Diss railway station

Diss
Location
Place	Diss
Local authority	South Norfolk
Grid reference	TM127796
Operations
Station code	DIS
Managed by	Abellio Greater Anglia
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	C2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2011/12	0.615 million
2012/13	0.646 million
2013/14	0.676 million
2014/15	0.682 million
2015/16	0.675 million
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Diss from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Diss railway station is on the Great Eastern Main Line in the East of England, serving the town of Diss, Norfolk. It is 94 miles 43 chains (152.1 km) down the line from London Liverpool Street and is situated between Stowmarket to the south and Norwich to the north. It is approximately 20 miles (32 km) south of Norwich. Its three-letter station code is DIS.

The station is currently operated by Abellio Greater Anglia, which also runs all trains serving the station.

Because of its location, Diss is the only station on the Abellio Greater Anglia network to be almost exclusively served by Intercity trains. This means it is also one of a small number of stations in the UK to only be served by Intercity trains.

History

The station at Diss was proposed by the Ipswich & Bury Railway as part of their route to Norwich. Such were the changes in the railway industry that in 1847 the Ipswich & Bury Railway became part of the Eastern Union Railway, which started operating in 1849. This became part of the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) in 1854, which amalgamated with several other companies in 1862 to form the Great Eastern Railway (GER).^[1]

In 1873 there was an incident at Diss when a goods train a and passenger train collided in foggy conditions, injuring four passengers.^[2]

In 1883 a signal box was opened, possibly replacing an earlier structure.^[3]

Following the 1921 grouping the GER amalgamated with other railways to form the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER).

On nationalisation in 1948 the station and its services came under the management of the Eastern Region of British Railways.

Some goods shunting at Diss was carried out by horses as late as 1959.^[4]

In 1985 the line through Diss was electrified by British Rail to the 25kV overhead system and the following year electrically-hauled InterCity services commenced. At the same time the signal box was closed as power-signalling was introduced to the area.

Following the privatisation of British Rail the ownership of the tracks and station passed to Railtrack until 2002, and then to its successor Network Rail. During this period the operation of the station and train services has been franchised to Anglia Railways (1997-2004), then National Express East Anglia (2004-2012) and currently Abellio Greater Anglia (since 2012).

Description

A goods yard was located on the "up" (eastern) side of the line equipped with a shed for the loading and unloading of goods as well as cattle pens.^[5] Until the 1880s the Scole Estate Railway (an agricultural railway for William Betts' family at Frenze Hall, which extended for seven miles and had two engines)^[6] had a connection into the station yard.^[7]

As of 2013 the station has a waiting room on each platform and toilets on the up side (platform 1). It has a ticket office and ticket machines, one located on each platform. The old station master's house, which is part of the station and mostly the station's upstairs accommodation, is currently being used by one of the town's taxi companies.

Services

A Class 90 hauling a train to London

Services at Diss are operated by Abellio Greater Anglia between London Liverpool Street and Norwich. In the summer there are additionally a number of Saturday services for Great Yarmouth.

As well as the express services between London and Norwich, a local all-stations service also called at Diss serving other stations such as Mellis, Burston and Tivetshall. This local service was withdrawn in 1966 when the smaller stations were closed.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Diss railway station.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Stowmarket		Greater Anglia Great Eastern Main Line		Norwich
Historical railways
Mellis Line open, station closed		Great Eastern Railway Eastern Union Railway		Burston Line open, station closed
Stowmarket		Anglia Railways London Crosslink		Norwich

Coordinates: 52°22′26″N 1°07′26″E / 52.374°N 1.124°E / 52.374; 1.124