Could Anglia Railways’ London Crosslink Be Recreated As Part Of The London Overground?
This is the first paragraph of the Wikipedia entry for the original London Crosslink.
London Crosslink was a passenger train service operated by Anglia Railways between Norwich and Basingstoke, using the North London Line to bypass central London. Class 170 Turbostar diesel multiple units were used, and the service operated between 22 May 2000 and 28 September 2002, supported by funding from the Strategic Rail Authority through its Rail Passenger Partnership fund.
Note.
- The service called at Diss, Stowmarket, Ipswich, Colchester, Whitham, Chelmsford, Ingatestone, Romford, Stratford, Highbury & Islington, Camden Road, Willesden Junction, West Hampstead Thameslink, Brentford, Feltham, Staines, Woking, and Farnborough (Main)
- It ran six times on Monday to Friday and five times on Sunday.
- Feltham and Woking stations have a coach link to Heathrow.
- Journeys took around 3 hours and 44 minutes.
Over the years, attractions and other rail lines and stations served by the route have changed. improved and been added.
- In 2006, the Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium opened within walking distance of Highbury & Islington station.
- In 2012, the Olympic Stadium opened at Stratford and is now used by West Ham United.
- In 2020, Brentford Stadium opened within walking distance of Brentford station.
- In 2022, Romford and Stratford stations were connected to the Elizabeth Line.
- In 2025, Beaulieu Park station was added to the Greater Anglia Main Line.
At some point in the future, Old Oak Common Lane station will open to link the route to High Speed Two.
In Can The Signalling Of The London Overground Be Improved?, I looked in detail at the signalling of the London Overground and if it could handle more trains.
My conclusion was that on the East and North London Lines, another three trains per hour (tph) could probably be accommodated, which over an average day was probably around sixty trains.
As a restored London Crosslink would need just six paths per day, I would suspect the service could be restored, if it were thought to be a good idea.
I certainly feel that capacity would not be a problem.
These are a few other thoughts.
Would It Be Sensible To Use Lumo Branding And Trains?
Consider.
- Lumo is trusted branding.
- A five-car Lumo Class 803 train is 132 metres long and a pair of four-car London Overground Class 710 trains is 166 metres long, so I suspect platform length problems will be minimal.
- I doubt there will be problems on the Greater Anglia network.
- Stratford and Norwich is mainly a 100 mph network.
- Not all parts of the route have 25 KVAC overhead electrification, but batteries can be fitted to the Class 803 trains, that will cover any gaps.
- My calculations show that the modern trains will be twenty-two minutes quicker, than Anglia Railways Class 170 diesel trains.
- At one point Anglia Railways was owned by First Group, so FirstGroup may have knowledge of the problems of the route.
I believe it would be sensible to use Lumo branding and trains.
Could The Route Be Extended?
Consider.
- It could probably be extended to Winchester, Southampton and Bournemouth in the South.
- If the offshore hydrogen takes off at Great Yarmouth, it might be worth extending with a reverse to Yarmouth in the North.
- Yarmouth has a direct service from London in the past.
The service could also develop days out by the sea.
Beaulieu Park Station – 30th October 2025
I went to Beaulieu Park station this morning and took these pictures.
Note.
Is London’s ULEZ Already Having An Affect On Train Travel?
Consider.
- There has been a lot of negative publicity about the ULEZ expansion, which starts on Tuesday, the 29th August, 2023.
- I doubt there are few people who will be affected by the expansion, who don’t know about it.
- I suspect many have calculated how much the ULEZ expansion will cost them.
I also suspect that some will have taken actions, which will have included.
- Bought a vehicle, that is ULEZ compliant to avoid the cost.
- Moving house or changing job may sound drastic, but the ULEZ expansion could be one of several reasons to make a large change to your lifestyle.
The easiest action, will be to increase their use of train travel, when they go inside the ULEZ.
Some may have already started to do this, so they know all the pitfalls before doing it seriously on a daily basis.
The Elizabeth Line
Over the last few months, I have written three posts about how busy the Western section of the Elizabeth Line can get.
- Very Busy Lizzie
- Elizabeth Line: Commuters Say Service ‘Not What Was Promised’
- So Many Cases On A Train!
I use the Elizabeth Line regularly and it seems to be getting even busier.
In May 2023, I wrote, these two posts.
- Elizabeth Line’s £29million Fares Bonanza As Passenger Numbers Hit New High
- Elizabeth Line Takes Fliers Away From Heathrow Express
Certainly, the Elizabeth Line is an undoubted success.
In the first of these linked posts, I suggest now might be the time to expand Elizabeth Line services.
Over the last week, I have made three trips to the outer reaches of the Metropolitan Line and I have been surprised at how busy the trains were.
Could it be that travellers are changing their routes before the ULEZ expansion kicks in?
New Trains And More Parkway Stations
Greater Anglia have replaced their commuter trains with new Class 720 trains and are building a new parkway station at Beaulieu Park.
This looks to me, that Beaulieu Park could be a ULEZ avoider.
Will other train companies use a similar strategy to attract more passengers?
Heathrow Is In The Expanded ULEZ
This page on the Heathrow web site is entitled London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone, Or ULEZ, Is Expanding To Encompass All Of Greater London, Including Heathrow Airport, From The 29 August 2023.
The Heathrow page is very informative and I suggest you read it, if you are taking a vehicle near Heathrow.
But the ULEZ will surely drive some Heathrow workers and travellers to use public transport, even if they live far from the ULEZ.
Conclusion
I suspect that more travellers will use the trains because of the ULEZ.
Can Park-And-Ride Stations Be Used To Increase Motorway Capacity?
This article on the BBC is entitled New Smart Motorway Plans Being Scrapped.
I’ve never driven or even been driven on a smart motorway. But one incident in the 1970s, convinced me that we should have full hard shoulders on motorways and probably some dual carriageway roads.
I was travelling North on the then-two-lane M11 just North of Stansted Airport, doing around seventy in the outside lane of a not very busy motorway.
From nowhere an MGB convertible appeared in my mirrors and I pulled over to let the other car through.
There was a slight bend to the right at that point and the road was in a cutting.
The MGB just went straight on, climbed the banking and then turned over and rolled down and into the middle of the motorway.
A couple of other cars stopped on the hard shoulder and I initially pulled in behind them.
Miraculously, the driver had got out of the upside-down MGB and was standing beside the car.
I noticed that someone was using the emergency telephone by the side of the motorway, but I was worried that someone could come along too fast.
So as I had a large white car, I switched on the hazard lights and reversed down the hard shoulder. It certainly slowed everybody down and there were no more bumps or injuries. But what would have happened if the motorway had been busy?
When I first heard that smart motorways were going to be introduced in 2007, I was immediately against the idea because of that serious incident on the M11.
So what can we do to increase the capacity of our motorway and main road network?
Mathematical Modelling
In the 1970s, my software was used to model water supply in the UK. This piece of software just solved simultaneous differential equations and was used by the Government’s Water Resources Board.
I believe that software like I wrote fifty years ago and other more modern systems can be applied to traffic flows.
This should mean that any solutions put forward should be able to be tested.
Use Of Trains
If people can be encouraged to mode-shift and use trains, that must reduce the number of cars on the motorways.
But to get people out of their cars, there must be more Park-and-Ride stations.
And these new Park-and-Ride stations, must be attractive to motorists.
In Was Baldrick An Essex Man?, I looked at the design of the new Beaulieu Park station.
I feel that this is almost a new type of Park-and-Ride station, so is it part of a cunning plan to attract more passengers to the trains.
- It has a high-quality specification.
- Seven-hundred parking spaces will be built with hopefully an adequate number of chargers for electric vehicles.
- There will be five-hundred bicycle spaces.
- As it appears the station will be surrounded by 14,000 houses, I expect Network Rail are hoping lots of passengers will use the station.
But what is most unusual is that the station has an avoiding line, which should increase capacity and speed on the line through the station.
I also think, that the station is not just about journeys to London and Chelmsford, but also to other places in East Anglia like Cambridge, Ipswich and Norwich.
So have Network Rail designed a station that will maximise the return on their investment?
Only time will tell!
Conclusion
I think that Network Rail are trying to see if there is money to be made in the design of Park-and-Ride stations.
Was Baldrick An Essex Man?
I have been looking at Network Rail’s page for Beaulieu Park station.
This is the heading.
Network Rail and Essex County Council are working together to develop proposals for the first railway station to be built on the Great Eastern main line for over 100 years.
These two paragraphs outline the project and where the finance is being obtained.
The new station is part of a wider regeneration of the Beaulieu Park estate in Chelmsford with new road infrastructure and up to 14,000 homes.
Essex County Council, in partnership with Chelmsford City Council, successfully secured £218m of funding from the Government’s Housing and Infrastructure (HIF) fund together with £34m contributions from the South East Local Enterprise Partnership and the developers of Beaulieu, Countryside and L&Q.
These features of Beaulieu Park station are listed on the page.
- Three platforms with a central loop line and new tracks to enable stopping services to call at the station while allowing fast trains to pass through unimpeded
- Step free access to all platforms via 2 lifts
- Accessible toilets, baby change facilities, waiting area and space for retail/catering
- Ticketing facilities, with ticket vending machines and a gate line
- Pedestrian and cycle access routes to the station
- 500 spaces for cycle parking and storage
- A bus interchange including bus stands for local services
- Pick up and drop off area with dedicated taxi bays
- Parking for over 700 cars, 5% of which to be designated Blue Badge bays, and motorcycle spaces, as well as dedicated parking for station staff, emergency services, and a dedicated space for service access.
Note.
- How many other parkway stations, other than Ebbsfleet International station have 700 parking spaces?
- The parking at Whittlesford Parkway can only hold 377 vehicles.
- How many other parkway stations have an overtaking loop for faster trains?
Beaulieu Park is not your average parkway station!
I have a few thoughts.
Which Of The Current Services Will Call?
The Network Rail page says this about services.
It will provide additional access to the railway with regular connections to the capital (only 40 minutes from London Liverpool Street station) and other destinations in the east of England. New tracks will enable stopping services to call at the station while allowing fast trains to pass through unimpeded.
Note.
- Trains between London and Hatfield Peverel station typically take under forty minutes.
- Two fast trains per hour (tph) between Liverpool Street and Norwich via Colchester, Ipswich and Stowmarket pass through.
- Only one of the fast trains stops at Chelmsford.
- Four stopping tph, one to each of Braintree, Clacton-on-Sea, Colchester Town and Ipswich pass through.
If all the stopping trains stopped, Beaulieu Park would have the following services.
- Braintree – 1 tph
- Chelmsford – 4 tph
- Clacton-on-Sea – 1 tph
- Colchester – 3 tph
- Colchester Town – 1 tph
- Hatfield Peverel – 1 tph
- Ingatestone – 2 tph
- Ipswich – 1 tph
- Kelvedon – 2 tph
- London Liverpool Street – 4 tph
- Marks Tey – 2 tph
- Romford – 1 tph
- Shenfield – 3 tph
- Stratford – 4 tph
- Witham – 4 tph
All trains are new Class 720 electric trains.
I also feel, that Network Rail could be being cunning.
Suppose, the Liverpool Street and Norwich express, that doesn’t stop at Chelmsford, stopped instead at Beaulieu Park.
- This would give an hourly express service between Beaulieu Park and Norwich, which stopped at Colchester, Manningtree, Ipswich, Stowmarket and Diss.
- It would also enable two tph between Beaulieu Park and Ipswich.
The 700 parking spaces at Beaulieu Park now start to make sense.
- Both Ipswich and Norwich stations are within walking distance of the town centres and the football grounds.
- Ipswich station has a shuttle bus service to the town centre and the hospital.
- Both stations have several local train services.
Beaulieu Park station appears to have been designed as a Park-and-Ride station for the Great Eastern Main Line and all its branches.
Services To And From Lowestoft
In Making Sense Of The New East Anglia Franchise, I looked in detail at Greater Anglia’s promises.
In a section, which is entitled London – Lowestoft – Yarmouth Services, I said this.
There are going to be four direct services between London and Lowestoft each day. This probably initially means two trains to London in the morning peak and two trains back in the evening one.
When, I first moved back to Suffolk in the 1970s, I regularly caught a diesel-hauled train from Wickham Market to London for the day.
This is all motherhood and apple pie for those in Lowestoft wanting to go to London, but I suspect it isn’t the easiest service for a train operator to schedule efficiently and make money.
Would a train operator really want to start a full train at Lowestoft at say six in the morning and then have it wait around all day in London before returning in the evening?
The service hasn’t started.
Services To And From Cambridge Or Peterborough
At some time in the last decade, one of the predecessors of Greater Anglia, used to run a service to Peterborough via Colchester and Ipswich, so that travellers in Essex could catch trains to the North.
Given too that Cambridge has an employment problem, if a service was run, it might attract passengers.
The Class 755 trains Could Serve Bury St. Edmunds, Cambridge, Lowestoft, Newmarket, Peterborough And Yarmouth
Consider.
- A pair of Class 755 trains would leave Liverpool Street.
- They would use electric power to run to Ipswich.
- The trains would run in one of the paths of the current hourly Ipswich service.
- Like their all electric siblings; the Class 745 trains, they would probably run most of the journey at near 100 mph.
- At Ipswich the trains would split.
- One train would go to on to Lowestoft and Yarmouth and the other would go to Cambridge and Peterborough.
If passenger numbers felt it was a good idea, I’m certain, it could be timetabled.
The Chelmsford Avoiding Line
In Will The Chelmsford Avoiding Line Be Rebuilt?, I described the avoiding line, that used to be between the two tracks at Chelmsford station.
It probably saved a few minutes, by allowing fast expresses to pass stopping trains.
Effectively, a new avoiding line is being built at Beaulieu Park, a few miles from the original position at Chelmsford.
So will the fast expresses save a few minutes?
Could The Elizabeth Line Run To Beaulieu Park?
Consider
- The end sections of the Elizabeth Line seem to be busy, as I wrote in Very Busy Lizzie.
- The City of Chelmsford is between Shenfield and Beaulieu Park.
- Paddington and Reading is 35.9 miles.
- Liverpool Street and Hatfield Peverel is 35.9 miles.
So Beaulieu Park is actually closer to London than Reading.
Perhaps, at some time in a few years, passenger traffic between Beaulieu Park and Shenfield will be such, that the Elizabeth Line will be extended to Beaulieu Park.
The ideal service from Beaulieu Park would surely be two tph to Heathrow, as getting to Heathrow from East Anglia by train needs a change at Liverpool Street.
The only drawback is that to work effectively on the Great Eastern Main Line, a sub-variant of the Class 345 trains will be needed with a 100 mph operating speed. I wrote about these trains in Extending The Elizabeth Line – High Speed Trains On The Elizabeth Line.
But they may have the advantage of being able to take the fast lines between Shenfield and Stratford.
Conclusion
Beaulieu Park may just look like any other station to serve a housing development.
But it’s a lot more than that!
- It’s a Park-and-Ride for the whole Great Eastern Main Line and London.
- It should speed up expresses between London and Colchester, Ipswich or Norwich.
- It should improve local connectivity.
- It could take a lot of traffic off the nearby A12.
- It could give the City of Chelmsford its own local metro.
- It could give Heathrow a direct link to much of Essex.
- How much carbon will be saved by passengers?
We need many more well thought out Park-and-Ride stations.
Extending The Elizabeth Line – Thoughts On The Maximum Frequency In The Central Tunnel
The Wikipedia entry for the Elizabeth Line, says this about the indicative timetable after the 6th November 2022.
The indicative timetable consists of the following services on the Elizabeth line during peak hours: there will be 24 trains per hour (tph) in each direction in the central section (Paddington to Whitechapel): of these, 12 will run between Shenfield and Paddington, 6 will run between Abbey Wood and Heathrow, and 6 between Abbey Wood and either Reading or Maidenhead. Some trains on the Reading branch will not stop at all stations. Passengers travelling between stations west of Paddington and those on the north-eastern branch will need to change trains in the central section. Changing trains at Hayes & Harlington will be required for travel between Hanwell, West Ealing or Acton Main Line and other stations on the Reading branch.
The north-eastern section via Stratford is expected to see an additional four trains per hour during peak times between Gidea Park and the existing main line Liverpool Street station’s high level terminating platforms. Since these trains run over existing above-ground lines from Liverpool Street to Stratford, they will not call at Whitechapel.
When you consider, that Dear Old Vicky can handle 36 tph in the Peak, I feel that at some point in the future, the Elizabeth Line will handle more trains in the Central Tunnel.
This article on London Reconnections, which is entitled The Ninety Second Railway: Making the Victoria The Most Frequent Metro In The World, gives a history of increasing the frequency on the Victoria Line.
This is a paragraph from the article.
Of course, having the trains is only one part of the requirement. As our editor John Bull is prone to point out, there comes a point where frequency is not about how many trains you can squeeze through the tunnels, but about how quickly you can get passengers onto and clear of, the platforms.
As a regular passenger on the Victoria Line, there are times, when you notice that there are queues for the escalators and in the passageways at certain stations.
The Victoria Line probably can’t go to forty tph without substantial work on several stations.
But as these pictures show, the Elizabeth Line has space.
The Central Tunnel stations also have step-free walk-across access to the trains.
On my many journeys on the Lizzie Line, I’ve yet to see any delays in boarding in the Central Tunnel.
Extra Terminals
At present, the Elizabeth Line has been designed to have these terminal stations.
- Abbey Wood
- Heathrow Terminal 4
- Heathrow Terminal 5
- Maidenhead
- Paddington
- Reading
- Shenfield
The capacity in the East must match the capacity in the West.
Possible terminals in the East could be.
- Beaulieu Park
- Gravesend
- Hoo
- Northfleet
- Southend Victoria
And in the West they could be.
- Bedwyn
- Newbury
- Oxford
- Swindon
The numbers must still match.
Extra services would probably best be added gradually with time, when a need was proven.
Conclusion
I feel that only three things will limit the frequency of Elizabeth Line trains through the Central Tunnel.
- A frequency that fits the passenger numbers and route preferences.
- The capacity of the terminals
- The ability for engineers to meet that frequency safely and at an affordable cost.
Given that at certain times of the day, the Elizabeth Line is busier than you would expect, I wouldn’t be surprised to see that frequency higher than that planned.
Extending The Elizabeth Line – High Speed Trains On The Elizabeth Line
This may seem rather fanciful, but could it be the way to maximise the use of the Elizabeth Line?
- I feel that the Elizabeth Line will eventually serve other destinations like Basingstoke, Beaulieu, Oxford, Southend and Swindon.
- The capacity of the Elizabeth Line will grow to over thirty trains per hour (tph) under control of digital signalling.
These are a few thoughts.
The Design Of The Trains
As any train would have to be compatible with the platform-edge doors in the central tunnel of the Elizabeth Line, the trains would have to be dimensionally identical to the current Class 345 trains.
- Nine cars
- Possibility of lengthening to ten cars.
- 204.73 metres long.
- 6 sets of doors per carriage
- Ability to run under full digital signalling.
They would be designed for a higher speed of at least 110 or 125 mph, to enable running on the fast lines of these routes.
- East Coast Main Line
- Great Western Main Line
- Midland Main Line
- West Coast Main Line
They would also be able to run at 100 mph on the Chiltern Main Line, the Great Eastern Main Line and the North Kent Line.
The faster running would ease scheduling of the trains.
Extra facilities could include.
- Toilets
- Tables
- A third-rail capability for running in Kent.
Effectively, it would be a Class 345 train with more features and considerably more grunt.
Note that in A High Speed Train With An IPEMU-Capability, I started the post with the following.
Bombardier were reported by Ian Walmsley in the April 2016 Edition of Modern Railways, to be developing Aventra, with a 125 mph capability.
Bombardier have also told me, that all Aventras will be wired so they could be fitted with on-board energy storage.
Could it be that the design of a Class 345 train could be modified to run at higher speeds? I wouldn’t be surprised.
Oxford To Southend Victoria
This could be a typical route.
- Between Oxford and Paddington, it would follow a route similar to the GWR’s Oxford service with stops at just Reading and Slough.
- At Paddington the train would take the Central Tunnel of the Elizabeth Line and travel under London, at the same speed as the other trains.
- It would emerge at Stratford and move to the Great Eastern Main Line.
- It would probably stop at Stratford, Romford, Shenfield and all stations to Southend Victoria.
Note.
- Digital signalling would enforce the precise timekeeping needed.
- Much of the Oxford and Paddington section would be up to speeds of at least 125 mph.
- Times in the Central Tunnel of the Elizabeth Line would be identical to the current Class 345 trains.
- Much of the Stratford and Southend section would be up to speeds of at least 100 mph.
I estimate that total time would be a few minutes under two hours.
Connecting To The Central Tunnel Of The Elizabeth Line At Royal Oak
I discuss this in Extending The Elizabeth Line – Connecting Great Western Main Line Services To The Central Tunnel.
Connecting To The Central Tunnel Of The Elizabeth Line At Stratford
I discuss this in Extending The Elizabeth Line – Connecting Great Eastern Main Line Services To The Central Tunnel.
Connecting To The Central Tunnel Of The Elizabeth Line At Abbey Wood
This map from cartometro.com shows the track layout at Abbey Wood.
Note.
- The Elizabeth Line is shown in purple.
- The North Kent Line is shown in black.
- The North Kent Line platform to London is the Southernmost platform and is numbered 1.
- The North Kent Line platform from London is the other Southern platform and is numbered 2.
- The Elizabeth Line platforms are numbered 3 and 4.
- Platform 4 is the Northernmost platform.
At present the Elizabeth Line service to Abbey Wood station is twelve tph, with each platform handling six tph.
This picture shows trains in both Platform 3 and 4 looking towards the station buildings.
Note.
- Platform 3 is on the right.
- Platform 4 is on the left.
In Elizabeth Line To Ebbsfleet Extension Could Cost £3.2 Billion, I talk about this proposal as described in this article on Ian Visits.
One of the key features of Crossrail To Ebbsfleet (C2E) project is that instead of all trains terminating at Abbey Wood, trains will terminate as follows.
- Abbey Wood – 4 tph
- Northfleet – 4 tph
- Gravesend – 4 tph
This will mean that 8 tph would pass through Abbey Wood station.
- Platform 4 could certainly handle the four that terminated on the Elizabeth Line.
- Platform 3 would need to handle eight tph in both directions or sixteen tph to fulfil the proposed C2E service.
- This would be one train every 225 seconds.
I believe that digital signalling could handle this easily and safely.
I am fairly sure that the track layout at Abbey Wood allows eight tph to go both ways between the North Kent Line and the Elizabeth Line Central Tunnel.
The Maximum Capacity At Abbey Wood Station
Because of the current track layout at Abbey Wood, I believe that without track modifications, Abbey Wood station will not be able to handle more than 12 tph.
Thameslink
These proposed trains would also be compatible with Thameslink, as this route has no platform edge doors.
No platform extensions would be needed, as the Class 345 trains are shorter than the 12-car Class 700 trains.
If they were 125 mph trains, then this would ease timetabling on the East Coast Main Line, as the trains could mix it with the expresses on the fast lines.
Could These High Speed Trains For The Elizabeth Line Have A Cruising Speed Of 140 mph?
It is likely, when full authority digital ERTMS signalling is installed on main lines out of London, that 140 mph will be possible on some at least these routes.
- East Coast Main Line
- Great Western Main Line
- Midland Main Line
- West Coast Main Line
The extra speed would maximise capacity.
Essex And Network Rail Get Planning For Beaulieu Station
This page on the Network Rail website is entitled Network Rail And Essex County Council Are Working Together To Develop Proposals For The First Railway Station To Be Built On The Great Eastern Main Line For Over 100 Years.
These are the first two paragraphs.
The new station is part of a wider regeneration of the Beaulieu Park estate in Chelmsford with new road infrastructure and up to 14,000 homes.
Essex County Council, in partnership with Chelmsford City Council and the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), successfully secured £218m of funding from the Government’s Housing and Infrastructure (HIF) fund together with £34m contributions the South East Local Enterprise Partnership and developer Countryside Zest to deliver the wider scheme.
These are some more points from the page.
- There will be three platforms with a central loop line and new tracks to enable stopping services to call at the station while allowing fast trains to pass through unimpeded.
- The station will have lifts.
- There will be a large number of parking spaces and secure cycle storage.
- There will be taxis and buses.
There is a comprehensive video that describes the new station, the new roads and the housing developments.
Finally, Chelmsford is getting the transport system it needs.
New £157m Chelmsford Railway Station Makes Progress
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Rail Technology Magazine.
This is the introductory paragraph.
The submission of an environmental impact assessment application to Chelmsford City Council for the proposed £157m Beaulieu railway station marks the next step in the ambitious project.
It may not be a large step, but it moves things forward to creation of this new Beaulieu station, North of the City of Chelmsford, which should be open around 2025.
Beaulieu Station Will Have Three Platforms
Intriguingly, Wikipedia says that the station will have three platforms.
The stations on the Great Eastern Main Line between Shenfield and Colchester will have the following numbers of platforms.
- Ingatestone – 2
- Chelmsford – 2
- Beaulieu – 3
- Hatfield Peverel – 2
- Witham – 4
- Kelvedon – 2
- Marks Tey – 3
As Witham and Marks Tey have branch lines, Beaulieu will be very much the outsider.
I suspect the extra platform is very much for reasons, similar to those that result in Cambridge North station being built as a three-platform station with two through and one bay platform.
I don’t think we’ll see Crossrail extended to Beaulieu.
- The route between Shenfield and Beaulieu is only double-track.
- All passenger trains currently on the route are 100 mph electric trains.
- Crossrail’s Class 345 trains are only 90 mph trains.
The speed mismatch would slow services to and from stations to the North.
But will we see a new service between London Liverpool Street and Beaulieu, which stops at perhaps, Stratford, Romford, Shenfield, Ingatestone and Chelmsford?
I suspect we will certainly see a new service terminating at Beaulieu, even if it is only in the Peak.
How Will Current Services Call At Beaulieu?
Currently, one fast and four stopping services stop in Chelmsford station every hour.
There are actually two trains per hour (tph) between London Liverpool Street and Norwich, but only one stops at Chelmsford.
So will the second hourly fast service stop at Beaulieu?
I would certainly be logical.
The four stopping services, that stop at Chelmsford every hour are.
- London Liverpool Street and Braintree
- London Liverpool Street and Clacton-on-Sea
- London Liverpool Street and Colchester Town
- London Liverpool Street and Ipswich
As all services stop at most stations, I would expect they would stop at Beaulieu.
- This would give Beaulieu a four tph Turn-Up-And-Go service to and from Chelmsford station, which uniquely for East Anglia is in the centre of the City.
- If the third platform were to be used for a fifth service to London Liverpool Street, this would be a train every twelve minutes between Chelmsford and Beaulieu stations.
- I can see that for some journeys, the fastest and most convenient route may include a change of train at Beaulieu.
I also seem to remember, that Greater Anglia had plans to extend the Ipswich service to Norwich and this will surely be useful to travellers from Beaulieu, who would then have a fast and a stopping service to Norwich.
A Park-And-Ride For Football And Events At Ipswich And Norwich Football Grounds
Both football grounds at Ipswich and Norwich are close to the stations and I can see many attendees driving to Beaulieu to catch a train, as parking in both Ipswich and Norwich can be difficult.
If in the future, there are two tph between Beaulieu and both destinations, it could be the quickest way to the grounds.
Government Promises To Look ‘Very Carefully’ At £218m Bid For Second Chelmsford Station
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Rail Technology Magazine.
This is the first paragraph.
The government will look “very carefully” at a £218m funding bid for a new railway station in Chelmsford, Theresa May has said.
It was said in response to a question in Prime Minister’s Questions.
Beaulieu station has been a long time coming.
The Anonymous Widower 