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Beaulieu Park Station

Network Rail and Essex County Council are working together to develop proposals for the first railway station to be built on the Great Eastern Main Line for over 100 years.

The new station is part of a wider regeneration of the Beaulieu Park estate in Chelmsford with new road infrastructure and up to 14,000 homes.

Essex County Council, in partnership with Chelmsford City Council, successfully secured £218m of funding from the Government’s Housing and Infrastructure (HIF) fund together with £34m contributions from the South East Local Enterprise Partnership and the developers of Beaulieu, Countryside and L&Q. 

The new station has been designed to support the wider economic development of the area and its constructed will include: 

  • Three platforms with a central loop line and new tracks to enable stopping services to call at the station while allowing fast trains to pass through unimpeded 
  • Step free access to all platforms via 2 lifts 
  • Accessible toilets, baby change facilities, waiting area and space for retail/catering 
  • Ticketing facilities, with ticket vending machines and a gate line 
  • Pedestrian and cycle access routes to the station 
  • 500 spaces for cycle parking and storage 
  • A bus interchange including bus stands for local services 
  • Pick up and drop off area with dedicated taxi bays 
  • Parking for over 700 cars, 5% of which to be designated Blue Badge bays, and motorcycle spaces, as well as dedicated parking for station staff, emergency services, and a dedicated space for service access 

It will provide additional access to the railway with regular connections to the capital (only 40 minutes from London Liverpool Street station) and other destinations in the east of England. New tracks will enable stopping services to call at the station while allowing fast trains to pass through unimpeded.

With a targeted opening date by the end of 2025, the new station will help to relieve pressure for the busy, Chelmsford station and help reduce car journeys into the city tackling congestion on local roads and reducing pollution.

Watch the Essex Highways Chelmsford North East Bypass video 

Beaulieu Park timelapse January to October 2023

Please note – the video below doesn’t contain a voice over or an audio description.

The timelapse below shows work taking place from January to October 2023. The video includes:

  • January 2023 – Diggers and plant moving stockpiles of earth materials  
  • February 2023 – Diggers and plant using earth materials to raise the level of land adjacent to the main line 
  • March 2023 – Continuing to raise the level of the ground and drainage materials being brought onto site and installed in the ground. 
  • April 2023 – Diggers and plant continue to build the land up layer by layer 
  • May 2023 – Large drain is installed and then covered over by subsequent layers of earth materials as land continues to be raised up.  
  • June 2023 – Land next to the main line is levelled off and steel foundation piles are installed into the ground which will support future overhead line masts. 
  • July 2023 – Piling machines continues to install the foundations of the new station building. Overhead line masts are installed and foundations for the station canopy are installed. 
  • August 2023 – remaining stockpiles of earth are used to level the land next to the main line. Overhead line masts are installed while platform front wall concrete segments are brought onto the site.  
  • September 2023 – Two platform front walls are installed along the alignment of the new loop relief lines adjacent to the mainline and ballast is laid. 
  • October 2023 – two sets of sleepers and track start to be laid along the loop line alignment.
  • November 2023 – track for the new up main and loop line contiunes to be laid while the steelwork for the station building starts to be installed
  • December 2023 – steelwork for the station building continues to be installed with laminated roof beams being attached. The new track is completed and connected to the existing mainline over eight days during the Christmas works.
  • January 2024 – The old mainline track is removed while the over head lines are put back in place ready for passenger trains to start running on 2 January. 

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Latest News

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

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