Harling Road railway station

Harling Road
Location
Place	East Harling
Local authority	Breckland
Grid reference	TL978879
Operations
Station code	HRD
Managed by	Abellio Greater Anglia
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11	3,494
2011/12	4,224
2012/13	3,592
2013/14	3,222
2014/15	3,292
History
30 July 1845	Opened as Harling
September 1849	Renamed Harling Road
28 December 1964	Closed to freight
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Harling Road from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Harling Road railway station is on the Breckland Line in the east of England, serving the small villages of Larling, Roudham and East Harling, Norfolk. The line runs between Cambridge in the west and Norwich in the east.

Harling Road is situated between Thetford and Eccles Road, 101 miles 35 chains (163.2 km) down-line from London Liverpool Street via Ely. The station is managed by Abellio Greater Anglia, which also operates most of the services calling at the station. Some East Midlands Trains also stop at Harling Road.

History

The Bill for the Norwich & Brandon Railway (N&BR) received Royal Assent on 10 May 1844. The line was to link with an Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) project of a line from Newport in Essex to Brandon in Norfolk. Once complete the line would enable trains to travel from Norwich to London. Work started on the line in 1844.

One month before the N&BR opened a Bill authorising the amalgamation of the Yarmouth & Norwich Railway with the N&BR came into effect and so Harling station became a Norfolk Railway asset.[1]

The line opened on 30 July 1845 including the ECR Brandon to Newport line. However, the line only got to Trowse, in the suburbs of Norwich, as the contractors were having to build a swing bridge to cross the navigable River Wensum. Harling station was, when opened, between Roudham (Ely direction) and Eccles Road (Norwich direction).

The ECR and its rival the Eastern Union Railway (EUR) were both sizing up the NR to acquire and expand their railway empire. The ECR trumped the EUR by taking over the NR, including Harling Station on 8 May 1848.

In the September of the following year the ECR decided that as Harling Station was not near enough to the East Harling village the station was renamed Harling Road.

By the 1860s the railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble, and most were leased to the Eastern Counties Railway, which wished to amalgamate formally but could not obtain government agreement for this until an Act of Parliament on 7 August 1862, when the Great Eastern Railway (GER) was formed by the amalgamation. Actually, Harling Road became a GER station on 1 July 1862 when the GER took over the ECR and the EUR before the Bill received the Royal Assent.[4]<CJ Allen - Great Eastern - page46>

The system settled down for the next 6 decades, apart from the disruption of First World War. The difficult economic circumstances that existed after World War 1 led the Government to pass the Railways Act 1921 which led to the creation of the Big Four. The GER was absorbed into the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER). Harling Road became a LNER station on 1 January 1923.

A generation later, in 1947, the Government of the day passed the Transport Act which nationalised the Big Four and created British Railways (BR). On 1 January 1948 Harling Road became a BR station.

17 years later, BR, as part of the Beeching rationalisation plan closed Roudham Junction station on 15 June 1964. With Roudham Junction gone the next station towards Ely was Thetford. The 1960s also saw steam withdrawn and replaced by Diesel.

29 years after Roudham Junction was closed the Government of the day passed the Railways Act 1993 which privatised the ownership and management of the track on 1 April 1994.

Three years after Railtrack took over the track, in 5 January 1997 train services serving Harling Road were privatised with most services passing to Anglia Railways and services towards the West Midlands were taken over by Central Trains on 2 March 1997.

5 years after the train operating companies took over (2002) the infrastructure company got into serious problems following serious train accidents where poor track maintenance was to blame, Hatfield was the most notorious. So, the Government of the day restructured Railtrack and formed a new company called Network Rail.

Two years after Railtrack disappeared, on 1 April 2004 Anglia trains handed over their franchise to National Express-East Anglia (NE-EA). NE-EA trains were branded as One. Three years later, on 11 Nov 2007 the Central Trains franchise was broken up and services to Norwich were taken over by East Midland Trains who still run that franchise today (Feb-2016).

Four years (2008) after NE-EA took over train services the "One" brand was dropped and the National Express name predominated. One year later (2009) deep into the financial recession, NX walked away from the East Coast franchise and so the Government announced that the NX-EA franchise would not be extended for three years in 2011.

The Coalition Government did give short extensions to NX-EA until Feb 2012. By then the Government granted the franchise to Abellio-Greater Anglia (AGA). AGA took over on 5 Feb 2012 and was extended to October this year (2016).

Last year (2015) the Government nationalised Network Rail so only the Train Operating Companies remained private.

Description

The station is situated approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north-west of East Harling, the village from which it takes its name. A footpath links the station to the village.

Harling Road is a small station and until recently had remained largely outdated. The wooden level crossing gates adjacent to the station used to be opened and closed manually by a signaller in the Harling Road signal box. In December 2012 the signal box was closed and the crossing was renewed with automatic barriers with warning lights.

Passenger facilities are basic, with a car-park and seating in a shelter on the eastbound (Norwich) platform only. There is a bicycle shelter on the westbound (Cambridge) platform. There is no ticket office, and tickets may be bought from the conductor on the train.

Harling Road is located in a rural area, and is ideally placed to provide access to the countryside for those who can not, or do not wish to, make use of a car for transportation. There is easy access to several long-distance footpaths, including the Peddars Way, Angles Way, Icknield Way, Iceni Way and the Hereward Way. There are a number of other opportunities with Knettishall Heath, West Harling Heath and Wayland Wood (where the events that inspired the Babes in the Wood took place) all being within walking distance.

Services

As of December 2015, from Monday to Saturday there are two westbound trains per day, one operated by East Midlands Trains which calls at Thetford and Ely before continuing on to Liverpool Lime Street, the other operated by Abellio Greater Anglia which runs to Cambridge, also calling at Thetford, Brandon and Ely.^[1]

There are two early-morning eastbound services to Norwich calling at all intermediate stations except Spooner Row, operated by Abellio Greater Anglia.

There is no Sunday service.

References

1. GB eNRT December 2015 Edition, Table 17 (Network Rail)

External links

• Map sources for Harling Road railway station

• Train times and station information for Harling Road railway station from National Rail

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Thetford		Abellio Greater Anglia Breckland Line		Eccles Road
Thetford		East Midlands Trains Liverpool-Norwich Limited services		Eccles Road
	Historical railways
Roudham Junction Line open, station closed		Great Eastern Railway Norfolk Railway		Eccles Road Line and station open

Coordinates: 52°27′12″N 0°54′29″E / 52.45326°N 0.90808°E