Gidea Park railway station

Gidea Park railway station is on the Great Eastern Main Line, serving the neighbourhood of Gidea Park in the London Borough of Havering, east London. It is 13 miles 41 chains (21.7 km) down the line from London Liverpool Street and is situated between Romford and Harold Wood. Its three-letter station code is GDP and it is in Travelcard zone 6.

Gidea Park
Gidea Park railway station in 2007
Gidea Park
Location of Gidea Park in Greater London
LocationGidea Park
Local authorityLondon Borough of Havering
Managed byTfL Rail
Station codeGDP
DfT categoryC2
Number of platforms4
AccessibleYes[1]
Fare zone6
National Rail annual entry and exit
2015–16 2.861 million[2]
2016–17 2.797 million[2]
2017–18 2.711 million[2]
2018–19 2.834 million[2]
2019–20 2.872 million[2]
Key dates
1 December 1910Opened as Squirrels Heath & Gidea Park
1913Renamed Gidea Park & Squirrels Heath
20 February 1969[3]Renamed Gidea Park
Other information
External links
WGS8451.582°N 0.2063°E / 51.582; 0.2063
 London transport portal

The station is currently managed by TfL Rail and is served by the Shenfield-Liverpool Street stopping "metro" service. In the future TfL Rail will be re-branded as the Elizabeth line as part of the Crossrail project. Eventually, the Elizabeth line service will be extended beyond Liverpool Street to Paddington and onwards to Reading and Heathrow Airport.

History

The station, constructed in a cutting, was opened as Squirrels Heath & Gidea Park on 1 December 1910 by the Great Eastern Railway on that company's main line out of London Liverpool Street. The station consisted of two island platforms with access via a footbridge, giving four platform faces despite the line being of two tracks beyond the station environs. The station signal box was elevated on a set of girders spanning the two central tracks, and there was a goods shed and coal staithes at the country end of the station on the south side of the line controlled by an additional signal box.[4] Immediately beyond the goods facilities was the building known as the "Romford Factory" which had been the original locomotive works for the Eastern Counties Railway from 1843 until the opening of Stratford Works in 1847, and remained in use by the railway working on the manufacture and repair of canvas wagon sheets.[5] The line through Romford and Gidea Park as far as Shenfield was quadrupled in 1930 to provide increased capacity and additional carriage sidings were added on the north side of the line opposite the goods facilities as part of these works. The order of words in the station name was switched to Gidea Park & Squirrels Heath in late 1913 and the "Squirrels Heath" suffix was dropped by British Rail in February 1969.[4][6]

On 2 January 1947, in darkness and dense fog, an express train from London to Peterborough passed a signal at danger and collided with a stopping service bound for Southend Victoria as it started to depart from Gidea Park on the country-bound main line. The Peterborough train was travelling at an estimated 30 to 35 mph on impact, which destroyed the rear three coaches of the Southend train.[7] Seven people were killed in the crash and 45 were hospitalised. Two of the four lines through the station were reopened within two hours, and the other two followed the next day.[8]

External video
Footage of the aftermath of the 1947 crash at Gidea Park - British Pathé

Services

The following services typically call at Gidea Park during off-peak hours. Frequency is increased during peak times.[9] Additionally, there is one late-night service to Colchester operated by Greater Anglia.

Operator Route Rolling stock Typical frequency Notes
TfL Rail London Liverpool Street – Stratford – Maryland – Forest Gate – Manor Park – Ilford – Seven Kings – Goodmayes – Chadwell Heath – Romford – Gidea Park – Harold Wood – Brentwood – Shenfield Class 315, Class 345 6x per hour 4x per hour on Sundays

In 2017, new Class 345 trains began entering service as Crossrail partially opened. The platforms at Gidea Park will be extended from their current length of 184 metres (201 yd) to accommodate the new Crossrail trains which will be over 200 metres (220 yd) long once extended to nine carriages. New lifts, signage, help points, customer information screens and CCTV will also be installed, and the footbridge and carriage-sidings will be refurbished.

Connections

London Buses routes 294, 496, 649, 650 and 674 serve the station.

References
  1. "Gidea Park Station Plan". National Rail Enquiries. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  2. "Station usage estimates". Rail statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Please note: Some methodology may vary year on year.
  3. Borley, H.V. Chronology of London Railways.
  4. Brennand, Dave (2002). "Gidea Park". Ilford to Shenfield. Eastern Main Lines. Midhurst: Middleton Press. pp. 49–53. ISBN 1 901706 974.
  5. Brennand, Dave (2002). "Romford Factory". Ilford to Shenfield. Eastern Main Lines. Midhurst: Middleton Press. pp. 54–58. ISBN 1 901706 974.
  6. Alwakeel, Ramzy (25 January 2013). "Feature: Havering's lifeline rail service, the Liverpool Street to Shenfield line". Romford Recorder.
  7. "Report on the Collision which occurred on the 2nd January, 1947, at GIDEA PARK" (PDF). Ministry of Transport. 1947 – via Railways Archive.
  8. Earnshaw, Alan (1991). Trains in Trouble: Vol. 7. Penryn: Atlantic Books. p. 30. ISBN 0-906899-50-8.
  9. "TfL Rail Timetable" (PDF).
Preceding station   Crossrail   Following station
TfL Rail
Shenfield Metro
towards Shenfield
  Future development  
towards Paddington
Crossrail
Elizabeth line
towards Shenfield
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