Southend Victoria railway station

Southend Victoria railway station is the eastern terminus of the Shenfield to Southend Line in the East of England, a branch off the Great Eastern Main Line, and is one of the primary stations serving the resort town of Southend-on-Sea, Essex (the other is Southend Central on the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway line). It is 41 miles 42 chains (66.83 km) down the line from London Liverpool Street; the preceding station on the line is Prittlewell. The Engineer's Line Reference for the line is SSV; the station's three-letter station is SOV. The station has four platforms each with an operational length for 12-coach trains.

Southend Victoria
Location
Place	Southend-on-Sea
Local authority	Southend-on-Sea
Grid reference	TQ881860
Operations
Station code	SOV
Managed by	Greater Anglia
Number of platforms	4
DfT category	C1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15	1.359[1] million
2015/16	1.440 million
2016/17	1.878 million
2017/18	2.097 million
2018/19	2.130 million
History
Original company	Great Eastern Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Eastern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway
1 October 1889	Opened as Southend-on-Sea[2]
1933	Renamed Southend-on-Sea for Westcliff and Thorpe Bay
1 May 1949	Renamed Southend-on-Sea Victoria
20 February 1969	Renamed Southend Victoria
National Rail – UK railway stations
Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Southend Victoria from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

History

The line from Wickford to Southend including this station was opened on 1 October 1889.[3] There was a goods yard to the east of the station; it closed on 5 June 1967.[3] The station area still has extensive carriage sidings: Down Carriage Sidings (North) 10 roads (known as The Klondyke sidings);[4] Down Carriage Sidings (South) 3 roads plus a disused Royal Mail Terminal; Up Carriage Sidings (North) 3 roads (known as The Shute);[4] Up Carriage Sidings (South) 2 roads.[5]

Electrification of the Shenfield to Southend Victoria line using 1.5 kV DC overhead line electrification (OLE) was completed on 31 December 1956. This was changed to 6.25 kV AC in November 1960 and to 25 kV AC on 25 January 1979.[3]

The station was named Southend for Westcliffe & Thorpe Bay from 1933 to 1949; from 1 May 1949 it was renamed Southend-on-Sea Victoria; and from 20 February 1969 it was finally changed to Southend Victoria.[3]

Services

It is currently managed by Greater Anglia, which also operates all trains serving it. The typical Monday to Saturday off-peak service is of three trains per hour to Liverpool Street (the services join the Great Eastern Main Line for London at the western terminus of Shenfield). On Sundays there are typically two trains per hour to Liverpool Street.

The town's other main station is Southend Central which provides services westbound to London Fenchurch Street and eastbound to Shoeburyness, operated by c2c.[5]

References

1. Large change due to methodological changes
2. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 215. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
3. Mitchell, Vic (2010). Branch Lines to Southend and Southminster. Midhurst Sussex: Middleton Press. ISBN 978-1-906008-76-5.
4. Route training manual Liverpool Street to Ipswich and branches, British Rail Eastern Region (1968). Published by the Great Eastern Railway Society (1992) ISBN 1 85622 239 X
5. Martyn Brailsford (ed) (2016). Railway Track Diagrams Vol 2 Eastern. Frome: TrackMaps. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-9549866-8-1.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)

External links

• Train times and station information for Southend Victoria railway station from National Rail

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Prittlewell		Greater Anglia Shenfield to Southend Line		Terminus