Shenfield railway station

Shenfield is a major station located in Shenfield in the borough of Brentwood in Essex, England. It lies on the Great Eastern Main Line (GEML) and links Liverpool Street station in the City of London to places in the East of England. It was first opened by the Eastern Counties Railway on 29 March 1843 on the extension from Brentwood to Colchester. As it was in a rural area, patronage was low, so it was closed in 1850, but it reopened as Shenfield & Hutton Junction on 1 January 1887 under the Great Eastern Railway to serve as an interchange with the new railway line to Southend-on-Sea 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) trains opened in 1934, giving the current five platforms.

The 1920 survey of the station shows good sidings and a turntable on the London side of the up platforms. The goods yard was closed on 4 May 1964 and it became a car park.

The inclusion of "and Hutton" in the station name was discontinued in 1969.

The station is served by fast trains on the main line to London Liverpool Street and is also the eastern terminus of the Shenfield Metro service. It is planned that Crossrail will terminate here in 2018.

The station is 20 miles (32 km) down line from Liverpool Street. Immediately west of the station is Brentwood bank, which descends steeply in the up (London) direction. This bank presented a significant climb to steam trains. There are extensive sidings on the London 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 with the down line passing under the main lines to Colchester. West of Shenfield there are four tracks, but to the east these split, two towards Colchester and two towards Southend.

Shenfield station gained Oyster card readers for Pay as you go journeys which will be in use from 2 January 2013.

Crossrail
The 10-car Crossrail trains will run over the pair of 'electric lines', rather than the main lines, replacing the existing 8-car metro trains and allowing Crossrail to serve all stations between Shenfield and Stratford. At peak hours the frequency of service will increase from around 6 trains per hour to 12, necessitating the construction of a new 210 m long platform at Shenfield, Platform 6, which will be built to the north of platform 5, replacing one of the existing three western sidings. The two remaining western sidings and three new eastern sidings will also be used by Crossrail. It is estimated that Crossrail will cut morning peak journey times by up to 7 minutes, although there will be no reduction to some journey times.

Train Services
The following services currently call at Shenfield:

Service
The Monday-Saturday off-peak service from Shenfield is:


 * 13 trains per hour to London Liverpool Street, of which:
 * 5 call at Stratford
 * 2 call at Romford and Stratford
 * 6 call at all stations. Normally operated by a Class 315


 * 3 tph to Southend Victoria, calling at all stations. Normally operated by a Class 321, not operated by a Class 360.


 * 1 tph to Braintree, calling at Ingatestone, Chelmsford, Witham then all stations. Normally always operated by a Class 321, occasionally operated by a Class 360. Not usually operated by a Class 315.


 * 1 tph to Clacton, calling at Ingatestone, Chelmsford, Witham, Colchester (North), Wivenhoe and Thorpe-le-Soken. Normally operated by a Class 360, also operated by a Class 321. Not usually operated by a Class 315.


 * 1 tph to Colchester Town, calling at Chelmsford, Witham then all stations. Normally operated by a Class 360, also operated by a Class 321. Not usually operated by a Class 315.


 * 1 tph to Ipswich, calling at Chelmsford then all stations. Normally operated by a Class 360, also operated by a Class 321. Not usually operated by a Class 315.

On Sundays this is reduced to:


 * 6 tph to London, of which:
 * 2 call at Stratford
 * 2 call at all stations to Romford then Stratford
 * 2 call at all stations


 * 2 tph to Southend Victoria, calling at Billericay, Wickford, Rayleigh, Hockley, Rochford and Southend Airport.


 * 1 tph to Clacton-on-Sea, calling at Chelmsford, Witham, Marks Tey, Colchester (North), Wivenhoe, Alresford (Essex), Great Bentley and Thorpe-le-Soken


 * 1 tph to Ipswich, calling at all stations.