Cheshunt Station (CHN)

Address: Windmill Lane, Cheshunt, Hertfordshire EN8 9AQ
Opened: 31 May 1846
Station Code: CHN
Fare Zone: 8

London Overground Line(s) Served:

Lea Valley Lines (Cheshunt Branch)

Service Pattern(s):

Two trains per hour to Liverpool Street via Seven Sisters

Station History

Although the Northern & Eastern Railway opened their new railway line between Stratford and Broxbourne in September 1840, the original temporary Cheshunt station opened north of the current site, on Cadmore Lane.

The temporary station only lasted from April to June 1842 when the Eastern Counties Railway, who leased the Northern & Eastern from January 1844, opened a permanent station on the current site on 31 May 1846.

From the early 1860s, East Anglia’s railways were in deep financial trouble and the Eastern Counties managed to obtain leases for most of them. The ECR wished to formally amalgamate the various lines, but the Government of the day did not grant their assent until 1862 when the Great Eastern Railway was formed and took over Cheshunt station.

The station received its first major investment under the GER when a footbridge was constructed between the platforms, this was followed in 1882 by the provision of a small goods yard.

The GER continued their investment on 1st October 1891, when they opened a new line, the Churchbury Loop, from Cheshunt to Bury Street Junction, just north of Edmonton Green. As a result of the new line, Cheshunt station was comprehensively rebuilt, with additional bay platforms on both the up and down sides of the station, alongside new brick station buildings and a signal box.

A significant decrease in passenger numbers saw services on the Churchbury Loop withdrawn on 1 October 1909. Limited services resumed in 1914 following the outbreak of World War 1, to ferry workers to the numerous munitions factories in the Lea Valley but these services ceased again in July 1919.

On 1 January 1923 the Great Eastern Railway became amalgamated with the London & North Eastern Railway, followed in 1948 by the Nationalisation of the railways, with Cheshunt falling under the Eastern Region of British Railways.

Churchbury Loop services were renamed Southbury Loop and reinstated following the electrification of the lines through Cheshunt on 21 November 1960, although the services on the line remained diesel-hauled. The decline of goods traffic through the station saw the goods yard close on 1 June 1966.

With the creation of sectorisation of British Rail in 1982 all passenger services in the London & South East region were rebranded as Network Southeast. This lasted until privatisation when the lines through Cheshunt were passed to West Anglia Great Northern in January 1997. Another change occured in April 2004, when the lines through Cheshunt became part of the East Anglia franchise, operated by National Express.

Under the new franchise, the bay platform at Cheshunt was lengthened to accomodate eight car trains. These works also entailed replacing the station buildings and the station footbridge with construction commencing in December 2005 and completed in August 2006. A final change in ownership occured in February 2012, when Abellio
took over operation of the franchise, rebranding as Abellio Greater Anglia in December 2013.

Southbury Loop services to London Liverpool Street were devolved to Transport for London, operating under their London Overground brand, in May 2015. However, management of the Cheshunt station remains under Abellio.