The first section of the Great Northern Railway (GNR) - that from Louth to a junction with the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway at Grimsby - opened on 1 March 1848, but the southern section of the main line, between Maiden Lane and Peterborough, was not opened until August 1850.

[7] The embankment for the line could, until early 2012, still be walked from just north of the station, through the fields to Ickleford, but this section is now closed off.

[13] The new lifts opened in September 2014 after a two-month delay, giving step-free access to the southbound number 1 platform.

Together with the Digswell Viaduct some 10 miles (16 km) to the south, the flat junction just north of Hitchin was a major bottleneck.

[16] In June 2013 Network Rail completed a flyover to carry Down trains to Cambridge over the top of the main line,[17] built at a final cost of £47million [18]