History
editLondon Tilbury & Southend Railway (1856-1912)
editIn June 1852, after several attempts at building a railway to Southend-on-Sea, royal assent was given to the London, Tilbury and Southend Extension Railway Act 1852 authorising the building of the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway. The line reached Southend in 1856 and whereas it had been planned to terminate opposite the pier, residents in The Royal Terrace opposed this, and the station was built further inland.[1]
The terminus station was named Southend and was the eastern terminus of the line until 1888, after which the line was later extended to Shoeburyness.
Midland Railway (1912-1923)
editIn 1912 the Midland Railway bought the LT&SR on 7 August 1912 so Southend-On-Sea became a Midland Railway station.
London Midland & Scottish Railway (1923-1948)
editFollowing the Railways Act 1921 the station became the responsibility of the London Midland and Scottish (LMS) Railway from 1 January 1923.
Just after World War II started in September 1939, the passenger service was reduced as a wartime economy measure.
The name was changed to Southend-on-Sea (Central) in 1946.
British Railways (1948-1994)
editFollowing nationalisation of Britain's railways in 1948, the station transferred under British Railways to the London Midland Region. On 20 February 1949, the whole LTS line was transferred to the Eastern Region, yet despite the organisational changes, the old LTSR still was a distinctive system operated by former LTS and LMS steam locomotives until electrification.[2]
During the late 1950s the LTS was being electrified and re-signalled
A full electric timetable started operating in June 1962 which was primarily worked by Class 302 EMUs.
The station was renamed Southend Central on 20 February 1969
The LTS line and Southend Central station became part of the London and South Eastern sector of British Rail in 1982, and in June 1986 this was rebranded as Network South East (NSE). With the Conservative government of the early 1990s looking to privatise the railways, the operation of the NSE passenger train service was put under the control of a Train Operating Unit.
The Privatisation Era (1994 -2025)
editOn privatisation in 1994, infrastructure ownership passed to Railtrack and Prism Rail took over operations of the franchise, marketing the route as LTS Rail. Prism Rail were bought out by National Express in 2000 and in 2002 the line was rebranded as c2c.
Ownership of the infrastructure passed to Network Rail in 2002.
National Express sold the operation of the franchise to Trenitalia in 2017.
The station and all trains serving it are currently operated by c2c and are operated by Class 357 and Class 720/6 EMUs.
A more detailed history of the franchises can be found on the c2c page.
Private operation of the London, Tilbury and Southend line by Trenitalia c2c ceased on 20 July 2025, with the new publicly owned operator c2c taking over.[3]
Services
editThe Whitechapel and Bow Railway, opened in 1902, permitted through trains to operate from the District Railway on to the LTSR. This was initially used for inner suburban District Railway trains that did not go beyond Upminster.[4] In 1909 and 1910 trial joint through services were run from Ealing Broadway to Southend, changing from electric District to steam LTSR locomotives en route. This became a regular timetable in 1911, with a limited number of those daily trains extended to Shoeburyness. The service ended on 11 September 1939.[5]
- ^ Kay, Peter (1996). The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway: A history of the company and line Volume 1 1836-1893. Peter Kay. pp. 15–19. ISBN 1-899890-10-6.
- ^ Connor, J E; Phillips, Charles (August 1998). Fenchurch Street to Barking. Midhurst, UK: Middleton Press. p. 8. ISBN 1-901706-20-6.
- ^ Adams, Lewis. "Trains return to public ownership in south Essex". BBC NEWS. BBC. Archived from the original on 28 July 2025. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
- ^ Horne 2019.
- ^ Kay 2010.