Elsenham railway station

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Elsenham

The waiting room on the southbound platform

Location

Place

Elsenham

Local authority

Uttlesford

Operations

Station code

ESM

Managed by

National Express East Anglia

Platforms in use

Live departures and station information from National Rail

Annual Rail Passenger Usage

2004/05 *

0.192 million

2005/06 *

0.186 million

National Rail - UK railway stations

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

* Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Elsenham from Office of Rail Regulation statistics.

UK Railways Portal

Elsenham railway station serves the village of Elsenham in Essex, England. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by National Express East Anglia.

The station is 57 km (35 ½ miles) north of London Liverpool Street on the West Anglia Main Line to Cambridge. It was opened in 1845 and retains its original layout with staggered platforms on either side of a road level crossing. From 1913 to 1952 it was the junction for a light railway to Thaxted.

[edit] Elsenham accidents

On 3 December 2005, a train struck and killed two teenage girls on the station pedestrian crossing, next to the manually operated road level crossing, between the staggered platforms. Although flashing red lights and a klaxon sound indicated that a train was approaching, it is likely that they thought these applied to the train they wanted to catch to Cambridge, which was just pulling in to the opposite platform. The curvature of the line gives only 3 seconds visibility of an approaching non-stop train. Network Rail has responded to requests from the girls' families to erect a footbridge and other works that will make the crossing safer. The accident led to a complete review by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch of all pedestrian level crossings at stations. [1] A previous fatality of the same type had occurred in 1979.

In response to the serious concerns about the safety of the crossing, a bridge was installed at the station in August of 2007, and the foot-crossing now has locking gates.