Colchester(COL)

Colchester station opened on 29 March 1843 under the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) and was originally named simply “Colchester”. Locally, however, it has long been known as “Colchester North” to distinguish it from Colchester Town station, a name that is still commonly used by bus services. The station is not especially convenient for the city centre, but local buses provide a link into town, while Colchester Town is more centrally located, as its name suggests.

The ECR had originally intended to construct a route from London to Norwich, broadly along the alignment now used by the Great Eastern Main Line. Financial difficulties meant the scheme was scaled back, and beyond surveying a section towards Ardleigh, construction came to a halt. It was only three years later that the onward connection to Ipswich was completed, this time by the Eastern Union Railway after business leaders in Ipswich pressed for it, feeling the town was being left behind as other routes developed.

As rail traffic grew, particularly with the popularity of the Sunshine Coast Line, the station’s layout struggled to cope with demand. This was especially true during summer weekends, when large numbers of holiday trains headed for Clacton-on-Sea were added to the timetable. The sharp curve on which the station had originally been built only added to the operational challenges.

In 1962, ahead of electrification, Colchester was modernised with a new station building on the north side of the tracks. The rebuilt station had two main platforms. The London-bound (“up”) side comprised two platforms, numbered 3 and 4, with an unusual layout: platform 3 sits on the up main line, handling intercity trains from Norwich, while platform 4 lies on the up branch line, joining the main line end-to-end with platform 3. Together they form the longest continuous platform length in the UK at 620 metres, although Gloucester holds the record for the longest unbroken platform. Bay platforms were also added: platform 6 at the London end, once used for Sudbury services but now for peak London trains, and platform 5, used for Colchester Town and Walton-on-the-Naze. The opposite “down” side has an island platform, with one face on the down main and another on the down branch, where platform 1 typically handles trains for Clacton-on-Sea and occasionally Norwich.

Today, the main ticket office is a modern, glass-fronted structure on the north side, with subway access to the platforms. The older station building remains on the south side and provides additional access to the up platform, with ticket machines for passengers. A taxi rank and bus stops sit beside the main entrance, and both sides are fitted with automatic ticket gates.

Between 2000 and 2002, the former operator Anglia Railways also ran a service known as London Crosslink, which linked Norwich with Basingstoke via Stratford.