Audley End railway station

Not to be confused with Lord Braybrooke's miniature railway, the Audley End Railway.

Audley End
Audley End station in 2012
General information
Location	Wendens Ambo, District of Uttlesford, England
Coordinates	52.0045°N 0.2073°E / 52.0045; 0.2073
Grid reference	TL516363
Managed by	Greater Anglia
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	AUD
Classification	DfT category D
Key dates
30 July 1845	Opened as Wenden
1 November 1848	Renamed Audley End
Passengers
2020/21	0.173 million
Interchange	812
2021/22	0.503 million
Interchange	2,883
2022/23	0.624 million
Interchange	3,349
2023/24	0.751 million
Interchange	4,653
2024/25	0.814 million
Interchange	5,000
Location
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Audley End railway station serves the village of Wendens Ambo and the market town of Saffron Walden, in Essex, England. It lies on the West Anglia Main Line, 41 miles 55 chains (67.1 km) down the line from London Liverpool Street; it is situated between Newport and Great Chesterford. The station is managed by Greater Anglia, which also operates the large majority of services that call here.

History

The station was opened in 1845 by the Eastern Counties Railway, which was absorbed into the Great Eastern Railway, and became part of the London and North Eastern Railway during the Grouping of 1923. The station passed on to the Eastern Region of British Railways upon nationalisation in 1948.

From 1865, the station also served as a junction with the branch line to Saffron Walden that began here and extended as far as Bartlow station where it met the Stour Valley Railway. As a cost-cutting measure, diesel railbuses were introduced on the branch line in 1958; despite their success, the line was recommended for closure in the 1963 Beeching Report. It was closed in 1964. There used to be a platform at the eastern end of the station for terminating trains to and from Saffron Walden.

The station was served by Network SouthEast when BR sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, until the privatisation of British Rail.

Audley End station's name was changed on signs to Audley End for Saffron Walden in 2012. Sir Alan Haselhurst, MP for Saffron Walden, unveiled the rebranded signs on 25 May.

Services

The large majority of services at Audley End are operated by Greater Anglia, using Class 720 electric multiple units and Class 755 bi-mode trains.

The typical off-peak service pattern in trains per hour (tph) is:

• 2 tph to London Liverpool Street (1 semi-fast, 1 stopping)
• 1 tph to Stansted Airport
• 2 tph to Cambridge North
• 1 tph to Norwich, via Thetford.

During the peak hours, the station is served by an additional 2tph between Liverpool Street and Cambridge/Ely, in addition to a small number of early morning and late evening CrossCountry-operated services between Stansted Airport and Birmingham New Street.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Newport or Bishop's Stortford		Greater Anglia West Anglia Main Line		Great Chesterford or Whittlesford Parkway
Stansted Airport		Greater Anglia West Anglia Main Line Stansted Airport branch		Whittlesford Parkway
		CrossCountry Birmingham to Stansted Airport Limited service		Cambridge
	Disused railways
Saffron Walden		Great Eastern Railway Saffron Walden Railway		Terminus

References

Sources

• Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
• Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 978-0-906899-99-1. OCLC 228266687.
• Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC 22311137.

External links

• Train times and station information for Audley End railway station from National Rail

• Disused Stations website about the Saffron Walden platform
• The station on a navigable O.S. map