Southend Airport railway station is a stop on the Shenfield to Southend Line in the East of England; it serves London Southend Airport, the village of Sutton and northern parts of Southend-on-Sea, Essex. It is 39 miles 44 chains (63.65 km) down the line from London Liverpool Street and is situated between Rochford and Prittlewell. Train services provide an airport rail link between Southend Airport and Central London.
Southend Airport  | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The station in 2012 | |||||
| General information | |||||
| Location | London Southend Airport, Rochford England | ||||
| Coordinates | 51°34′07″N 0°42′19″E / 51.5687°N 0.7052°E | ||||
| Grid reference | TQ875890 | ||||
| Managed by | London Southend Airport | ||||
| Platforms | 2 | ||||
| Other information | |||||
| Station code | SIA | ||||
| Key dates | |||||
| 18 July 2011 | Opened | ||||
| Passengers | |||||
| 2019/20 |  0.757 million | ||||
| 2020/21 |  64,524 | ||||
| 2021/22 | 0.126 million | ||||
| 2022/23 | 0.141 million | ||||
| 2023/24 | 0.188 million | ||||
| |||||
The station is managed by London Southend Airport but the trains serving it are operated by Greater Anglia.[1] The Engineer's Line Reference for the line is SSV; the station's three-letter station code is SIA. The platforms have an operational length for 12-coach trains.
History
editWhen Southend Airport officially opened as a municipal airport in 1935, the mayor of Southend suggested that it would be a good idea to open a railway station to serve the airport. For the first 75 years of the airport's operation, the nearest railway station was Rochford. After Southend Borough Council sold the airport to Regional Airports Ltd, a scheme was proposed in 1997 to build a station; planning permission was obtained from Rochford District Council. It was not until 2008 that the Stobart group began to advance the project and construction began in late 2009. The station was originally planned to open in 2009, but the opening date was postponed several times. In June 2011, National Express East Anglia trains began stopping at the station, but passengers were initially not permitted to get off.[2][3][1]
The station was designed by Atkins and constructed by Birse Rail; it was opened by the Transport Minister Theresa Villiers in 2011.[4] A new terminal building adjoining the station opened in 2012.
Services
editThe typical Monday-Saturday off-peak service is:[5]
- 2 trains per hour (tph) to London Liverpool Street, calling at all stations to Shenfield and then ‹See TfM›Stratford.
- 1 tph to London Liverpool Street, calling at all stations to Shenfield, then Romford and Stratford.
- 3 tph to Southend Victoria, calling at Prittlewell.
On Sunday, the service reduces to 2tph in each direction.
Since the Crossrail project was completed in 2023, interchange is provided with the Elizabeth line at Shenfield, Stratford and Liverpool Street, providing onward connections to central London and Heathrow Airport. Glyn Jones, chief executive of Stobart Aviation, proposed in 2018 that Crossrail should be extended to Southend Airport to alleviate capacity problems at Heathrow.[6]
| Preceding station |  National Rail
|
Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rochford | Greater Anglia Shenfield to Southend Line |
Prittlewell | ||
References
edit- ^ a b Geoghegan, John (18 July 2011). "Airport rail station to open next week". Echo Newspapers.
Stobart, not National Express, will employ the staff who man the station and meet passengers getting off the train
- ^ "New London Southend Airport Railway Station Officially Opens" (PDF). London Southend Airport. 21 September 2011. Retrieved 21 September 2011.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "London Southend Airport opens station and control tower". BBC News. 18 July 2011.
- ^ "Birse Rail joins forces with Stobart Rail to construct new railway station at Southend Airport". BalfourBeattyRail. Archived from the original on 28 March 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
Birse Rail is working with Stobart Rail, part of Stobart Group, to oversee the design and construction management of a new railway station at London Southend Airport.
- ^ "Timetables". Greater Anglia. 2 June 2024. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
- ^ Lo, Hsin-Yi (9 February 2018). "Extend Crossrail to Southend Airport". Southend Echo. Archived from the original on 16 May 2019. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
External links
edit
- "Trains". southendairport.com. Archived from the original on 5 January 2019. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
- "London Southend Airport". visitlondon.com. Archived from the original on 30 September 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2019.