Chafford Hundred railway station, also known as Chafford Hundred Lakeside station, is located on a single-track

branch line A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located ...

of the

London, Tilbury and Southend line The London, Tilbury and Southend line, also known as Essex Thameside, is a commuter railway line on the Rail transport in Great Britain, British railway system. It connects Fenchurch Street railway station, Fenchurch Street station, in central ...

, serving the area of Chafford Hundred as well as

Lakeside Shopping Centre Lakeside Shopping Centre (commonly referred to as Lakeside) is a large Out-of-town shopping centres in the United Kingdom, out-of-town shopping mall, shopping centre located in West Thurrock, Essex just beyond the eastern boundary of Greater Lon ...

in Essex. It is down the line from London Fenchurch Street via ; it is situated between and . Its three-letter station code is CFH. The station has a single platform and was opened on 26 May 1995 by Fatima Whitbread for

Railtrack Railtrack was a group of companies that owned the railroad, track, railway signalling, signalling, tunnels, bridges, level crossings and all but a handful of the railway station, stations of the Transport in England#Rail, British railway syste ...

. Today, all passenger train services are operated by

c2c Trenitalia c2c, trading as c2c, is a British train operating company that operates commuter services from its London terminus at to parts of East London and south Essex along the London, Tilbury and Southend line, as part of the Essex Thame ...

, which also manages the station. Although outside the London fare zones 1 to 6, the station became part of the

Oyster card The Oyster card is a Payment#Types_and_methods_of_payment, payment method for public transport in London and some surrounding areas. A standard Oyster card is a blue ISO/IEC 7810, credit-card-sized Stored-value card, stored-value contactless ...

pay-as-you-go network in 2010. It is the busiest single-platform station in the UK.

History

The single-track line through the area was opened in 1893 by the

London, Tilbury and Southend Railway The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR), was a British railway company, whose network connected Fenchurch Street railway station, Fenchurch Street station, in central London, with destinations in east London and Essex, including , , , T ...

(LTSR) as part of a branch from to via . By the late 20th century service on the line had been reduced to a relatively infrequent shuttle between Upminster and Grays, calling at the only intermediate station at . Following the opening of

in 1990 a new single-platform station was opened on 26 May 1995 by Fatima Whitbread for

. The £1 million station was funded by the Chafford Hundred development consortium. Initially a free shuttle bus connected the station to the shopping centre, with a direct pedestrian bridge link replacing the bus in 2000. The shuttle train service was eventually extended beyond Upminster to in London and beyond Grays to in Southend-on-Sea, with service frequency increased to two trains an hour in each direction. Usage is moderate for a suburban station and increasing; to expand capacity the buildings were rebuilt in 2006. The "Lakeside" suffix has occasionally been added to the name to not only reflect its location in the town of Chafford Hundred but also its proximity to the shopping centre. However, most sources including c2c and TfL, continue to simply call the station Chafford Hundred for sake of brevity. The station became part of the

pay-as-you-go network in 2010. The station celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2025, with Fatima Whitbread, Thurrock MP

Jen Craft Jennifer Craft (born ) is a British Labour Party politician and former civil servant who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Thurrock since 2024. Early life and career Craft was born in 1985 or 1986 at Orsett Hospital in Orsett, Thur ...

and local councillors attending a ceremony organised by c2c to mark the occasion.

Services

As of the June 2024 timetable the typical Monday to Friday off-peak service is: * 2 tph (trains per hour) westbound to London Fenchurch Street * 2 tph eastbound to According to the ORR, the station is the busiest single-platform station in the UK, beating the next busiest ( Windsor and Eton Central) by some 900,000 passengers per year.

Connections

Ensignbus Ensign Bus Company Limited, trading as Ensignbus, is a bus and coach operator and bus dealer based in Purfleet, Essex. As of March 2023, it is a part of FirstGroup. History Ensignbus was formed in 1972 by Peter Newman, who remains involved ...

routes 33 and X80 serve the station.

References

External links

{{Railway stations served by c2c Transport in Thurrock Railway stations in Essex DfT Category E stations Railway stations opened by Railtrack Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1995 Railway stations served by c2c