Elsenham railway station is on the

West Anglia Main Line The West Anglia Main Line is one of the two main lines that operate out of , the other being the Great Eastern Main Line, which operates services to Ipswich and Norwich via Colchester. It runs generally north through Cheshunt, Broxbourne, Har ...

serving the village of

Elsenham Elsenham is a village and civil parish in north-west Essex in eastern England. Its neighbouring towns include Bishop's Stortford, Saffron Walden and Stansted Mountfitchet. History Elsenham is recorded in the ''Domesday Book'' of 1086 as ''Alsen ...

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 Grea ...

, England. It is down the line from

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 ...

and is situated between and stations. Its three-letter station code is ESM. The station and all trains serving it are operated by Greater Anglia. The ticket office (on the London-bound platform) is staffed part-time, there are self-service ticket machines on each of the platforms (which are staggered, the country-bound being north of a

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term a ...

and the London-bound being south of it) and a permit to travel machine is also available. Electronic real-time departure boards are available on both platforms.

Facilities

There is a cafe (in 2019) adjoining the Cambridge-bound platform: Jeff & Eddie's Railside Cafe which opens early morning and closes at 15.30. There is a footbridge and a level crossing connecting the platforms.

History

Elsenham station was opened in 1845 and retains its original layout with staggered platforms on either side of a

. From 1913 to 1952 it was the junction for the

Elsenham & Thaxted Light Railway The Elsenham & Thaxted Light Railway was a long light railway in Essex, England. The line was sanctioned in 1906, although did not finally open to traffic until 1 April 1913. It was the last rail line built in Essex until the construction of S ...

Crossing accident

On 3 December 2005, Class 158 ''Express Sprinter'' unit 158856 struck and killed two teenage girls on the station pedestrian crossing, next to the manually-operated

, between the staggered platforms. Although flashing red lights and a klaxon indicated that a train was approaching, it is likely that they thought these applied to the train they wanted to catch to

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

, which was just arriving at the opposite platform. The curvature of the line gives only three seconds visibility of an approaching non-stopping train. A fatality in the same circumstances had occurred in 1989. Previous risk assessments carried out by

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

in 2002 had identified potential dangers with the crossing and recommended the installation of gates that would lock automatically as trains approached, but this was not acted upon. In 2012 Network Rail was prosecuted for breaching health and safety laws and fined £1 million for the accident. Since the accident, Network Rail responded to requests from the girls' families and erected a footbridge and installed locking gates at the foot crossing in 2007. The accident led to a complete review by the

Rail Accident Investigation Branch The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) is a British government agency that independently investigates rail accidents in the United Kingdom and the Channel Tunnel in order to find a cause, not to lay blame. Created in 2005, it is required by ...

of all pedestrian level crossings at stations.

Services

All services at Elsenham are operated by Greater Anglia using

EMUs Emus may refer to: * Emu The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the g ...

. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: * 1 tph to

* 1 tph to During the peak hours, the service is increased to 2 tph in each direction. The station is also served by a small number of peak hour services to and from .

References

External links

Railways Archive account including RAIB report
*

{{Railway stations served by Abellio Greater Anglia Grade II listed buildings in Essex DfT Category E stations Railway stations in Essex Former Great Eastern Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1845 Greater Anglia franchise railway stations Elsenham