page_title: Royston and Hitchin Railway
section_title: Reversion to the Great Northern Railway
hierarchical_section_title: Royston and Hitchin Railway / Reversion to the Great Northern Railway
caption_attribution_description: English: Ashwell &amp; Morden station. View NE, towards Cambridge: ex-GNR Hitchin - Cambridge seondary main line. The line was electrified in 1978 and is flourishing.
context_page_description: The Royston and Hitchin Railway was an English railway company; it built a line from the Great Northern Railway at Hitchin to Shepreth. A Shepreth branch line was built by the Eastern Counties Railway from Shelford Junction to Shepreth, and in time the line from Hitchin to Shepreth Branch Junction was regarded as a single unit.
  The Royston and Hitchin Railway was absorbed by the Great Northern Railway in 1897. For many years the line competed with the Great Eastern Railway line for Cambridge to London traffic, and the route became famous for the Cambridge Buffet Express trains. After 1923 the two routes were under the same ownership but continued to operate in a form of competition.
  In 1978 an electrically operated passenger service operated between London and Royston, and nearly all through journeys required a change of train at Royston. In 1987 the rest of the line was electrified, and became the primary route for Cambridge to London journeys, the service on the alternative former Great Eastern Railway route being downgraded outside the commuter peaks hours. The line remains in heavy use today.
context_section_description: Towards the end of the lease period, the GNR gave consideration to taking over the R&HR Company, but there was obstruction from the GER about actually reaching Cambridge over their tracks (from Shelford Junction). During the lifetime of the lease, the Bedford and Cambridge Railway had opened its line on 7 July 1862. The line was worked by the London and North Western Railway, which was friendly to the GNR at that time. The GNR therefore put forward two alternative proposals: one envisaged running powers from Shepreth to Cambridge, doubling of the track between Shepreth and the main line, use of the GER Cambridge station and a one mile extension to a separate terminal; the alternative was to be an extension from Shepreth to the Bedford and Cambridge Railway, joining it ​1 ¹⁄₂ miles east of Lord's Bridge, with running powers over that line to the outskirts of Cambridge, and then a new two-mile branch would run to the town centre.
  The GER saw that if the second choice materialised, they would be left in possession of a useless short branch that ended at Shepreth, and they agreed to the GNR’s wishes, signing an agreement on 2 May 1864. An Act in that year conceded to the GNR full running powers to Cambridge station, where all facilities and a separate platform would be provided; double track capable of carrying express services was promised between Shepreth and Shelford by 31 March 1866, the last day of the lease, on the expiration of which the R&HR line would be returned to the GNR.
caption: Ashwell & Morden station
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