Romford railway station

Romford
Romford railway station in 2010
Romford Location of Romford in Greater London
Location	Romford
Local authority	London Borough of Havering
Managed by	TfL Rail
Station code	RMF
DfT category	C2
Number of platforms	5
Accessible	Yes [1]
Fare zone	6
National Rail annual entry and exit
2008–09	7.310 million[2]
2009–10	6.736 million[2]
2010–11	6.817 million[2]
2011–12	7.000 million[2]
2012–13	7.446 million[2]
2013–14	8.265 million[2]
— interchange	499,643[2]
Key dates
1839	ECR station opened
1893	LTSR Upminster platform opened
1934	Stations combined
Other information
Lists of stations	DLR Underground National Rail Tramlink
External links	Departures Layout Facilities Buses
London Transport portal UK Railways portalCoordinates: 51°34′30″N 0°10′58″E / 51.5749°N 0.1827°E

Platform 1 (for Upminster services) pictured in 1950

Romford railway station is an interchange station on the Great Eastern Main Line, serving the town of Romford in the London Borough of Havering, east London. It is 12 miles 30 chains (19.9 km) down line from London Liverpool Street and is situated between Chadwell Heath and Gidea Park. Its three-letter station code is RMF and it is in Travelcard Zone 6 and is the nearest station to the Romford Greyhound Stadium.^[3]

The station was opened in 1839 by the Eastern Counties Railway. It is currently managed by TfL Rail. The majority of services call at Romford as part of the Shenfield-Liverpool Street service operated by TfL Rail, but the station is also served by some Abellio Greater Anglia trains to and from Southend Victoria and Colchester Town and the Romford to Upminster Line on London Overground links Romford to Upminster. From 2019, Romford will be fully served by Crossrail, linking it to additional stations in central London as well as Reading and London Heathrow Airport.^[4] TfL Rail, the precursor of Crossrail, took over the running of the Shenfield "metro" on 31 May 2015.

History

Romford station opened on 20 June 1839 as the eastern terminus of the Eastern Counties Railway from Mile End. Both stations acted as temporary termini, with the line extending east to Brentwood and west to Bishopsgate (Low Level) in 1840. On 7 June 1893 the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway opened a second station in Romford, on a branch line to Upminster. The two stations were combined in 1934.

In May 2015 the Upminster branch Iine transferred from Abellio Greater Anglia to London Overground and the regular Shenfield "metro" service transferred to TfL Rail.^[5][6]

Accidents and incidents

• On 29 December 1944, one person was killed and three were injured when, in darkness and heavy fog, a Chelmsford-London service passed a red signal at Romford and ran into the rear of a stationary freight train. The passenger train's speed at the moment of impact was about 15 mph. One crew member on the goods train was killed instantly. The Chelmsford train driver was held responsible for the collision in a Ministry of War Transport report.^[7]
• On 4 February 2010, two people standing on the platforms at Romford were injured when a quantity of stone ballast was shed from a freight train passing through the station. Subsequent examination found that the train wagon's doors had not been properly closed when it departed from the goods yard at Acton, west London, bound for Ipswich.^[8]

Services

The majority of services are currently operated by TfL Rail which runs the stopping "metro" route between Liverpool Street and Shenfield. Abellio Greater Anglia also operates medium-distance services between Liverpool Street and destinations in the East of England, while London Overground runs the half-hourly "push and pull" service between Romford and Upminster.

The typical off-peak Monday to Saturday service from Romford is:^[9]

• 8 trains per hour (tph) to London Liverpool Street:
  • 6 calling at all intermediate stations (TfL Rail),
  • 2 calling at Stratford only (Abellio Greater Anglia);
• 6 tph to Shenfield calling at all intermediate stations (TfL Rail);
• 2 tph to Upminster calling at Emerson Park only (London Overground);
• 1 tph to Southend Victoria calling at Shenfield, then all intermediate stations (Abellio Greater Anglia);
• 1 tph to Colchester Town calling at Shenfield, Chelmsford, Witham, then all intermediate stations (Abellio Greater Anglia).

In 2017 new Class 345 trains will enter service as Crossrail partially opens. The route will be extended through central London to London Heathrow Airport and Reading in 2019. Platforms 2 to 5 will be extended from their current length of between 179 metres (196 yd) and 182 metres (199 yd) to accommodate the Crossrail trains which will be over 200 metres (220 yd) long. New lifts, signage, help points, customer information screens and CCTV will also be installed.^[10]

Connections

London Buses routes 5, 66, 86, 103, 128, 165, 174, 175, 193, 247, 248, 252, 294, 347, 365, 370, 375, 496, 498, 499, 647, 648, 649, 650, 651, 674 and 686 and night routes N15 and N86 and LSP route 575 all serve the station.

References

1. "Step free Tube Guide" (PDF). Transport for London. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 June 2015.
2. "Station usage estimates". Rail statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Please note: Some methodology may vary year on year.
3. "Buses from Romford" (PDF). Transport for London.
4. "TfL Launches Competition to Find Operator to Run Crossrail Services". Transport for London. 12 March 2013. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
5. TFL appoints London Overground operator to run additional services Transport for London 28 May 2014
6. TfL count on LOROL for support Rail Professional 28 May 2014
7. http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/MoT_Romford1944.pdf
8. http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/RAIB_Romford2010.pdf
9. TfL Rail Timetable
10. "Capital's key services protected, says Johnson". The Press Association. 20 October 2010. Retrieved 21 October 2010.

External links

• Media related to Romford railway station at Wikimedia Commons
• Train times and station information for Romford railway station from National Rail
• Excel file displaying National Rail station usage information for 2005/06
• Old LTSR entrance after conversion