Stansted Airport railway station

Notes
	Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Stansted Airport
Stansted Airport
General information
Location	London Stansted Airport, District of Uttlesford; England
Grid reference	TL556235
Managed by	Greater Anglia
Platforms	3
Construction
Structure type	At-grade
Other information
Station code	SSD
Classification	DfT category B
History
Opened	1991
Original company	British Rail
Passengers
2019/20	8.475 million
Interchange	2,938
2020/21	0.795 million
Interchange	445
2021/22	3.369 million
Interchange	1,479
2022/23	7.906 million
Interchange	2,583
2023/24	9.281 million
Interchange	2,109
Notes
Notes
	Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Stansted Airport railway station is a railway station serving London Stansted Airport in Essex, England. The terminus of a dedicated branch line off the West Anglia Main Line, the station is 36 miles 67 chains (59.3 km) down the line from London Liverpool Street station, to which a dedicated service called the Stansted Express operates.

The station and branch line were opened in 1991 by British Rail to coincide with the completion of the airport's new terminal building.^[1] With over 9 million passengers from 2023-2024, it is the busiest station in Essex, the second busiest in the East of England, and the sixteenth busiest in the country outside of London.^[2]

History

The construction of the station and its branch line was part of the development of Stansted into London's third airport. In June 1985, the UK Parliament approved the expansion of the airport, and in November 1985, British Rail submitted a proposal for a rail link to the airport,^[3] which included a new double-track branch line connecting to the West Anglia Main Line, north of Stansted Mountfitchet station (which at the time was called Stansted railway station).^[4] The line included a bored tunnel under the airport's runway, designed by Sir William Halcrow & Partners, and built by John Murphy Ltd.^[5]^[6]

Construction began in 1988, and the branch was completed in 1991 at a cost of £44 million.^[1] The station opened on 19 March 1991, alongside the new terminal building.^[6] It became fully operational following its inauguration by Queen Elizabeth II, who travelled on the first Stansted Express service from London Liverpool Street.^[7]

Layout

Stansted Airport railway station is situated in a concrete box structure at ground level, directly beneath the terminal building, with the western end of the platforms which left open.^[8] It was designed with three platforms, located at ground level beneath the terminal. Platforms 1 and 3 run the full length of the station and are used for Stansted Express and Norwich services. The shorter platform number 2 is used for the CrossCountry-operated services to Birmingham New Street. In 2011 platform 1 was extended to accommodate two trains simultaneously in combinations of up to 16 coaches, and platform 2 was extended to accommodate four-coach trains.^[9]

Currently ticket checks are completely manual for both arriving and departing passengers. This can lead to long queues and crowding, especially soon after an arrival of a terminating service. With the planned introduction of the contactless travel payment option pending, gated ticket barriers are expected to be installed.

Future Plans

The station was designed with passive provision to become through-station, to allow for a possible future extension of the railway line towards Braintree.^[10] Proposals for this extension have periodically resurfaced, including a 2020 review by Essex County Council exploring the feasibility of reintroducing the Bishop's Stortford–Braintree branch line in Essex.^[11]

Services

Services at Stansted Airport are operated by Greater Anglia (including services under the Stansted Express brand) and CrossCountry.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour (tph) is:^[12]

4 tph to London Liverpool Street via Tottenham Hale, of which:^[13]
- 2 tph call at Bishop's Stortford
- 2 tph call at Harlow Town, of which 1 also calls at Stansted Mountfitchet
1 tph to Norwich via Cambridge and Ely
1 tph to Birmingham New Street via Cambridge, Ely, Peterborough, Leicester and Nuneaton

Preceding station		Following station
Stansted Mountfitchet, Bishop's Stortford or Harlow Town	Greater Anglia Stansted Express London Liverpool Street – Stansted Airport	Terminus
Audley End	Greater Anglia Norwich – Stansted Airport
Cambridge	CrossCountry Birmingham New Street – Stansted Airport

References

^ ^a ^b Blow, Christopher (2005). "6: Taxonomy of rail, bus/coach and air transport interchanges". Transport Terminals and Modal Interchanges (1 ed.). Oxford: Architectural Press. p. 70. ISBN 0-7506-5693-X.
^ "Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal". dataportal.orr.gov.uk. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
^ "British Railways (Stansted) Bill - Hansard - UK Parliament". hansard.parliament.uk. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
^ "stanstedmountfitchethistory". www.recordinguttlesfordhistory.org.uk. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
^ Wood, A. M. J.; Runacres, A. J.; Jaques, P. A. (June 1990). "British Tunnelling Society: Stansted Rail Link". Tunnels & Tunnelling International. 22 (6). ISSN 0041-414X.
^ ^a ^b "Stansted Airport". kentrail.org.uk. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
^ "Queen's visit was day to remember for Stansted Airport". Bishop's Stortford Independent. 12 September 2022. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
^ "Stansted Airport | Architecture Projects". fp-corporatewebsite-prod.azurewebsites.net. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
^ "Railnews - New £155m train order will boost capacity on commuter routes". railnews.mobi. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
^ Meyler, Piers (18 February 2020). "Major rail link between Essex and Stansted Airport could reopen". Essex Live. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
^ "Plans for new railway line between Braintree and Stansted to be explored". Braintree and Witham Times. 28 February 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
^ Table 17, 22, 47 National Rail timetable, May 2020
^ "All-day, 15-minute frequency for Stansted Express services reintroduced". Greater Anglia. Retrieved 6 January 2024.