Syston railway station

Syston railway station (/ˈsaɪstən/ (listen) SY-stən) is a railway station serving the town of Syston in Leicestershire, England. The station is on the Midland Main Line from Leicester to Loughborough, 103 miles 63 chains (167.0 km) down the line from London St Pancras.

Syston
Station platform, looking north. The fast lines are on the left; the slow line is on the right. The line to Peterborough branches off to the right in the background.
Location
PlaceSyston
Local authorityBorough of Charnwood
Grid referenceSK621111
Operations
Station codeSYS
Managed byEast Midlands Railway
Number of platforms1
DfT categoryF1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15 0.192 million
2015/16 0.211 million
2016/17 0.218 million
2017/18 0.206 million
2018/19 0.225 million
History
5 May 1840Opened
4 March 1968Closed
27 May 1994Reopened
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Syston from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

Early history

The station was opened on 5 May 1840 as a minor intermediate station on the Midland Counties Railway line from Leicester to Nottingham and Derby.[1] Shortly afterwards, the Midland Counties merged with the North Midland Railway and the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway to form the Midland Railway.

Syston became a junction station on 1 September 1846 with the opening of the Syston and Peterborough Railway to Melton Mowbray, which was extended in 1848 to Peterborough.[2] The north to east curve was opened in 1854.

A replacement station was opened in 1874 when the Midland Main Line was increased from two to four tracks.[3]

Closure

The station closed on 4 March 1968.[4] The station building, having been hidden by fencing for many years, was later dismantled and rebuilt at Midland Railway - Butterley with the help of David Wilson Homes, who erected a housing estate over the old station land in 2006.

Reopening

The station reopened on 27 May 1994 as part of phase one of the Ivanhoe Line. It is served hourly in both directions by East Midlands Railway local services, running between Leicester and Lincoln via Loughborough, Nottingham and Newark. There is no Sunday service.[5]

Express trains do not stop at Syston, as the single platform is on the bidirectional "slow" line, adjacent to the main line. Trains on the line to and from Peterborough do not call at the station either, although it is possible for them to do so.

Network Rail adopted a Route Utilisation Strategy for freight in 2007[6] which will create a new cross country freight route from Peterborough (East Coast Main Line) to Nuneaton (West Coast Main Line). One of the next stages (around 2013) will create additional lines through Leicester during a re-signalling scheme, during this time Syston station will be rebuilt.[7]

Services

There is an hourly service between Leicester and Nottingham on Monday to Saturday. There is no Sunday Service. Services are formed using diesel multiple units of class 153, 156 or 158

Preceding station   National Rail   Following station
East Midlands Railway
Ivanhoe Line
  Historical railways  
Humberstone Road
Line open, station closed		   Midland Railway
Midland Main Line		   Sileby
Line and station open
  Midland Railway
Leicester to Peterborough		   Rearsby
Line open, station closed
gollark: I suppose it would be possible to integrate a snow golem and farm *smoothies*, but meh.
gollark: And you wouldn't buy them, they would be dispensed for free.
gollark: MELON™ is the best food.
gollark: MELON™ farm units are something like 10KST each now, too, so I could include one in each station.
gollark: I can store 1728 MELON™ per ender chest, which should allow dispersing MELON™ in vast quantities everywhere.

References
  1. Higginson, M, (1989) The Midland Counties Railway: A Pictorial Survey, Derby: Midland Railway Trust.
  2. Radford, B., (1983) Midland Line Memories: a Pictorial History of the Midland Railway Main Line Between London (St Pancras) & Derby London: Bloomsbury Books
  3. British Railways Pre-Grouping Atlas and Gazetteer.
  4. Passengers No More by G.Daniels and L.Dench
  5. Table 53 National Rail timetable, May 2016
  6. "Route Utilisation Strategy > Freight".
  7. "East Midlands". Network Rail. Retrieved 29 August 2008.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.