March railway station
March  | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | |
| Place | March |
| Local authority | Fenland |
| Coordinates | 52°33′38″N 0°05′26″E / 52.5605°N 0.0905°ECoordinates: 52°33′38″N 0°05′26″E / 52.5605°N 0.0905°E |
| Grid reference | TL418978 |
| Operations | |
| Station code | MCH |
| Managed by | Abellio Greater Anglia |
| Number of platforms | 2 |
| DfT category | E |
|
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries | |
| Annual rail passenger usage* | |
| 2011/12 |
 335,232 |
| 2012/13 |
350,246 |
| 2013/14 |
357,864 |
| 2014/15 |
378,586 |
| 2015/16 |
386,610 |
| National Rail – UK railway stations | |
| * Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at March from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year. | |
 UK Railways portal | |
March railway station serves the town of March in Cambridgeshire, England. The station is 14 miles (23 km) east of Peterborough on the Ely to Peterborough Line.
The station, which was opened in 1847, was once a major railway junction with a number of lines radiating from the town. The station has been reduced in importance in recent years with several lines being dismantled or mothballed. The cross-country regional route between Ely and Peterborough still runs through the station and an increasing number of freight trains pass through.
The station originally had seven platforms. However, two of these are now filled-in bay platforms and the track has been removed from a further west-facing bay on the southern side of the station. There are now just two operational platforms, although track has been re-laid on two disused platforms on the northern side of the station and it is anticipated that these may be used should proposals to reopen the line to Wisbech come to fruition. The nearby Whitemoor marshalling yard returned to use in 2004 having been disused since the early 1990s.
Spalding, St Ives and Wisbech branches
March was once a junction for lines to Spalding (opened in 1867 by the Great Northern Railway and subsequently vested jointly with the Great Eastern Railway in 1879), St Ives and Watlington via Wisbech.[1] The Spalding line was closed by British Rail in November 1982 and was completely lifted a few years later. The St Ives branch (opened in 1848) was closed completely in March 1967 as a result of the Beeching Axe, whilst the Wisbech line (known as the Bramley Line) closed to all traffic in 2000 having lost its regular passenger services (through to Kings Lynn) in September 1968. The trackwork however remains intact and there are plans to reopen the line as a heritage line run and maintained by enthusiasts.
Service
On weekdays, Abellio Greater Anglia operate a two hourly service eastbound to Ipswich and westbound to Peterborough.[2] CrossCountry operate an hourly service eastbound to Cambridge and Stansted Airport, westbound services serve Peterborough, Leicester and Birmingham New Street. The hourly East Midlands Trains service between Norwich and Liverpool Lime Street via Peterborough, Nottingham and Manchester Piccadilly normally runs through without stopping, though a few morning and evening peak trains do call.[3]
On Sundays the service frequency is similar, without CrossCountry services to Whittlesea and Manea.
References
- ↑ Disused Stations - MarchDisused Stations; Retrieved 2014-01-10
- ↑ GB eNRT December 2015 Edition, Table 14
- ↑ GB National Rail Timetable 2015-16, Tables 47 & 49
Image gallery
An ex-Great Eastern J15 0-6-0 in 1946
March Locomotive Depot in 1951
Leeds/Bradford - Yarmouth (Vauxhall) express in 1958
The now filled-in bay platforms in January 1968
Class 37 at March station, autumn 1972
| Preceding station | National Rail |
Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CrossCountry | ||||
Limited Service | Limited Service |
|||
| Abellio Greater Anglia | ||||
| East Midlands Trains Limited Service | ||||
Limited Service |
||||
 Proposed Heritage railways |
||||
| Terminus | Bramley Line | March Elm Road | ||
| Historical railways | ||||
| Eastrea Line open, station closed |
Great Eastern Railway Peterborough to Ely |
Stonea Line open, station closed | ||
| Disused railways | ||||
| Terminus | British Rail Eastern Region Wisbech Line |
Coldham Line and station closed | ||
| Guyhirne Line and station closed |
Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway Doncaster to March |
Terminus | ||
| Terminus | Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway March to St Ives |
Wimblington Line and station closed | ||
External links
Media related to March railway station at Wikimedia Commons