The Shenfield–Southend line is a
branch line
A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line.
Industrial spur
An industr ...
off 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 th ...
in
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
, in the
east of England
The East of England is one of the nine official regions of England. This region was created in 1994 and was adopted for statistics purposes from 1999. It includes the ceremonial counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire ...
. It links in the west to , in
Southend-on-Sea
Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north ...
, in the east. The vast majority of services connect to or from the Great Eastern Main Line and its London terminus at
Liverpool Street.
The line is part of the
Network Rail Strategic Route 7, SRS 07.05, and is classified as a London and South East commuter line.
[
] Passenger services on the line are currently operated by
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 ser ...
.
History
The line, as well as the
Crouch Valley line which branches off it at , was opened in 1888–89, and represented the largest railway building project in Essex undertaken by 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). The 15 stations on these "New Essex" lines were the epitome of the "domestic revival" style, pioneered on the GER by the company's architect,
W. N. Ashbee, which came to be known as the ''New Essex'' or ''Ashbee'' style. The stations on the Shenfield–Southend line are largely in their original form, including the platform canopies.
Throughout its history, the line has had three different systems of
electrification
Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source.
The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histo ...
, all of which have used
overhead line
An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as:
* Overhead catenary
* Overhead contact system (OCS)
* Overhead equipm ...
s to carry the electric current. The first system, commissioned in 1956, used 1500 V
DC, following the commissioning of the main line from London to Shenfield in 1949. That replaced an intensive steam service. In the 1960s, the electric supply was converted to 6.25 kV, 50 Hz
AC, as part of the decision by the
British Transport Commission
The British Transport Commission (BTC) was created by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government as a part of its nationalisation programme, to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport in Great Britain (Northern Ireland had the se ...
to adopt 25 kV 50 Hz AC electrification as the standard system, rather than 1500 V DC. The line was not immediately converted to 25 kV AC due to problems with clearances under bridges. In 1979, the supply was converted to 25 kV AC, following more research into the permissible clearances between the overhead wires and other structures. Between 2017 and 2020 the overhead line equipment (OHLE) was renewed with an auto-tensioning system. The former 3-wire compound
catenary
In physics and geometry, a catenary (, ) is the curve that an idealized hanging chain or cable assumes under its own weight when supported only at its ends in a uniform gravitational field.
The catenary curve has a U-like shape, superficia ...
was replaced with a simple 2-wire catenary with new and reused structural steel-work and new wire supports, insulators and registration arms.
Infrastructure
The line diverges from 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 th ...
at and is
double track
A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track.
Overview
In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most lin ...
throughout. It is in length.
It is
electrified
Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source.
The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histor ...
at 25 kV, 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 ke ...
of W6 and a maximum line speed of , increasing to where it joins the Great Eastern Main Line.
[
The line is signalled for bidirectional working; there are crossovers at Mountnessing junction, Billericay, Wickford and Hockley.
]
Stations
The following table summarises the line's nine stations, their distance measured from and estimated number of passenger entries/exits in 2018–19:
Services
All the stations and services on the line are currently operated by 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 ser ...
. The company took over from National Express East Anglia
National Express East Anglia (NXEA) was a train operating company in England owned by National Express that operated the Greater Anglia franchise from April 2004 until February 2012. Originally trading as ''One'', it was rebranded National Exp ...
in 2012, which in turn had replaced the previous operator 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 ...
in 2004, when all the operators in East Anglia
East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...
were merged into one new franchise. First Great Eastern (owned by FirstGroup) had operated the Great Eastern franchise from January 1997 until March 2004.
The majority of services run between and London Liverpool Street
Liverpool Street station, also known as London Liverpool Street, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, in the ward of Bishopsgate Without. It is the t ...
, although a limited service operates only between and Southend Victoria. Trains are typically formed of or Class 720 units. A typical journey along the length of the line takes 35 minutes.
References
External links
Electrification Liverpool Street to Shenfield
from ''The London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) Encyclopedia''
Google Maps showing stations and route
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shenfield-Southend line
Rail transport in Essex
EA 1050
Railway lines in the East of England
Standard gauge railways in England
Airport rail links in London