Beaulieu Park Station
Beaulieu Park station, the first station to be built on the Great Eastern main line in over a century, is now open
The £175 million new station for Chelmsford, was formally opened by Lord Peter Hendy CBE, the minister for rail, and The Right Honourable Sir James Cleverly as local MP for Braintree on Monday 27 October, as they unveiled a plaque to commemorate the occasion, in the 200th year of the UK’s railway.
The new station is designed to support the wider economic development and its construction will unlock further growth across the wider region. The station is a significant addition to the Beaulieu and Channels neighbourhoods in the north of the city, which form the first phase of the new Chelmsford Garden Community.
The garden community will eventually comprise over 10,000 new homes. 4,350 homes already have planning permission, including almost 2,000 which have been built. A further 6,250 homes will be delivered over the coming years pending final planning approval.
Operated by Greater Anglia, Beaulieu Park Station will ease pressure on Chelmsford’s existing station and reduce car journeys into the city centre. It will provide passengers with easy access to the railway, with regular connections to the capital, only 40 minutes to London Liverpool Street station.
The landmark infrastructure project began after £175 million of funding was secured by partners including Homes England, Essex County Council, Chelmsford City Council, the South East Local Enterprise Partnership and housing developers Countryside (part of Vistry Group) and L&Q.
Beaulieu Park Station offers several important features and amenities including:
- Direct access to London Liverpool Street in 40 minutes and Colchester in 25 minutes
- Step-free access to all platforms via two lifts
- Ticketing facilities, with ticket vending machines and a gate line
- Accessible toilets, baby change facilities, waiting area and space for retail/catering
- Parking for 752 vehicles across two car parks, with 38 designated Blue Badge bays free of charge. Includes dedicated parking for motorcycles, station staff, emergency services, space for service access and 10 electric vehicle charging points
- C11, C9, C8 and 73 bus services operated by First extended to stop at Beaulieu Park Station
- Pick up and drop off area with dedicated taxi bays
- Public transport interchange including bus stands for local services
- 500 spaces for free covered bike storage and paid secure storage
- Improvements to local walking and cycling routes with some new paths created
Latest News
27 October 2025
The station is formally opened by Lord Peter Hendy CBE and The Right Honourable Sir James Cleverly. Read more by clicking here.
26 October 2025
Beaulieu Park station opens its doors for the first time to passengers.
16 October 2025
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has authorised the new Beaulieu Park railway station, clearing the way for it to open to passengers on Sunday 26 October 2025. Click here to read more.
October 2025
Access and travel options to the new Beaulieu Park railway station revealed ahead of anticipated opening. Click here to read more.
July 2025
New Essex railway station on track to receive passengers from autumn. Click here to read more.
January 2025
A key milestone was delivered over four days as the signalling system was updated to show the new station and its third track on the signalling screens for the first time. This included the commissioning of new signals by shutting down the system for approximately six hours during the Christmas closure for the update to be uploaded. The signalling system was then brought back online and tested before we reopened the railway around Chelmsford on 29 December. Fit-out work inside the station and construction of the external car parks continues into the New Year.
February 2024
November 2023
September 2023
We have awarded the second of two contracts to build the new railway station for Chelmsford’s Beaulieu development to J Murphy & Sons Ltd. The £124 million contract includes main construction work for the new station on behalf of partners Essex County Council and Chelmsford City Council. Find out more information.
March 2023
Vicky Ford MP visits the site of Beaulieu Park station to celebrate the start of construction with representatives from Essex County Council, Chelmsford City Council and partner organisations. You can read the press release on the Essex County Council website.
January 2023
Network Rail has awarded a £37.8m contract to J Murphy & Sons to begin work including set-up of site welfare, earthworks, civils, modifications to track and signalling systems to facilitate the main construction phase of the new station facility.
December 2022
Network Rail and Essex County Council sign agreement for the start of construction to begin early 2023. You can read the press release on the Essex County Council website.
21 June 2022
Plans to deliver a new station for the Chelmsford area were granted detailed planning permission by Chelmsford City Council, paving the way to finalise the technical design work before starting on site anticipated to be early spring 2023. You can read more information on the Chelmsford City Life website.
February 2022
Network Rail awarded the contract to complete the final phase of design for the first new station on the Great Eastern main line for over 100 years, to J Murphy and Sons Ltd.
For More Information
If you have any enquiries or comments regarding the bypass or the station plans please email: CNEB@essexhighways.org
For further information visit www.essex.gov.uk/chelmsford-north-east-bypass
You can also contact us about the new station by visiting our contact us page or by calling our 24-hour national helpline on 03457 11 41 41. You can follow us on Twitter @networkrailANG and use the hashtag #BeaulieuParkStation