Romford railway station

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox London station 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 Template:Convert down the line from London Liverpool Street and is situated between Template:Rws and Template:Rws. It is also the northern terminus of the Liberty line of the London Overground. Its three-letter station code is RMF and it is in London fare zone 6.

The station is currently managed by the Elizabeth line. The majority of services that call at Romford are Elizabeth line, but the station is also served by off-peak Greater Anglia trains between Liverpool Street and Template:Rws.

History

East Anglia main line

From its inception, the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) planned a route linking London and Norwich that would take it via Romford. Two routes were considered, that of the current line, and an alternative going through Ilford at Cranbrook Road, then passing near to Gidea Hall and crossing Romford Common approximately following the route of the current A12 before returning to the current railway alignment at Brentwood.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

When the line was constructed, the first Romford station opened on 20 June 1839 as a single island platform located to the west of Waterloo Road, and formed the eastern terminus of the initial part of the Eastern Counties Railway from Mile End. Both stations acted as temporary termini, with the line extending east to Template:Rws and west to Shoreditch in 1840.

In 1844, the station was relocated to its current position, some Template:Convert east of the original. Around this time, the gauge of the ECR was changed from [[5 ft and 1520 mm gauge railways|Template:Track gauge]] to standard gauge of Template:Track gauge. In 1860, the station was remodelled with platforms on each side of the line with access to the new station by a covered walkway from South Street to the London-bound platform and via an open slope and steps for the country-bound platform.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Soon after this, the goods depot, which was situated to the south of the station, was connected to the Ind Coope brewery via a tunnel under the line.Template:Sfn Other non-passenger traffic included goods for the Romford Gas Works and for cattle pens accessed from St Andrews Road,Template:Sfn which were necessary due to the cattle market held in Romford every Wednesday.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The line became part of the Great Eastern Railway (GER) in 1862. It was grouped into the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) in 1922.

Upminster branch

Platform 1 with a London Overground Class 710 pictured in 2022

The construction of the Tilbury Docks in the 1850s gave expanded opportunities for rail traffic, and three proposals were made for a railway linking Romford to Tilbury. The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&S) were successful, and on 7 June 1893, the LT&S opened a station in Romford, on their line to Template:Stnlink, linking to the already existing connection from Upminster to Grays on the LT&S line to Tilbury. The LT&S had hoped to negotiate with the Great Eastern Railway to use their station, but concerns over fast trains led to the GER declining and a completely new station was built with a single platform and an entrance on the opposite side of South Street to the GER station. A footbridge was built to connect the two stations but was often closed during the day.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

In 1934, the entrance to the platform of the line to Upminster was closed and the access to the single platform was provided by the footbridge from the main station platforms.Template:Sfn

In May 2015, the Upminster branch line transferred from Abellio Greater Anglia to London Overground.<ref>TfL count on LOROL for support Rail Professional 28 May 2014</ref> The London Overground service at the station was rebranded as the Liberty line from November 2024.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Elizabeth line

In the 1930s, increasing traffic on the line led to two additional tracks and platforms being added by the LNER on the north side, the line having been quadrupled to a point west of Romford previously in 1901.Template:Sfn

Electric trains started on the line from Liverpool Street to Shenfield in 1949, giving Romford 15 trains per hour to London during peak hours, and 6 trains per hour off-peak, a pattern that continued for over half a century.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In May 2015, the regular Shenfield stopping service transferred to TfL Rail.<ref>TFL appoints London Overground operator to run additional services Transport for London 28 May 2014</ref>

In 2017, new Template:Brc trains began entering service as the line created by the Crossrail project partially opened under the TfL Rail brand. Platforms 2 to 5 were extended from their length of between Template:Convert and Template:Convert to accommodate the Crossrail trains, which are over Template:Convert long. New lifts, signage, help points, customer information screens and CCTV were installed.<ref name="Crossrail 2018">Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref> The upgrade works were completed in August 2022, after delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

TfL Rail services were rebranded as the Elizabeth line on 24 May 2022.

Accidents and incidents

• On 29 December 1944, one person was killed and three were injured when, in darkness and heavy fog, a Template:Rws–London service passed two signals at danger on the approach to Romford and ran into the rear of a stationary freight train. The passenger train's speed at the moment of impact was about Template:Convert. 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• On 4 February 2010, two people standing on the platforms at Romford were injured when 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, bound for Template:Rws.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• On 4 November 2024, a person was killed after being struck by a train.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Services

The station is in London fare zone 6. As of the May 2025 timetable, the typical Monday to Friday off-peak service is:<ref name="TTXR 2025-05">Template:Cite web</ref>

Elizabeth line

• 8 tph (trains per hour) westbound to Paddington of which 2 continue to Heathrow Terminal 5
• 8 tph eastbound to Shenfield

Greater Anglia

• 2 tph westbound to Template:Rws<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2 tph eastbound to Template:Rws

London Overground

• 2 tph eastbound to Template:Rws<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Connections

London Buses routes 5, 66, 86, 103, 128, 165, 174, 175, 193, 247, 248, 252, 294, 296, 365, 370, 375, 496, 498, 499, school routes 647, 648, 651, 674, 686, and night routes N15 and N86 serve the station.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

References

Sources

• Template:Cite book

External links

• Excel file displaying National Rail station usage information for 2005/06 Template:Webarchive
• Old LTSR entrance after conversion