Hitchin Flyover

Grade-separated railway viaduct in England

Hitchin Flyover

A Thameslink Class 700 crossing the flyover

Coordinates| 51°58′12″N 0°15′49″W﻿ / ﻿51.96993°N 0.26355°W﻿ / 51.96993; -0.26355
Carries| Down Cambridge Flyover line
Crosses| East Coast Main Line
Named for| Hitchin
Characteristics
No. of lanes| Single track
History
Built| 2011–2013
Opened| June 2013
Location

The Hitchin Flyover is a grade-separated single-track railway viaduct near Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England, which carries the Down Cambridge Flyover line[1]: 238 over the East Coast Main Line. Constructed between 2012 and 2013, it connects the westernmost track of the East Coast Main Line with the Cambridge line. The flyover was built to increase the throughput at Cambridge Junction,[1]: 209 a congested flat junction, which put severe constraints on capacity on both lines.

## Design

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Hitchin Flyover &
Cambridge Junction

Legend

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|  | East Coast Main Line

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|  |  | to/from the North

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|  | Hitchin Flyover
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|  |  | Hitchin

North Jn
│ Hitchin

East Jn
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|  | Cambridge line
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|  |  | from/to Letchworth

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Cambridge Junction

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|  | Hitchin
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|  | East Coast Main Line
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|  |  | from/to London

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The flyover consists of a 1.41 miles (2.27 km) single-track electrified railway line, including both sections of embankment and a viaduct that carries the Down Cambridge Flyover line over the four tracks of the East Coast Main Line.[2][3][1]: 238 The flyover line diverges from the East Coast Main Line at Cambridge Junction,[1]: 238 which is 0.7 miles (1.1 km) north of Hitchin railway station and 160 yards (150 m) south of the bridge that carries the East Coast Main Line over the River Hiz.[2][3] The flyover passes over the East Coast Main Line on a 22-span 870 yards (800 m) viaduct,[4] before joining the Down Cambridge line towards Letchworth Garden City at Hitchin East Junction.[1]: 238

The flat junction at the station remains in situ, which provides an alternative route for trains to access the Cambridge line from the Down Slow or Down Fast line.[1]: 238

## History

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Cambridge Junction
(until 2013)

Legend

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|  | East Coast Main Line

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|  |  | to/from the North

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|  | Cambridge line
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|  |  | from/to Letchworth

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Cambridge Junction

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|  | Hitchin
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|  | East Coast Main Line
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|  |  | from/to London

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### Background and proposals

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The East Coast Main Line is a railway that runs between Kings Cross in London and Edinburgh Waverley stations, and it forms a vital part of the UK's railway network.[5] The two most significant historical bottlenecks on the southern part of the route are the flat junction north of Hitchin, and ten miles to the south where the line's four tracks drop to two to cross the Digswell Viaduct.[6][1]: 206–208 This is because northbound trains had to cross the three other tracks in order to diverge from the East Coast Main Line and access the Cambridge line at Cambridge Junction.[1]: 209

In the 1970s, British Rail began modernising, rationalising, and electrifying the Great Northern route, which included alleviation of other bottlenecks on the route such as building a new flyover at Welwyn Garden City railway station.[7] In the 1980s, the construction of a flyunder to allow trains to avoid the flat junction were put forward, and land was set aside in order to construct it. However, the project was not seen to be feasible and did not materialise. This was followed in 1998 for a feasibility study which included various plans for flyovers, but once again none were taken further.[8]

United Kingdom legislation

Network Rail (Hitchin (Cambridge Junction)) Order 2011

Statutory Instrument

Parliament of the United Kingdom

Citation| 2011/1072
Dates
Royal assent| 31st March 2011
Commencement| 21st April 2011
Text of statute as originally enacted

In 2006, the Office of Rail and Road released a document entitled Issues in defining and measuring railway capacity, in which they discussed various capacity issues on the East Coast Main Line and projects aiming to mitigate them. Commenting on the idea of a flyover at Hitchin, they argued such a project "would undoubtedly make pathing more flexible and operations more robust"; however, they also said that it would not increase capacity as it was Digswell Viaduct that was the limiting factor on the number of services ran.[6]

The plan for the flyover was set out in the Network Rail (Hitchin (Cambridge Junction)) Order 2011, which was a Statutory Instrument permitting its construction by Network Rail. It was published on 31 March and came into force on 21 April.[2] In November 2011, the Department for Transport listed the flyover as an 'existing infrastructure project' in its annual National Infrastructure Plan, and expected that it would continue beyond Control Period 4, and therefore finish after 2014.[9]

### Construction

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Construction was completed in June 2013. Original plans were to build the embankment using aggregate trucked in from elsewhere,[10] but eventually it was decided to build up the embankment using chalk taken from the nearby Wilbury Hills, low-lying chalk hills forming part of the Chiltern Hills, from less than 1 mile (1.6 km) away, removing the need for lorry movements along public roads. The chalk was quarried from just beyond the ancient Icknield Way, which at this point is a public bridlepath between Ickleford and Letchworth Garden City, and the contractor was required to refill and replant the quarry afterwards.[11][12][13] In order to minimise disruption to the East Coast Main Line, the viaduct section was installed during night-time possessions of the railway, before installing crash decking which allowed work on the viaduct to continue during the day when the line below was active.[4]

Hitchin flyover rail curve under construction in 2012

Since the embankment materials were locally sourced it also meant that the new embankment was effectively pre-seeded with poppies. This means the entire embankment is covered in red poppies during their flowering season giving the name to the location 'Poppy Bank'.

### Operation

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A First Capital Connect train on the embankment after the flyover, nicknamed 'Poppy Bank'.

Services on the flyover were reported to have begun on 26 June 2013. At first, only three First Capital Connect services used the flyover each day; however, by the December 2013 timetable change, three-hundred drivers had been trained in order to allow six-hundred services to use the flyover rather than the flat junction.[14] As of the June 2025 working timetables, all scheduled passenger trains travelling between Hitchin and Letchworth are pathed on the Down Cambridge Flyover.[15]

The introduction of the flyover increased journey times between Hitchin and Letchworth by approximately one minute; in contrast, southbound services were not affected as their route did not change. First Capital Connect amended their timetables for northbound trains to reflect this additional time.[16]

By January 2015 the only form of traction not to have used the flyover was electric locomotives (regular services are electric multiple units); Union of South Africa became the first steam locomotive on the flyover when it moved empty coaching stock to Cambridge in preparation for a tour to York.

## References

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1. ^ a b c d e f g h "London North Eastern Sectional Appendix" (PDF). National Electronic Sectional Appendix. Network Rail. 7 June 2025. Retrieved 30 June 2025.
2. ^ a b c "Network Rail (Hitchin (Cambridge Junction)) Order 2011", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2011/1072
3. ^ a b "Hitchin Grade Separation - new flyover project | VolkerRail". www.volkerrail.co.uk. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
4. ^ a b "Hitchin Grade Separation". CCS. 14 January 2015. Retrieved 24 June 2025.
5. ^ "Route Plans 2010: Route Plan G East Coast & North East" (PDF). Network Rail. 31 March 2010. p.5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 September 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
6. ^ a b "APPENDIX 2: Issues in defining and measuring railway capacity" (PDF). Office of Rail Regulation. 13 February 2006. p. 2. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
7. ^ British Railways Board. "Your New Electric Railway: The Great Northern Suburban Electrification" (PDF). Retrieved 15 April 2010.
8. ^ "BS11000 Hitchin Alliance for Network Rail and HOCHTIEF". Rail UK. 2 August 2012. Retrieved 24 June 2025.
9. ^ "3.C: Network Rail Schemes". National Infrastructure Plan. HM Treasury. 29 November 2011. ISBN 978-0-10-851116-5 - via Google Books.
10. ^ "NETWORK RAIL (HITCHIN (CAMBRIDGE JUNCTION)) ORDER MINDED VIEW LETTER". Department for Transport (United Kingdom). 20 October 2010. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
11. ^ Watson, J. P. (6 August 2010). "Network Rail (Hitchin (Cambridge Junction)) Order. Report to the Secretary of State for Transport" (PDF). Planning Inspectorate. Department for Transport (United Kingdom). Retrieved 28 February 2014.
12. ^ "Land north and east of Cadwell Lane and Wilbury Way and west of Stotfold Road, Hitchin (Hitchin Railway Curve)". North Hertfordshire District Council. May 2012. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
13. ^ Burge, Laura (2 May 2012). "Mixed Reviews on Network Rail's Plans for Hitchin Rail Curve Project". The Comet. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
14. ^ "Hitchin flyover opens". Railway Gazette International. 26 June 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2025.
15. ^ "Working timetable (YA)". Network Rail. June 2025. Retrieved 22 June 2025.
16. ^ "First passenger services start using Hitchin flyover". Network Rail Media Centre. Retrieved 21 June 2025.

## External links

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* Darley, Andy (4 August 2017). Walking the Hitchin rail flyover (Video) - via YouTube.
* Media related to Hitchin Flyover at Wikimedia Commons

* v
* t
* e

Great Northern route

East Coast Main Line|

* London King's Cross
* Finsbury Park
* Harringay
* Hornsey
* Alexandra Palace
* New Southgate
* Oakleigh Park
* New Barnet
* Hadley Wood
* Potters Bar
* Brookmans Park
* Welham Green
* Hatfield
* Welwyn Garden City
* Welwyn North
* Knebworth
* Stevenage
* Hitchin
* Arlesey
* Biggleswade
* Sandy
* St Neots
* Huntingdon
* Peterborough

Northern City Line|

* Moorgate
* Old Street
* Essex Road
* Highbury & Islington
* Drayton Park

Hertford loop line|

* Alexandra Palace
* Bowes Park
* Palmers Green
* Winchmore Hill
* Grange Park
* Enfield Chase
* Gordon Hill
* Crews Hill
* Cuffley
* Bayford
* Hertford North
* Watton-at-Stone
* Stevenage

Cambridge line|

* Hitchin
* Letchworth Garden City
* Baldock
* Ashwell & Morden
* Royston
* Meldreth
* Shepreth
* Foxton
* Cambridge South (opens 2026)
* Cambridge

Fen line|

* Cambridge
* Cambridge North
* Waterbeach
* Ely
* Littleport
* Downham Market
* Watlington
* Kings Lynn

Current Operator|

* Govia Thameslink Railway (since 2014)

Former operators|

* First Capital Connect (2006–2014)
* West Anglia Great Northern, including as WAGN (1997–2006)
* Network SouthEast (1982–1997)
* British Rail (1948–1997)
* London & North Eastern Railway (1923–1947)
* Great Northern Railway (1848–1922)

Closed line|

* Varsity Line

Closed stations|

* Abbots Ripton
* Denver
* Enfield
* Harston
* Hilgay
* Holloway and Caledonian Road
* Holme (Cambridgeshire)
* Holme (Norfolk)
* Maiden Lane
* Offord and Buckden
* Ouse Bridge
* Stapleford
* Stow Bardolph
* Tempsford
* Three Counties
* Yaxley and Farcet

Infrastructure|

* Gasworks Tunnel
* Copenhagen Tunnel
* Digswell Viaduct
* Hitchin Flyover
* Nene Viaduct

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