sundays). On days of engineering works, train services often terminate at Broxbourne.

Passenger volume

Below is the passenger usage from the year beginning April 2002 to the year beginning April 2022.

Station usage
Station name	2002–03	2004–05	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10	2010–11	2011–12	2012–13	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23
Hertford East	275,158	303,404	278,010	626,244	613,405	613,476	657,574	718,590	666,550	774,547	794,857	827,167	880,042	935,471	965,862	1,313,442	1,286,402	242,688	674,184	900,942
Ware	700,233	770,239	747,625	830,244	904,420	921,512	792,180	838,360	871,904	970,726	1,053,174	1,083,188	1,131,318	1,154,290	1,062,048	1,074,608	1,047,118	234,248	651,464	806,844
St Margarets	294,763	302,701	300,745	306,446	313,656	315,202	244,574	286,948	324,960	351,624	350,808	355,530	351,450	376,376	369,706	365,922	364,990	89,100	232,120	267,988
Rye House	264,582	312,736	312,505	323,112	336,314	368,796	329,172	345,928	337,576	384,006	427,966	432,202	468,178	531,024	506,538	502,976	479,934	136,228	283,748	336,600
The annual passenger usage is based on sales of tickets in stated financial years from Office of Rail and Road estimates of station usage. The statistics are for passengers arriving and departing from each station and cover twelve-month periods that start in April. Methodology may vary year on year. Usage from the periods 2019-20 and especially 2020-21 onwards have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic

Infrastructure

The line is double track throughout except for a small section through Ware where it is single track. It is electrified at 25 kV AC using overhead line equipment, and has a loading gauge of W6.