Norwich railway station

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Norwich National Rail
Norwich Thorpe (6371284241).jpg
Norwich railway station in 2008
Location
Place Norwich
Local authority City of Norwich
Grid reference TG239083
Operations
Station code NRW
Managed by Abellio Greater Anglia
Number of platforms 6
DfT category B
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05 Increase 2.122 million
2005/06 Increase 2.328 million
2006/07 Increase 2.712 million
2007/08 Increase 3.450 million
2008/09 Increase 3.569 million
2009/10 Decrease 3.496 million
2010/11 Increase 3.749 million
2011/12 Increase 3.885 million
2012/13 Increase 4.126 million
2013/14 Increase 4.140 million
2014/15 Decrease 4.072 million
History
1 May 1844 Opened as Norwich
12 December 1849 Renamed Norwich Thorpe
3 May 1886 Re-sited
5 May 1969 Renamed Norwich
National Rail – UK railway stations

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Norwich from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
Portal icon UK Railways portal
Norwich Thorpe in 1851, before its rebuilding in 1886.
LNER Thompson B1 4-6-0 in 1958

Norwich railway station (formerly Norwich Thorpe) is the eastern terminus of the Great Eastern Main Line in the East of England, serving the city of Norwich, Norfolk. It is 114 miles 77 chains (185.0 km) down the main line from the western terminus, London Liverpool Street.

It is also the terminus of several secondary lines: the Breckland Line to Cambridge, the Bittern Line to Cromer and Sheringham, and the Wherry Lines to Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft. East Midlands Trains also operates a service to Liverpool Lime Street.

The station is currently managed by Abellio Greater Anglia, which also operates the majority of the trains that serve the station.

History

At one time there were three railway stations in Norwich: Norwich Thorpe, which is the current station still known locally as "Thorpe station"; Norwich Victoria, which was once the terminus for certain passenger services from London until 1916 as well as being a goods station until its demolition in the 1970s; and Norwich City, which was the terminus of the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway line from Melton Constable, which closed in 1959.

Early history

The original station was opened by the Yarmouth & Norwich Railway (Y&NR) which was the earliest railway in Norfolk. Its Act of Parliament of 18 June 1842 authorised the issue of £200,000 worth of shares to build a line between the two towns, via Reedham and the Yare valley. The chairman was George Stephenson and the chief engineer was his son, Robert Stephenson.[1] Construction started in April 1843 and the 20.5 miles were completed in a year, with an inspection and inaugural run on 12 April 1844, a ceremonial opening on 30 April 1844, followed the next day by the beginning of regular passenger services.[2]

The Norwich & Brandon Railway arrived at the station in 1845 and this offered a route to Shoreditch in London via Cambridge and Bishop's Stortford. Four years later the Eastern Union Railway started services to Norwich Victoria and two years later services from Ipswich started serving the better placed station.

By the 1860s the railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble, and most were leased to the Eastern Counties Railway, which wished to amalgamate formally but could not obtain government agreement for this until 1862, when the Great Eastern Railway (GER) was formed by the amalgamation. Thus Norwich Thorpe and Norwich Victoria became GER stations in 1862.[3]

Great Eastern Railway (1862-1922)

With traffic growing it was apparent a new station was required; this was built to the north of the original station in the 1880s and is the structure surviving today. The old terminus then became part of expanded goods facilities.

The new station was built by Messrs Youngs and Son, of Norwich, from designs by Messrs J Wilson and W. N. Ashbee, the company‘s engineer and architect respectively,[4] at the cost of £60,000. It had a circulating area with a high ceiling and the roof was supported by ironwork supplied by contractor Barnard Bishop and Barnard. The roof extended partly down the platforms which were then covered by canopies for part of their length. There were initially five platforms and engine release roads between platforms 2 and 3 and 4 and 5. These allowed the locomotive to be detached from the train without the need for a shunting locomotive (known as a station pilot) having to shunt the carriages out of the station. The attractive station building was built around a central clock tower (the clock was supplied by Dixons and Co of London Street Norwich) with two storey matching wings either side. A portico was built onto the clock-tower section.[5]

London and North Eastern Railway (1923-1947)

On 1 January 1923 the GER amalgamated with several other railways to form the London and North Eastern Railway as a result of the Railways Act 1921 which saw many of the 120 railway companies grouped into four main companies in an effort to stem their losses.[6]

During World War II the station was bombed in June 1940 and April 1942.[7]

British Railways (1948-1994)

The nationalisation of Britain's railways saw the operation of Norwich station pass to British Railways Eastern Region.

Platform 6 was added in 1954 and in 1955 a modern booking hall was built.[8] During the late 1950s steam was phased out from the East Anglian network as diesels took over.

When the station closed briefly for electrification works by the Eastern Region in 1986, Trowse, a disused suburban station, was put back into service as the temporary terminus of the line. It closed again when Norwich re-opened. The signalling was also modernised at this time and the track layout simplified.

The privatisation era (1994-present)

Following privatisation of the railways, Railtrack became responsible for infrastructure maintenance in 1994. Following Railtrack's financial problems Network Rail took over operation of the infrastructure in 2002.

The operation of the line was privatised in 1997 when the franchise was awarded to Anglia Railways, which operated it until April 2004 when National Express East Anglia won the replacement franchise, operating under the brand name 'one' until February 2008. From February 2012 Abellio Greater Anglia took over operating the franchise.

Ticket barriers were installed in January 2009.

Layout

  • Platform 1: Abellio Greater Anglia Intercity services to London Liverpool Street and occasionally for services to Cambridge and East Midlands Trains services to Liverpool Lime Street via Nottingham.
  • Platform 2: Abellio Greater Anglia Intercity services to London Liverpool Street.
  • Platform 3: Abellio Greater Anglia Intercity services to London Liverpool Street and services to Cambridge and East Midlands Trains services to Liverpool Lime Street via Nottingham.
  • Platform 4: Abellio Greater Anglia rural services to Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft and Sheringham. It is also occasionally used at peak times for Intercity services to London Liverpool Street.
  • Platform 5: Abellio Greater Anglia rural services to Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft and Sheringham.
  • Platform 6: Abellio Greater Anglia rural services to Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft and Sheringham.

Services

The following services currently call at Norwich during the off-peak:

Operator Route Rolling stock Typical frequency
East Midlands Trains Liverpool Lime Street - Liverpool South Parkway - Widnes - Warrington Central - Manchester Oxford Road - Manchester Piccadilly - Stockport - Sheffield - Chesterfield - Alfreton - Nottingham - Grantham - Peterborough - Ely - Thetford - Norwich Class 158 1x per hour
Abellio Greater Anglia London Liverpool Street - Colchester - Manningtree - Ipswich - Diss - Norwich Class 90 + Mark 3 Coaching Stock 1x per hour
Abellio Greater Anglia London Liverpool Street - Stratford - Chelmsford - Colchester - Manningtree - Ipswich - Stowmarket - Diss - Norwich Class 90 + Mark 3 Coaching Stock 1x per hour
Abellio Greater Anglia Cambridge - Ely - Brandon - Thetford - Attleborough - Wymondham - Norwich Class 170 1x per hour
Abellio Greater Anglia Norwich - Salhouse - Hoveton & Wroxham - Worstead - North Walsham - Gunton - Roughton Road - Cromer - West Runton - Sheringham Class 153, Class 156, Class 170 1x per hour
Abellio Greater Anglia Norwich - Brundall Gardens - Brundall - Lingwood - Acle - Great Yarmouth Class 153, Class 156, Class 170 1x per hour
Abellio Greater Anglia Norwich - Brundall Gardens - Brundall - Cantley - Reedham - Berney Arms - Great Yarmouth Class 153, Class 156, Class 170 2x per day
Abellio Greater Anglia Norwich - Brundall - Cantley - Reedham - Haddiscoe - Somerleyton - Oulton Broad North - Lowestoft Class 153, Class 156, Class 170 1x per hour

Accidents and incidents

  • On 10 September 1874, the Thorpe rail accident, East Anglia's worst train crash, occurred at Thorpe St Andrew between Norwich Thorpe and Brundall, killing 25 people and injuring 75.
  • On 21 January 1881, two passenger trains collided at Norwich Thorpe junction just beyond Carrow Road Bridge. Both trains had their locomotive and leading carriage derailed. There were, however, no casualties.[9]
  • On 21 July 2013, in the early hours, a passenger train ran into another which was stabled in Norwich's platform 6, injuring eight people. An investigation blamed driver fatigue.[10]

Engine sheds

Norwich engine shed was located to the south and west of the station. This depot closed in 1982 and was replaced by a new facility at Crown Point which in 2015 is responsible for the maintenance of the main line electric fleet and local diesel multiple units.

Miscellanea

Before carriages were lit by electric lighting they were lit by gas. Norwich had an oil gas works and carriages north of a line from Harwich to Cambridge were supplied with oil gas.[11] The gas was distributed to other stations in a dedicated fleet of ten tank wagons. Use of the facility declined in the 1930s although up until the 1950s catering vehicles were still supplied.[12]

Children's author Arthur Ransome set the opening paragraph of Coot Club (1934) at Norwich Thorpe station.[8] It also appears in the 1971 film The Go-Between.[13]

See also

References

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External links

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Abellio Greater Anglia Terminus
Terminus Abellio Greater Anglia
Terminus Abellio Greater Anglia
Terminus Abellio Greater Anglia
Terminus East Midlands Trains
Norwich-Liverpool
Dutchflyer
Norwich-Amsterdam
 Terminus
Historical railways
Anglia Railways Terminus
Great Eastern Railway Terminus
Great Eastern Railway Terminus

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