Greater Anglia and Elizabeth Line Trains at Shenfield on August 19th 2023
2,158
Published 2023-11-18
Featuring services from Greater Anglia, Elizabeth Line and some Freight.
Shenfield opened March 1843 by the Eastern Counties Railway when the line was extended from Brentwood to Colchester
In 1850 it closed due to low traffic but reopened in 1887 as Shenfield & Hutton Junction.
The goods yard closed in May 1964 which nowadays the stations car park with the suffix of Hutton Junction being dropped in February 1969 when it was renamed Shenfield.
The station was completely remodelled between January and May 2018 which included the addition of Platform 6 and the remodelling of the Stabling sidings.
Platforms 5 and 6 are used by Elizabeth Line services mostly Class 345s first entered service in 2017 although it wasn't until May 2021 when 9 car operation began running although the only exceptions due to short platforms are Maryland, Manor Park and Seven Kings.
Platform 4 is nowadays used by Greater Anglia services to Southend Victoria and Southminster although the latter mostly nowadays start at Wickford.
Platform 1 is normally used by services from Southend Victoria however can also be by stopping services on the main line to enable intercity services from Norwich as well as Freight services from as far as Felixstowe North or South to overtake although most trains from Ipswich, Clacton, Colchester Town or Braintree mainly use Platform 2 and 3.
The Intercity services nowadays are operated by Class 745s built by Stadler in Switzerland which are maintained at Crown Point Depot in Norwich introduced in late 2019 replacing the Class 90s in March 2020 as well as taking over the Stansted Express services from the Class 379s as well.
The Class 745/0s and 745/1s are mostly similar except for one thing that there is no 1st class on the 745/1s which will be used by Stansted Express.
The Class 315s amazingly are still going although limited for now to peak hour operations between London Liverpool Street and Shenfield although they will likely be withdrawn by the time the 1st section of Crossrail opens at some point in 2022.
Crossrail services from Shenfield to Reading and Abbey Wood to Heathrow Terminal 4 or 5 was due to open fully in December 2019 however due to the difficulties connecting the signalling systems as well as the station fitting out being way behind and overspend being up by almost a third more than the original budget for the construction and as well as the COV19 Pandemic meant opening at the earliest is around 2022 although full running is not due to commence until May 2023.
The Class 321s on Greater Anglia as well as the Ex Class 322s hired in to make up for some of the stock shortfall due to the delayed introduction of the new Class 720s are on their last months of operation likely to being fully replaced by Summer 2022.
The new Class 720s built in Derby by Bombardier now merged into Alstom was originally ordered as 89 five car sets and 22 Ten car sets however in September 2020 it was announced that all Class 720s both the 720/5s and 720/1s will all be 5 car sets to enable flexibility although at the time of filming 720/5s are mostly operating on GEML as far as Ipswich although not yet cleared to either Harwich Town on the Mayflower Line, Walton-on-the-Naze or Norwich due to ongoing Gauge clearance and software issues.
These were due to in the autumn begin operating on West Anglia Main Line as well although full replacement of the Class 317s, 321s and 322s are due to complete by next Summer however as for the Class 379s are due to be used elsewhere however at present its future remains unknown.
A lot has changed at Shenfield both layout and variety and even in difficult times for a evening rush hour can still be hectic.
Music used:
JJD - Adventure
Music provided by NCS
Video link:
NoCopyrightSounds
• JJD - Adventure | Glitch Hop | NCS - ...
Filmed on Saturday August 19th 2023 on iPhone 14 Proand edited on iMovie
#greateranglia #greaterangliatrains #tfl #tflrail #shenfield #shenfieldstation #elizabethline #class345 #essex
