Shenfield railway station

History

Shenfield station was opened by the Eastern Counties Railway company on 29 March 1843, on the extension from Brentwood to Colchester. As it was situated in a rural area, patronage was low, so it was closed in March 1850. It reopened with the name Shenfield & Hutton Junction on 1 January 1887, under the Great Eastern Railway to serve as an interchange station with the new Shenfield to Southend Line that was completed two years later. There were three platforms: two up (London-bound) and one down (country-bound). Under the London and North Eastern Railway, two extra tracks for terminating local (suburban "metro") trains opened in 1934, resulting in five platforms.

The 1920 survey of the station shows goods sidings and a turntable on the London side of the up platforms. The goods yard was closed on 4 May 1964 and it became the station's car park. The Hutton Junction suffix in the station's name was removed on 20 February 1969.

Immediately west of the station is Brentwood bank, which descends steeply in the up direction. This bank presented a significant climb to steam trains. There are extensive sidings on the up side of the station just before the start of the descent down the bank.

To the east of the station, the lines for Southend diverge to the south. West of Shenfield, there are five tracks, but these split to the east: two towards Colchester and two towards Southend Victoria. The London and North Eastern Railway opened the Southend Loop to the east of the station on 1 January 1934. This enabled Southend trains to and from platforms 4 and 5 to dive-under the main line, thus eliminating conflicting movements. The bi-directional loop line connects to the Southend line at Mountnessing Junction.

The lines from London Liverpool Street and (via Gas Factory Junction and Bow Junction) to Shenfield were electrified at 1,500 V DC overhead system in 1949. This was converted to 6.5 kV AC in 1960. to Shenfield was converted to 25 kV AC in 1976. Liverpool Street to Gidea Park was converted to 25 kV AC in 1980.

Oyster card readers were installed for pay-as-you-go journeys in 2013.

Layout

The station expanded from its original three platforms in 1843 to the current six.

Platforms are normally used as follows:

1. Westbound up services to London from the Shenfield-Southend line
2. Westbound up services to London on the Great Eastern Main Line
3. Northbound down services to Chelmsford and beyond on the Great Eastern Main Line
4. Eastbound down services to Southend onto the Shenfield-Southend line
5. Westbound up services to London on the Elizabeth line
6. Westbound up services to London on the Elizabeth line.

At peak hours, the frequency of services increase from eight trains per hour to 12, which necessitated the construction of a new 210 m platform 6, which was built to the north of platform 5 and replaced one of the existing three western sidings. The two remaining western sidings and three new eastern sidings are also used by the Elizabeth line.

Services

Shenfield is served by two train operating companies; the typical off-peak service pattern in trains per hour (tph) is:

Greater Anglia:

• 7 tph to ; of which:
  • 5 call at
  • 2 call at and Stratford
• 3 tph to , calling at all stations
• 1 tph to , calling at , , and then all stations
• 1 tph to , calling at Ingatestone, Chelmsford, Witham, , , and
• 1 tph to , calling at Chelmsford, , Witham and then all stations
• 1 tph to , calling at Chelmsford and then all stations.

Elizabeth line:

• 2 tph to , calling at all stations except , and
• 6 tph to , calling at all stations.

During peak times, service frequencies may be increased and calling patterns varied; they are generally reduced on Sundays.

References

References

1. {{citation step free tube map
2. Mitchell, Victor E.. (April 2011). "Eastern Main Lines - Shenfield to Ipswich". Middleton Press.
3. {{harvnb. Mitchell. 2011
4. ''Modern Railways'', March 2010, p. 44, and May 2010, p.35
5. (December 2012). "Commissioners report". TFL.
6. (8 May 2017). "Shenfield's Crossrail services will start by the end of May". Essex Live.
7. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220910161752/https://www.crossrail.co.uk/assets/library/document/a/original/a7selectionofthenortheasternterminus.pdf CROSSRAIL INFORMATION PAPER A7 – SELECTION OF THE NORTH EASTERN TERMINUS]
8. [https://web.archive.org/web/20150923211258/http://www.crossrail.co.uk/assets/download/2127 Environmental Baseline and Assessment of Impacts – North East Route Section]
9. [https://web.archive.org/web/20150923211344/http://www.crossrail.co.uk/assets/download/661 Chapter 18 - Route Window NE17 - Shenfield station]
10. (2016). "Railway Track Diagrams". Trackmaps.
11. (10 December 2023). "Timetables". Greater Anglia.
12. (10 December 2023). "Elizabeth Line Timetables". Transport for London.