Beaulieu Park Station Construction

[dk1]

Cambridge South is the polar opposite of Cambridge North!

Very much so and always the plan.

 

[Cambus731]

Obviously some will say that this isn’t relevant and with maybe with some justification, but had this station opened under the British Rail sectorisation era, then almost certainly the fares to London and beyond would have been the same as Chelmsford. Under the National Fares Manual system Chelmsford was a fully priced station while Hatfield Peverel was a satellite station of Witham. Chelmsford was very unusual for a fully priced station in that it had no satellites as Ingatestone was a satellite of Shenfield. I suspect that had BP opened during this era it would have been a pricing satellite of Chelmsford so fares to London and beyond would have been the same as Chelmsford.
i am still personally of the opinion of it would make commercial sense to charge the same to London and beyond as it is from Chelmsford otherwise it will be a disincentive to use the new station

 

[Canary73]

The bus services need to be better though. The loadings boarding at Chelmsford in the am and Stratford in the pm (not helped by 20 min gaps in evening) are the busiest its been for some time including Mondays and Fridays. Better pricing and transport options are needed if people are to use it.

 

[THC]

The bus services need to be better though. The loadings boarding at Chelmsford in the am and Stratford in the pm (not helped by 20 min gaps in evening) are the busiest its been for some time including Mondays and Fridays. Better pricing and transport options are needed if people are to use it.

I was at Beaulieu Park twice yesterday, once to start a walk out to Heybridge Basin, the other on a 73 service passing through the bus station en route to Chelmsford. Two buses waiting, not a single soul to board either time.

THC

 

[GraphitProjekt]

The 73 is probably quite unhelpful being infrequent and connects the station to places that are better connected to Chelmsford. Or on the other side Hatfield Peveral.

Maybe everyone's getting on the C11 since it's more frequent? Otherwise this station is generating new car journeys which is perhaps troubling.

It's still early days, and by that i mean we might have to wait a few years for the various organisations behind bus services to get their act together and utilise the place properly

 

[Cambus731]

generating car journeys to a railway station is probably a double edged sword. It’s good if it’s diverting cars away from Chelmsford city centre and it’s good if it’s prople parking at the station to do journeys by train that otherwise would be made by road.
on the other hand it may not be good if it’s generating journeys by car from Braintree due to the infrequent and less reliable service from Braintree into London. But unless the service from Braintree could be improved by whatever means, that is probably inevitable. The presence of the station next to the usually fairly free flowing A131 may encourage people from places such as Great Leighs, Terling and Little Waltham to use the station rather than drive to London so that is probaby a good thing. As I said before, I’m of the view that parking fees should be cheaper, as at present they, along with the fares to London being higher than from Chelmsford to London are maybe acting as a disincentive.
Regarding bus services, apart from the 73/73A/73B, all the other routes in the area are generally operated commercially by First Essex, so there is very little that the council or the railway can do about that.
First have, at their own risk, extended three city services to the new station, but I can see why they may be reluctant to divert the inter-urban 71 group to serve it. As it would add time onto the journey, therefore making it less attractive to the passengers on the routes who use them to travel into Chelmsford city centre. Plus presumably adding time onto the end to end timings of the lengthy 71 group would have knock on effects as it would also certainly mean having to use additional vehicles and drivers.

 

[Canary73]

The publicity suggested they wanted Chelmer Village residents to use the station alongside those from Beaulieu Park and North Springfield. The problem is that the 71/371 etc and 47 are the only routes that serve Chelmer Village apart from one 73B service in the morning peak and these are towards Chelmsford. Going towards Beaulieu Park, the 47 (which is a slow circuitous route and infrequent) doesn't reach the station whilst the 71/371 go past it thus meaning we have no direct buses despite it being marginally closer. Then there is the lack of walking and cycling routes. The 73 will connect people from Hatfield Peveral, Nounsley and other places towards Maldon but again this is only two hourly. Getting to the C8/C11 are longish walks and with the cost being more to travel from Beaulieu Park than Chelmsford (despite it being nearer) there is a lack of joined up thinking despite what people think. I don't see adding the additional stop at Beaulieu being problematic for the 71/371 as it can often be impacted by incidents on the A12 or traffic heading to and from Chelmsford. Giving people better connections is more advantageous than a couple of minutes on the timetable and the 73 was retimed in any event.

 

[Cambus731]

I’d forgotten about the 47. You have raised a good point there. That is also a route run under contract to the council. It is infrequent which doesn’t help, especially as it seems almost random as to which journeys do the entire route and which ones don’t. I could see there being a case made for the 47 to be diverted to call at Beaulieu Park. Especially if it were to be made half hourly, maybe with smaller buses, such as the Mercedes Sprinter. At the moment the timetable for the 47 is a bit of a mess. if the entire route were to be run half hourly during the day, it could be a useful link, especially between BP and Broomfield Hospital.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 23 Nov 2025 ==

The publicity suggested they wanted Chelmer Village residents to use the station alongside those from Beaulieu Park and North Springfield. The problem is that the 71/371 etc and 47 are the only routes that serve Chelmer Village apart from one 73B service in the morning peak and these are towards Chelmsford. Going towards Beaulieu Park, the 47 (which is a slow circuitous route and infrequent) doesn't reach the station whilst the 71/371 go past it thus meaning we have no direct buses despite it being marginally closer. Then there is the lack of walking and cycling routes. The 73 will connect people from Hatfield Peveral, Nounsley and other places towards Maldon but again this is only two hourly. Getting to the C8/C11 are longish walks and with the cost being more to travel from Beaulieu Park than Chelmsford (despite it being nearer) there is a lack of joined up thinking despite what people think. I don't see adding the additional stop at Beaulieu being problematic for the 71/371 as it can often be impacted by incidents on the A12 or traffic heading to and from Chelmsford. Giving people better connections is more advantageous than a couple of minutes on the timetable and the 73 was retimed in any event.

Again maybe a case could be made for making the 73 hourly using smaller buses. Infrequency is a big deterrent to people using buses.

 

[jonb]

I caught the 10:12 from Colchester to Stratford on Saturday (a 5-car formation), it was pleasing to see quite a few customers boarding at Beaulieu Park. Perhaps the leisure market is doing better than the commuters, who likely won’t switch until Season tickets come up for renewal next year.

 

[Canary73]

I use the 47 to commute to and from Canary Wharf and there are two buses ay 0630 then 0713 then the next one is after 0900. On the way home its 1610, 1740 and 1905 and that's it. The last 47 into Chelmsford is 1730. It never does the same journey as it goes either to Oaklands Park or Chelmsford and is unreliable. I think they'd struggle to add a Beaulieu Park station call to what is already a long route. If they put on a 30 min frequency (15 during the peaks) shuttle between Beaulieu Park and Chelmsford stations via Beaulieu, Chelmer Village with a Beeleigh Link loop then straight down the Army & Navy to the station then more people would use it. There aren't early enough journeys in the morning to get to Beaulieu to get a peak time train. Often if I need to leave before 0600 there are no buses.

 

[jonb]

I use the 47 to commute to and from Canary Wharf and there are two buses ay 0630 then 0713 then the next one is after 0900. On the way home its 1610, 1740 and 1905 and that's it. The last 47 into Chelmsford is 1730. It never does the same journey as it goes either to Oaklands Park or Chelmsford and is unreliable. I think they'd struggle to add a Beaulieu Park station call to what is already a long route. If they put on a 30 min frequency (15 during the peaks) shuttle between Beaulieu Park and Chelmsford stations via Beaulieu, Chelmer Village with a Beeleigh Link loop then straight down the Army & Navy to the station then more people would use it. There aren't early enough journeys in the morning to get to Beaulieu to get a peak time train. Often if I need to leave before 0600 there are no buses.

When I used to live in Chelmsford, the 47 went past the top of our road. The few times I did happen to use to, it was always late or didn’t turn up so I’d end up walking to the station. Certainly not a good candidate to attract people to the station!

 

[GraphitProjekt]

generating car journeys to a railway station is probably a double edged sword. It’s good if it’s diverting cars away from Chelmsford city centre and it’s good if it’s prople parking at the station to do journeys by train that otherwise would be made by road.

yeah that's true, any full car to full or even partial train journey is a win. However, my mum specifically swapped getting the C1 to Chelmsford station for driving to Beulieu Park for work commuting, the parking is plentiful and the traffic isn't too bad in those directions. She's just one anecdote of course, but there is no bus route that would support her journey from the Broomfield area (unlike going to CHM)

 

[Cambus731]

yeah that's true, any full car to full or even partial train journey is a win. However, my mum specifically swapped getting the C1 to Chelmsford station for driving to Beulieu Park for work commuting, the parking is plentiful and the traffic isn't too bad in those directions. She's just one anecdote of course, but there is no bus route that would support her journey from the Broomfield area (unlike going to CHM)

This underlines my view that the 47 could be a useful route between Bealieu Park and Broomfield if it was more reliable. And possibly more frequent using smaller buses

 

[THC]

The point @Cambus731 makes about railheading for Great Leighs etc. residents is key, and not only from the A131 corridor. There are several new estates springing up around Maldon, Heybridge and on the A414 that Beaulieu Park make commutable. The bus station will come into its own when NE Chelmsford is built out, and that won't be for a while yet - 2041 I think.

For me, the missing piece of kit at Beaulieu Park is the walking/cycling bridge over to Boreham, to tie that village into the new station, but that won't be funded until there are houses going in on the fields in between. And that is firmly in the realm of speculation, so I shall stop there.

THC

[Pic: 720 104 at Beaulieu Park on the 0912 to Colchester Town yesterday morning]

 

[blueberry11]

And now appears on Wikipedia's home page, under the did you know section:

Did you know [...] that Beaulieu Park is the first new station on the Great Eastern Main Line in more than 100 years?

I'm guessing its because the station just opened.

 

[Magdalia]

Planning permission has been granted for 2750 new homes at 3 sites near to Beaulieu Park.

Nearly 3,000 Chelmsford Community Garden homes approved

Chelmsford City Council agrees to plans of 2,750 homes being built.

www.bbc.co.uk

Nearly 3,000 homes are to be built on the edge of an Essex city after councillors gave the plans the green light.

Chelmsford City Council's planning committee approved plans for 2,750 homes split across various sites at Pratts Farm Lane, Little Waltham, and Beaulieu Parkway.

The homes form part of the Chelmsford Garden Community, a 25-year project to create four connected 'villages' which includes around 6,250 homes.