Chafford Hundred Lakeside railway station

Chafford Hundred Lakeside
Chafford Hundred Lakeside railway station in 2010, prior to the name change
Chafford Hundred Lakeside Location of Chafford Hundred Lakeside in Essex
Location	Chafford Hundred
Local authority	Borough of Thurrock
Grid reference	TQ589787
Managed by	c2c
Owner	Network Rail
Station code	CFH
DfT category	E
Number of platforms	1
Accessible	Yes [1]
Fare zone	G
National Rail annual entry and exit
2011–12	2.083 million[2]
2012–13	2.086 million[2]
2013–14	2.084 million[2]
2014–15	2.274 million[2]
2015–16	2.534 million[2]
Railway companies
Original company	British Rail
Key dates
1993	Opened as Chafford Hundred
January 2013	Renamed Chafford Hundred Lakeside
Other information
Lists of stations	DLR Underground National Rail Tramlink
External links	Departures Layout Facilities Buses
WGS84	51°29′09″N 0°17′15″E / 51.4859°N 0.2876°E / 51.4859; 0.2876Coordinates: 51°29′09″N 0°17′15″E / 51.4859°N 0.2876°E / 51.4859; 0.2876
London Transport portal UK Railways portal

Chafford Hundred Lakeside railway station is located on a single-track branch line of the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway, serving the town of Chafford Hundred as well as Lakeside Shopping Centre in Essex. It is 20 miles 77 chains (33.7 km) down the line from London Fenchurch Street via Upminster; it is situated between Ockendon and Grays. Its three-letter station code is CFH.

The station has a single platform and was opened in 1993 by British Rail with the name Chafford Hundred. Today, all passenger train services are operated by c2c, which also manages the station. Although outside the London fare zones 1 to 6, the station became part of the Oyster card pay-as-you-go network in 2010.^[3] According to the ORR, the station is the busiest single-platform station in the UK, beating the next busiest (Windsor and Eton Central) by some 650,000 passengers per year.^[4]

History

A footbridge links the station to the shopping centre

The single-track line through the area was opened in 1893 by the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LTSR) as part of a branch from Romford to Grays via Upminster. By the late 20th century service on the line had been reduced to a relatively infrequent shuttle between Upminster and Grays, calling at the only intermediate station at Ockendon.

Following the opening of Lakeside Shopping Centre in 1990 a new single-platform station was opened in 1993 by British Rail. Initially a free shuttle bus connected the station to the shopping centre, with a direct pedestrian bridge link replacing the bus in 2000. The shuttle train service was eventually extended beyond Upminster to Fenchurch Street in London and beyond Grays to Southend Central in Southend-on-Sea, with service frequency increased to two trains an hour in each direction.

Usage is moderate for a suburban station and increasing; to expand capacity the buildings were rebuilt in 2006. In 2013 the "Lakeside" suffix was added to the name to not only reflect its location in the town of Chafford Hundred but also its proximity to the shopping centre.

Services

The typical off-peak service frequency is:

• 2 tph (trains per hour) to Fenchurch Street;
• 2 tph to Southend Central.

Connections

Local buses 33 and X80 serve the station.

References

External links

• Train times and station information for Chafford Hundred Lakeside railway station from National Rail

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chafford Hundred railway station.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Ockendon		c2c London, Tilbury and Southend Line via Ockendon		Grays