At Stevenage, buses pick up and drop off passengers from Stevenage Leisure Park car park.

At Watton-at-Stone, buses pick up and drop off passengers directly outside the station on Station Road.

At Hertford North, buses pick up and drop off passengers outside the station on North Road.

The new platform and track will mean that train services on the Hertford Loop (Stevenage to London via Hertford North) can turn around at Stevenage. This will mean that we can introduce two trains per hour all day in each direction.

These trains will provide better connections at Stevenage. These connections include direct train services serving destinations connected to the East Coast Main Line including Brighton, Gatwick Airport, Cambridge, Peterborough and across the North of England.

Prior to May 2018, Hertford Loop trains could not turn around at Stevenage. To turn around, these services needed to run empty north to turn around at Letchworth Garden City on the East Coast main line and could cause delays to, or be delayed by other train services on the main line. The new platform and track, once complete will remove this issue, improving the reliability of all services.

In addition, the new timetables introduced from May 2018 as part of the Thameslink Programme use the timetable slots on the East Coast main line that were previously used to run empty Hertford Loop trains to run trains operating between Brighton and Cambridge.

Unfortunately, with the introduction of a second per hour all-day Brighton to Cambridge Thameslink service in the summer 2019 timetable, it is no longer possible to run empty Hertford Loop trains onto the main line to turn around.

The bus timetable from the 20th of May 2019 is available in journey planners including at www.nationalrail.co.uk.

We will operate two buses per hour in each direction between Hertford North and Stevenage. In off-peak periods when the roads are quieter, we expect a journey time of approximately 25 minutes. In peak periods, we expect a journey time of 35 minutes.

In addition, we will operate one bus per hour in each direction between Watton-at-Stone and Stevenage. We expect a journey time of approximately 20 minutes in off-peak periods and 25 minutes when roads are busier.

Bus journey times have been tested and set at times that connect with onwards rail services. You can download a copy of the bus timetable here:

 Bus timetable

We will support you to get where you need to go. Both bus services are fully wheelchair accessible.

Where possible, please consider using the service from Hertford North as the station has lifts. Where possible, please try to book ahead.

You can book assistance online or by calling 0800 058 2844 or textphone 0800 138 1018.

Passengers travelling longer distance such as from Alexandra Palace to Stevenage or Stevenage to Alexandra Palace are advised to use the bus service from Hertford North. While further south than Watton-at-Stone, leaving or joining the train at Hertford North will offer a shorter overall journey time and benefits from more station facilities.

We anticipate that the bus service from Watton-at-Stone will only be used by residents of Watton-at-Stone or passengers that are ending their journey at Watton-at-Stone.

Network Rail is already working on site to build the new infrastructure which will enable full train services to resume. Network Rail and Great Northern are working closely together to complete this work as soon as possible. Completion of the infrastructure is currently expected in 2020. Great Northern expects to resume a weekday train service in the Summer 2020 timetable.

Unfortunately not. Apart from the complex infrastructure mentioned above, there is on average a gap of only four hours between the last train on one day and the start of service the next day. This is not long enough to get all of the required heavy machinery and man power in place, and off site again for long enough to carry out all of the required work. The only option is to do the work all at once and try to reduce the period of disruption to the shortest possible.

Network Rail have started to carry out detailed planning to include the latest technology and engineering techniques to make the platform and track build time as short as possible to minimise disruption for passengers. And they will be making maximum use of so-called “white” periods – Bank Holidays etc – to get as much done as quickly as possible.

Yes, on weekdays only.

While we hope that passengers travelling between Stevenage and Watton-at-Stone / Hertford North will try the replacement bus service, we also have limited ticket acceptance in place should you prefer to travel to Stevenage on rail services operated via Finsbury Park or Alexandra Palace. This may be particularly suitable for passengers at the southern end of the Hertford Loop such as Bowes Park who would like to travel to Stevenage or further north.

Tickets with an origin/destination of the following stations for journeys to/from Stevenage or further north will be able to travel via Alexandra Palace or Finsbury Park without having to pay an additional fare:

• Bowes Park
• Palmers Green
• Winchmore Hill
• Grange Park
• Enfield Chase
• Gordon Hill
• Crews Hill
• Cuffley
• Bayford
• Hertford North
• Watton-at-Stone

Please note that this ticket acceptance is only in place for journeys that are impacted by the weekday rail replacement bus service. In particular, ticket acceptance is subject to the following restrictions:

• Weekdays only
• No breaks in journey including at Finsbury Park
• No travel further south than Finsbury Park including to change trains