View source for Wickford railway station

{{Short description|Railway station in Essex, England}}
{{About|the railway station in England|the railway station in Rhode Island, United States|Wickford Junction station}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2015}}
{{Infobox station
| name                = Wickford
| symbol_location     = gb
| symbol              = rail
| image               = Wickford station 29th Oct 2022 02.jpg
| caption             = Wickford in 2022 after the station building was demolished
| borough             = [[Wickford]], [[Basildon (district)|Basildon]]
| country             = England
| grid_name           = [[Ordnance Survey National Grid|Grid reference]]
| grid_position       = {{gbmapscaled|TQ745936|25|TQ745936}}
| manager             = [[Greater Anglia]]
| platforms           = 4
| code                = WIC
| classification      = [[United Kingdom railway station categories|DfT category]] C2
| opened              = 1889
| mpassengers =
{{Rail pass box |pass_year=2018/19 |passengers={{increase}} 2.261 million |interchange={{pad|1em}}{{decrease}} 0.511 million}}
{{Rail pass box |pass_year=2019/20 |passengers={{decrease}} 2.085 million |interchange={{pad|1em}}{{decrease}} 0.496 million}}
{{Rail pass box |pass_year=2020/21 |passengers={{decrease}} 0.468 million |interchange={{pad|1em}}{{decrease}} 77,071}}
{{Rail pass box |pass_year=2021/22 |passengers={{increase}} 1.178 million |interchange={{pad|1em}}{{increase}} 0.237 million}}
{{Rail pass box |pass_year=2022/23 |passengers={{increase}} 1.505 million |interchange={{pad|1em}}{{increase}} 0.361 million}}
| footnotes           = Passenger statistics from the [[Office of Rail and Road]]
}}
'''Wickford railway station''' is a junction stop on the [[Shenfield to Southend Line]] and also the western terminus of the [[Crouch Valley Line]] in the [[east of England]], serving the town of [[Wickford]] in the [[Basildon (district)|Basildon district]] of [[Essex]]. It is {{convert|29|mi|2|chain|km|2|lk=in}} down the line from [[Liverpool Street station|London Liverpool Street]] and is situated between {{rws|Billericay}} to the west and, to the east, {{rws|Rayleigh}} on the Southend Line and {{rws|Battlesbridge}} on the Crouch Valley Line. The [[Engineer's Line Reference]] for the line is SSV, the station's three-letter station code is WIC.

Most Southend services connect to the [[Great Eastern Main Line]] at {{rws|Shenfield}} for northbound  connections. Peak-time trains to/from {{rws|Southminster}}  also run through to London. Wickford station, and all trains serving it, are currently operated by [[Greater Anglia]].

== History ==
The line from Shenfield to Wickford, along with the station, were opened for goods on 19 November 1888 and for passengers on 1 January 1889 by the [[Great Eastern Railway]].<ref>Branch Line to Southminster by Denis L Swindale {{ISBN|0-9506473-8-1}}.</ref> 

The station was previously called '''Wickford Junction''', when the Crouch Valley route to Southminster also included a branch to {{rws|Maldon West}} and more agricultural traffic passed through the station.

At the London end of the station, there once was a goods yard and [[Turntable (rail)|turntable]] for steam locomotives; it was closed in 1954. A couple of sidings remain here for storing engineering vehicles or failed trains, but much of the railway land here is now in use as a car park for passengers. The line from Wickford to Southend Victoria was converted from semaphore signalling to 3-aspect, automatic and semi-automatic, colour light signals on 26 June 1938.<ref name=":0">Notice: Colour light signalling between Wickford and Southend. London and North Eastern Railway (1938). Published by Great Eastern Railways Society (2003) {{ISBN|1 85622 251 9}}</ref> At the same time, the signal boxes at Fanton, Rayleigh, {{rws|Hockley|Essex}} and {{rws|Rochford}} were decommissioned.<ref name=":0" /> 

The Shenfield to Southend Victoria line was electrified using 1.5 kV DC overhead line electrification on 31 December 1956. This was changed to 6.25 kV AC in November 1960 and to 25 kV AC on 25 January 1979. Platforms 1 and 4 were electrified when the Southminster branch was electrified on 12 May 1986.

The [[signal box]] that was formerly located at the end of platforms 3 and 4, before the bridge crossing Wickford High Street, was demolished in the early 1990s following the introduction of new signalling controlled from Liverpool Street. The upper floor of the original Great Eastern Railway station buildings on platforms 1 and 2 were destroyed by fire in the late 1990s; however, the ground floor (including the ticket office, waiting room and staff accommodation) was saved and remained in use until 2021.

[[File:Wickford station.jpg|thumb|right|The former station building pictured in 2006]]

In 2020, Greater Anglia submitted plans to demolish the station building so that platform 1 could be extended for the new longer trains.<ref>{{Cite web|title= Proposed plans to develop Wickford station |url=https://www.greateranglia.co.uk/wickfordworks|access-date=19 April 2021 |website=www.greateranglia.co.uk|language=en}}</ref> It was demolished in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Holden|first=Alan|date=28 May 2021 |title=Work starts on improving Wickford railway station|url=https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2021/05/work-starts-on-improving-wickford-railway-station.html|access-date=26 June 2021 |website=RailAdvent |language=en-GB}}</ref> The extended platform was opened on 26 June 2021.<ref>{{Cite web|last=White|first=Cameron|date=24 June 2021 |title=Wickford station sees new longer platform to accommodate new Alstom trains |url=https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2021/06/wickford-station-sees-new-longer-platform-to-accommodate-new-alstom-trains.html|access-date=26 June 2021 |website=RailAdvent|language=en-GB}}</ref>

===Accidents and incidents===
* On 24 February 1965, the 10:18 departure from Liverpool Street for Southend Victoria derailed upon departure from Wickford when a set of [[Railroad switch|points]] was moved while the train passed over them, causing the rear coaches to be diverted onto the Southminster branch line and be derailed. The incident caused damage to the infrastructure and carriages, and minor injury to two passengers on board the train.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/MoT_Wickford1965.pdf |access-date=16 October 2023 |title=Report on the derailment that occurred on 24th February 1965 at Wickford}}</ref>
* On 31 January 1971, a collision occurred between a newspaper delivery train and the 04:04 passenger service from Southend Victoria, bound for Liverpool Street. Nobody was injured, however two carriages of the passenger train were extensively damaged and some minor damage was caused to the newspaper train. The newspaper train's driver had left his cab to check signals without having applied the brakes, leading to the train slipping back down the gradient of the Southminster branch line, into the Southend train which was stopped on the main line at Wickford.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/DoE_Wickford1970.pdf |access-date=16 October 2023|title=Report on the collision that occurred on 31st January 1971 at Wickford}}</ref>

==Description==
Wickford station comprises four platforms:
* Two through platforms, with an operational length of 12 carriages:
** 2 for eastbound services towards Southend
** 3 for westbound services towards London.
* Two eastern-facing [[bay platforms]] at the eastern end of the station, each with an operational length of 5 carriages: 
** 1 for trains to Southminster
** 4 is very rarely used.

==Services==
All services at Wickford are operated by Greater Anglia. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:<ref>{{Cite web |work=Greater Anglia |title=Timetables |date=2 June 2024 |access-date=31 August 2024 |url= https://www.greateranglia.co.uk/timetables |quote=}}</ref>
* 3 tph to London Liverpool Street
* 3 tph to Southend Victoria
* 1 train every 40 minutes to Southminster

Additional services operate during peak hours.

On Sundays, services between London and Southend are reduced to 2 tph and services to Southminster are reduced to hourly.

{{rail start}}
{{s-rail-national|previous=Billericay|next=Rayleigh|toc= Greater Anglia|route=[[Shenfield–Southend line|Shenfield to Southend Line]]}}
{{S-rail-national|next=Battlesbridge|toc=Greater Anglia|route=[[Crouch Valley Line]]}}
{{end}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist}}
===Sources===
* Branch Line to Southminster by Denis L Swindale {{ISBN|0-9506473-8-1}}.

== External links ==
{{commons category}}
{{stn art lrnk|WIC|SS117AT}}
* [http://www.essex-family-history.co.uk/crouchvalleyline.htm History of the Crouch Valley Line]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090217155005/http://burnham.org.uk/crouchvalleyline.htm Local information about Crouch Valley Line]

{{coord|51.615|N|0.519|E|type:railwaystation_region:GB|display=title}}

{{Railway stations served by Greater Anglia}}

[[Category:Transport in the Borough of Basildon]]
[[Category:Railway stations in Essex]]
[[Category:DfT Category C2 stations]]
[[Category:Former Great Eastern Railway stations]]
[[Category:Railway stations served by Greater Anglia]]
[[Category:William Neville Ashbee railway stations]]
[[Category:Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1889]]
[[Category:Wickford]]