Braintree railway station (England)

Braintree railway station is the northern terminus of the Braintree Branch Line in the East of England, serving the town of Braintree, Essex. It is 44 miles 78 chains (72.38 km) down the line from London Liverpool Street via Witham; the preceding station on the route is Braintree Freeport to the south.

Braintree
Station entrance as seen in February 2013
General information
Location	Braintree, Braintree England
Coordinates	51°52′31″N 0°33′25″E
Grid reference	TL760227
Managed by	Greater Anglia
Platforms	1
Other information
Station code	BTR
Classification	DfT category C2
History
Original company	Eastern Counties Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Eastern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
2 October 1848 (1848-10-02)	Opened as Braintree
22 February 1869	Re-sited
19 October 1910	Renamed Braintree & Bocking
After 1948	Renamed Braintree
Passengers
2018/19	0.728 million
2019/20	0.730 million
2020/21	0.175 million
2021/22	0.460 million
2022/23	0.525 million
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Its three-letter station code is BTR. The platform has an operational length for twelve-coach trains. The station is currently managed by Greater Anglia, which also operates all trains serving it.

History

Braintree railway station in 1962

There have been two stations at Braintree. The first, which was the northern terminus of the Maldon, Witham & Braintree Railway, opened on 2 October 1848.^[1] That station was closed to passengers with the opening of the Bishop's Stortford, Dunmow & Braintree Railway on 22 February 1869,^[2] when the old terminus was replaced by a through-station on the new line.^[1] It continued as a goods depot until 1964.^{[citation needed]} The new station was named Braintree & Bocking on 19 October 1910, but reverted to its original name of Braintree between 1948 and 1953.^[1] The station once featured in many model railway sets as "Braintree & Bocking" was the printed station name in the Airfix railway accessories.^[3][4] Passenger services on the route between Braintree and Bishop's Stortford ceased on 3 March 1952.^[2]

Services

All services at Braintree are operated by Greater Anglia using Class 720 EMUs.

The typical off-peak service is one train per hour to and from London Liverpool Street via Witham with additional services running to and from station during the peak hours.^[5]

On Sundays, services at the station run only as far as Witham.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Braintree Freeport		Greater Anglia Braintree Branch Line		Terminus
	Disused railways
Terminus		Great Eastern Railway Bishop's Stortford to Braintree Branch Line		Rayne

References

1. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 42. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
2. Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. London: Guild Publishing. p. 118. CN 8983.
3. Rail (671). 1 June 2011. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)^{[full citation needed]}
4. Branch Lines Around Witham and Kelvedon Archived 10 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine
5. Table 11 National Rail timetable, December 2023

Further reading

• Peter Paye (2010). Bishop's Stortford, Dunmow and Braintree Branch. Oakwood Press. ISBN 978-0-85361-708-2.

External links

• Train times and station information for Braintree railway station (England) from National Rail
• Historical Pictures of Braintree Station