Rayleigh railway station

Not to be confused with Raleigh station or Raleigh railway station, New South Wales.

Rayleigh (RLG)
Rayleigh station in 2006
General information
Location	Rayleigh, District of Rochford, England
Coordinates	51.589°N 0.601°E / 51.589; 0.601
Grid reference	TQ802910
Manager	Greater Anglia
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	RLG
Classification	DfT category C2
History
Opened	1 October 1889
Passengers
2020/21	0.352 million
2021/22	1.028 million
2022/23	1.332 million
2023/24	1.504 million
2024/25	1.553 million
Location
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Rayleigh railway station is on the Shenfield to Southend Line in the East of England, serving the town of Rayleigh, in Essex. It lies 33 miles 9 chains (53.29 km) down the line from London Liverpool Street, and is situated between Wickford to the west and Hockley to the east. It is managed by Greater Anglia, who operate all services.

History

The line from Wickford to Southend, including Rayleigh station was opened on 1 October 1889, by the Great Eastern Railway. There was a goods yard to the west of the station, on the 'up' (London-bound) side, including a goods shed and cattle pens. There was a signal box on the 'down' platform, which was closed in 1938 with the introduction of colour light signalling. Overhead electrification of the Shenfield–Southend line at 1.5 kV DC was completed on 31 December 1956; that was changed to 6.25 kV AC in November 1960 and to 25 kV AC in January 1979.

To the west of the station, there was a private halt called Bridge 774, which was used from May 1922 to April 1925 during construction work on the Southend Arterial Road. To the east, there was a siding called Downhall, associated with a brickworks which had been decommissioned by 1968.

Facilities

It is a small station with a ticket office, although access to the platforms is available when it is closed through a gate to the left of the building. Outside the station, there is a taxi rank, a car park, bus stops and a newsagent.

Passenger volume

Passenger volume at Rayleigh

	2004–05	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10	2010–11	2011–12	2012–13	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23	2023–24	2024–25
Entries and exits	1,903,443	1,649,475	924,509	930,096	952,914	877,142	920,500	935,328	978,788	1,035,008	1,864,064	1,949,600	1,819,832	1,310,666	1,832,722	1,660,412	352,356	1,027,610	1,332,392	1,504,388	1,552,860

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Service

Greater Anglia operates all trains serving the station.

The typical weekday off-peak service is three trains per hour in each direction between Southend Victoria and London Liverpool Street; services join the Great Eastern Main Line at Shenfield. At peak times, service frequencies are increased and calling patterns more varied.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Wickford		Greater Anglia Shenfield–Southend line		Hockley

Community rail

The station, as with all other stations on the line, is a part of the Essex & Sourh Suffolk Community Rail Partnership.

External links

• Train times and station information for Rayleigh railway station from National Rail