St Albans City Station celebrates milestone moment

The Mayor of St Albans was one of many who joined Thameslink staff to mark 50 years since the city train station was rebuilt, thanks to an event organised by Beds & Herts Community Rail Partnership.

To honour the impressive milestone, a mural and commemorative vintage plaque were unveiled at the Thameslink station on Monday, 15 May. The mural, designed by Richard Green, depicts a steam locomotive called ‘City of St Albans’ and is inspired by a 1946 train that was built in Crewe and withdrawn in 1963.

As part of the celebrations, a new exhibition has also been unveiled by St Albans South Signal Box Museum, which showcases historic photos of the station before its dramatic rebuild in 1973. The new public exhibition will be on display on Platform 4 throughout the summer.

St Albans City station has undergone many improvements over recent years, including a new footbridge which opened in January 2023. The station is one of the busiest on the Thameslink network north of London.

In 2020, the station benefitted from a £5.7 million upgrade, which saw it extended over two storeys, which made way for a new waiting area with a coffee shop, new toilets and additional ticket gates at the Ridgmont Road entrance. A small supermarket also opened as part of the development, resulting in greater convenience and better facilities for passengers.

Thameslink’s Customer Service Director, Jenny Saunders, said: “With so much investment happening at St Albans City over the years, it’s fantastic to be celebrating such a significant anniversary. These improvements directly benefit St Albans and its surrounding areas, providing customers with a better, safer station that’s ready for the next 50 years!”

Organised by Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) and the Beds & Herts Community Rail Partnership (CRP), some of the special guests to attend the event included the Mayor of the City and District of St Albans, Councillor Geoff Harrison, MP Daisy Cooper and mural artist Richard Green. Members of The Daylight Club - a social club for adults with physical and other disabilities - attended to see their homemade station signs come to life as part of the art exhibition.

Andy Buckley is Line officer for the Beds & Herts Community Rail Partnership. He commented: "This is an excellent example of how community rail brings together various local groups in an event at the railway station that we hope will be interesting to many. I'd like to say 'Thank You' to our Station Friends at the St Albans South Signal Box museum, whose idea it was to hold a celebratory event marking the 50^th anniversary of the reopening of the rebuilt station in 1973, and which brought together a number of ideas that had been held back because of Covid.

"A thank you also to one of our other Station Friends Groups - Passport to Leisure - for providing an amusing art piece of alternative station names. We have a photo exhibition on Platform 4 for the next few weeks showing how St Albans City station has changed over the years - the oldest photo dates from 1868 and comes from the Signal Box Museum's collection of images. Other events are being planned-for soon including the launch of our new 'Days out by bike on a train' leaflet which we hope to launch during National Community Rail Week."

ENDS

Notes to editors

• The vintage plaque was funded by St Albans BID
• Among those who joined the celebrations was Siggy Cragwell, Thameslink’s oldest employee who worked at St Albans station as a platform supervisor from 1990 to 2002
• Local ward councillor Chris White was also in attendance on the day
• The Daylight Club in St Albans offers adults with physical disabilities and learning difficulties a place to meet to learn new skills, meet new people and visit places of interest