A new £160m station is to be opened in a UK city located just 40 minutes away from London.
Beaulieu Park Station in Chelmsford, Essex, will become the first new station on the Great Eastern Mainline in more than 100 years when it opens in 2026.
Passengers will be able to get to London Liverpool Street in 40 minutes via the station, which will have three platforms, its own car park, a bus interchange and cycle facilities.
It is hoped the new station will reduce traffic congestion in the town, ease pressure on Chelmsford’s central station and reduce car journeys in the city.
The station roof has been fully installed and its signal power supply point has also been completed in what was described as a “critical milestone”, by the area’s Conservative MP Vicky Ford.
She told the BBC: “We are at a critical milestone in delivery of Beaulieu Park Station. The engineering and construction teams are hard at work putting the new station building structure together.
“Work to complete the signal power supply point in central Chelmsford has been completed, elements of the laminated roof structure have been installed.”
Beaulieu Park Station is part of a wider regeneration of the Beaulieu Park estate, with new road infrastructure and up to 14,000 homes.
The development will include three schools, a business park, a surgery, a hotel, and new green spaces.
To pay for the station and accompanying infrastructure, Chelmsford City Council has received £218m from the government’s Housing Infrastructure Fund and £34m of funding from the South-East Local Enterprise Partnership and Beaulieu Park estate developer, Countryside Zest.
The station had been expected to open by 2019, but this was pushed back a number of times due to funding issues.
