Romford–Upminster Line
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The Romford–Upminster line is a railway line in
Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...
that connects , on the
Elizabeth line The Elizabeth line is a railway line that runs across Greater London and nearby towns, operating similarly to the Réseau Express Régional, RER in Paris and the S-Bahn systems of German-speaking countries. It runs services on dedicated infras ...
and
Great Eastern Main Line The Great Eastern Main Line (GEML, sometimes referred to as the East Anglia Main Line) is a major railway line on the British railway system which connects Liverpool Street station in central London with destinations in east London and t ...
, to , on the
London, Tilbury and Southend line The London, Tilbury and Southend line, also known as Essex Thameside, is a commuter railway line on the Rail transport in Great Britain, British railway system. It connects Fenchurch Street railway station, Fenchurch Street station, in central ...
and
London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...
. The route is in length and there is one intermediate station at which is located from Romford. The line is part of Network Rail Strategic Route 7, SRS 07.09, and is classified as a rural line. Services on the line are provided by
London Overground London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a Urban rail in the United Kingdom, suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, it now serves a large part of Greate ...
; there are no connections to any other lines in the Overground network. In February 2024, TfL announced a re-branding of this service as the Liberty line; the new name took effect in November 2024. Prior to renaming, it was labelled in
Transport for London Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and His ...
timetables as the ''Romford to Upminster route''. The line is single-track throughout, electrified at , has a
loading gauge A loading gauge is a diagram or physical structure that defines the maximum height and width dimensions in railway vehicles and their loads. Their purpose is to ensure that rail vehicles can pass safely through tunnels and under bridges, and k ...
of W6, and a maximum speed of . , there is a service two trains per hour in each direction. The timetabled journey time from one terminus to the other is nine minutes.


History


Origins

The first line proposed to link Romford to the north shore of the
River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...
was put forward by the Thames Haven Railway and Dock Company who proposed a line from Romford to Shell Haven. An Act of Parliament was obtained in 1836 and powers were renewed 10 years later but no work was ever commenced. Interest in a connection to the Thames waned with the building of the
London, Tilbury and Southend Railway The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR), was a British railway company, whose network connected Fenchurch Street railway station, Fenchurch Street station, in central London, with destinations in east London and Essex, including , , , T ...
(LT&SR) but after that company gained independence from the Great Eastern Railway (GER) interest increased again and in 1882 the Romford and Tilbury Railway proposed a line from Romford to the LT&SR at Grays. This line was linked to another proposed line from Tilbury to Gravesend which included a tunnel beneath the Thames but the line failed to gain parliamentary support. The following year the GER themselves proposed a line from Romford passing between
Hornchurch Hornchurch is a suburban town in East London in the London Borough of Havering. It is located east-northeast of Charing Cross. It comprises a number of shopping streets and a large residential area. It historically formed a large ancient par ...
and
Upminster Upminster is a suburb of east London, England, in the London Borough of Havering, northeast of Charing Cross. Historically a rural village, it formed an ancient parish in the Chafford hundred of the county of Essex. The economic history of ...
and then connecting directly to Tilbury Docks and in competition the LT&SR submitted their own proposal and it was this proposal that was authorised the following year.


Steam era

The line as originally built was a branch of the
London, Tilbury and Southend Railway The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR), was a British railway company, whose network connected Fenchurch Street railway station, Fenchurch Street station, in central London, with destinations in east London and Essex, including , , , T ...
(LT&SR) and opened on 7 June 1893 providing the LT&SR with a link to the
Great Eastern Railway The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern R ...
(GER) at
Romford Romford is a large List of places in London, town in east London, east London, England, located northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Havering, the town is one of the major Metropolitan centres of London, metropolitan centr ...
. The LT&SR had requested use of but the GER opposed this and made a counter-offer to lease the line between Romford and Upminster. This in turn found no favour with the LT&SR who eventually constructed a separate station. For the first three years the LT&SR were able to share goods facilities at Romford, but 1896 they constructed their own small goods yard where the branch joins the
Great Eastern Main Line The Great Eastern Main Line (GEML, sometimes referred to as the East Anglia Main Line) is a major railway line on the British railway system which connects Liverpool Street station in central London with destinations in east London and t ...
and with access to Victoria Road. Additional freight business came after the
Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 in rail transport, 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had ...
takeover of the LT&SR when a private siding was added at Romford for a builders' merchants. Initially there were 8 trains per day between Romford and Grays with a reduced service on Sundays. Trains were operated by
tank engines A tank locomotive is a steam locomotive which carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender. Most tank engines also have bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a tender-tank locomotive a tender h ...
while freight was usually hauled by a small tender engine. With the opening of the station at Emerson Park an additional late train provided connection to a train leaving just after midnight for the use of returning theatergoers. Emerson Park Halt was opened on 1 October 1909, and a run-round loop was constructed to the west to enable extra trains to run between Emerson Park and Upminster. Push-pull working began in 1934 using MR 0-4-4T engines and the service frequency was increased. As locomotives were no longer required to run round their trains the loop was no longer needed and was removed in circa 1936. Provision of services reversing at Emerson Park ceased on nationalisation in 1948. In the April 1920 timetable there are 27 down (towards Tilbury) and 22 up (towards Romford) trains a day. There were six through trains to Grays, four to
Tilbury Tilbury is a port town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. The present town was established as separate settlement in the late 19th century, on land that was mainly part of Chadwell St Mary. It contains a Tilbury Fort, 16th century fort ...
and five short runs between Emerson Park and Upminster, with a similar number of return trains. On Sundays there were nine trains in each direction. By 1939 this had increased to 35 down trains and 27 up services on weekdays, still with nine in each direction on Sundays and a similar service pattern. The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway was purchased by the
Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 in rail transport, 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had ...
in 1912 and was amalgamated into the
London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with London and North Eastern Railway, LNER, Great Western Railway, GWR and Southern Railway (UK), SR. The London, Midland an ...
on 1 January 1923. The line became part of
British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commis ...
on 1 January 1948, initially as part of the London Midland Region and then the Eastern Region from 20 February 1949. The short workings between Emerson Park and Upminster were eliminated with all services on the line calling at Upminster, Emerson Park and Romford from the 1949 timetable. After this time services were taken over by N7 tanks and from February 1951 the Sunday service was removed.


Diesel era

From 17 September 1956, Metro-Cammell Lightweight diesel multiple units from Stratford replaced the steam service and a twice-hourly service was introduced, effectively doubling the frequency. In 1956 was enlarged and a new underground depot opened and the end through service from Romford to Grays ceased. To accommodate the truncated service, from 20 April 1957 a new
bay platform In the United Kingdom and in Australia, a bay platform is a dead-end railway platform at a railway station that has through lines. It is normal for bay platforms to be shorter than their associated through platforms. They must have a buffer stop ...
numbered six opened at Upminster and as a result the link between the branch and the LT&S line was removed in 1959 effectively making it part of the Great Eastern route. A survey of passenger numbers was carried out in 1964 as part of the
Beeching report Beeching is an English surname. It is either a derivative of the old English ''bece'', ''bæce'' "stream", hence "dweller by the stream" or of the old English ''bece'' "beech-tree" hence "dweller by the beech tree".''Oxford Dictionary of English Sur ...
and a closure notice was rapidly published. Local opposition was loud and organised and the closure was rejected, mainly due to the large number of commuters using Emerson Park Halt. A further attempt at closure was made around 1970 but use of the line was increasing and the attempt again failed, but freight traffic was withdrawn with the yard at Victoria Road closing in 1974 after the private siding had succumbed a few years earlier. By the late 1970s the service was in the hands of Cravens DMUs. At the end of diesel operation there were 31 journeys each way every day except Sunday where there was no service. There was also no service on public holidays.


Electric era

The line was electrified in the 1980s and electric trains using a single Class 315 unit based at
Ilford Ilford is a large List of areas of London, town in East London, England, northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Redbridge, Ilford is within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. It had a po ...
began operating on 17 April 1986. Following the
privatisation of British Rail The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the Rail transport in Great Britain, railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, the process was largely compl ...
, passenger services were operated by
First Great Eastern First Great Eastern was a train operating company in England owned by FirstGroup that operated the Great Eastern franchise from January 1997 until March 2004. Services First Great Eastern operated all stops and limited stops services on the ...
from 1997 to 2004, National Express East Anglia from 2004 to 2012 and
Greater Anglia Greater Anglia (legal name Transport UK East Anglia Limited) is a British train operating company owned as a joint venture by Transport UK Group and Mitsui & Co. It operates the East Anglia franchise, providing the commuter and inter-city se ...
from 2012 to 2015. Under this franchise services were operated by Class 321 units. The line transferred to become part of the
London Overground London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a Urban rail in the United Kingdom, suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, it now serves a large part of Greate ...
network in May 2015 and services were again provided by a single Class 315 unit. Sunday service was restored from the 13 December 2015 timetable. From 5 October 2020 the line has been operated using British Rail Class 710 rolling stock, taking over from British Rail Class 315 and British Rail Class 317 rolling stock.


Renaming

In July 2023, TfL announced that it would be giving each of the six Overground services unique names by the end of the following year. In February 2024, it was confirmed that the Romford–Upminster service would be named the ''Liberty line'' ("to reference the historical independence of the people of the borough of Havering") and would be coloured grey on the updated network map. The name references the Royal Liberty of Havering, and the wider freedom that is a "defining feature of London".


Infrastructure

The branch is known colloquially as the "Romford Push and Pull" and has always been single-track throughout. The only structure of any note on the line is the bridge across the
River Ingrebourne The River Ingrebourne is a tributary of the River Thames 27 miles (43.3 km) in length. It is considered a strategic waterway in London, forming part of the Blue Ribbon Network. It flows through the London Borough of Havering roughly from ...
which is just over in length. When first opened the LT&SR constructed a separate station building at Romford where a cast-iron footbridge over South Street was provided to link to the GER station, this only being opened when an LT&SR train was due. This building itself was directly opposite the GER station entrance and was of 3 storeys with the booking hall on the ground floor and including accommodation for the stationmaster. In April 1934 the LT&SR building ceased use as a station and the ground floor was rented as a shop and the
London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after London, Midland and Scottish Railway, LMS) of the "Big Four (British railway companies), Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It ope ...
, the successor of the GER, took control of the whole station. The barriers that had restricted access between the two stations at rail level were then removed. The branch has just one signal, on approach to Romford. At a small engine shed was initially provided in the area which is now occupied by the underground depot, and the station was substantially rebuilt in the early 1930s to accommodate the
District Railway The Metropolitan District Railway, also known as the District Railway, was a passenger railway that served London, England, from 1868 to 1933. Established in 1864 to complete an " inner circle" of lines connecting railway termini in London, the ...
extension with a separate Grays-facing bay platform being added at this time. The connection west of the station to the LT&S main line remained after the works, but was severed in 1968 with a further rebuilding of the station. There were plans to link the line from platform six at Upminster to the reception tracks of the
London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...
depot there in order to enable the transfer of
London Underground D78 Stock The London Underground D78 Stock, commonly referred to as D Stock, was a type of sub-surface rolling stock which operated on the District line of the London Underground, except on the Wimbledon station, Wimbledon to Edgware Road tube station (C ...
units onto the main line to be hauled away by diesel locomotive for refurbishment at the Ilford depot. These plans were scrapped when the refurbishment work was transferred to Wakefield in Yorkshire and the transfer was done by road. The point-work for this connection, which was half installed, is still visible from the eastern end of platform five at Upminster. There is only one intermediate station, at Emerson Park. In the year 2017/18 there were over 300,000 passenger journeys to/from Emerson Park, more that three times the number 10 years previously, but still a small enough number for the line to come top of the list of least busy Overground stations. In the mid-1980s the line was electrified at
25 kV AC Railway electrification systems using alternating current (AC) at are used worldwide, especially for high-speed rail. It is usually supplied at the standard utility frequency (typically 50 or 60Hz), which simplifies traction substations. The dev ...
. Electrification of the line saw an end to years of speculation about its future.


Services

The line is entirely within fare zone 6. Services are currently operated by
London Overground London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a Urban rail in the United Kingdom, suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, it now serves a large part of Greate ...
, which replaced the previous operator,
Abellio Greater Anglia Greater Anglia (legal name Transport UK East Anglia Limited) is a British train operating company owned as a joint venture by Transport UK Group and Mitsui & Co. It operates the East Anglia franchise, providing the commuter and inter-city se ...
, in May 2015. As of June 2021, the service pattern on the route is one train every 30 minutes between approximately 6:15 am and 10 pm Mondays to Saturdays, and approximately 8:30 am and 8 pm on Sundays. The journey time from one terminus to the other is timetabled as nine minutes. Annualised entry/exit data from Transport for London for London Overground trips is as follows:
, the typical off-peak service pattern is:


Route map


Geology

During the construction of the railway in 1892, the geologist T. V. Holmes discovered a five-metre layer of boulder clay underlying the gravel and sand in a section just north of what is now St Andrew's Park. This is now the Hornchurch Cutting
Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...
, which exhibits the southernmost limit of the Anglian ice sheet 450,000 years ago, the furthest south that any ice sheet reached.


References


Citation


References

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Further reading

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Romford-Upminster Line Transport in the London Borough of Havering Railway lines in London Standard gauge railways in London Railway branch lines Railway lines opened in 1893 25 kV AC railway electrification