Station code MCH DfT category E Number of platforms 2 | Grid reference TL418978 Managed by Abellio Greater Anglia 2011/12 335,232 | |
Similar Whittlesea railway station, Ely railway station, Manea railway station, Wisbech East railway st, Peterborough East railway st | ||
March railway station including heritage convoy
March railway station serves the town of March in Cambridgeshire, England. The station is 14 miles (23 km) east of Peterborough on the Ely to Peterborough Line.
Contents
- March railway station including heritage convoy
- Br standard class 7 no 70000 britannia at march railway station on 11th september 2012
- Spalding St Ives and Wisbech branches
- Service
- References
The station, which was opened in 1847, was once a major railway junction with a number of lines radiating from the town. The station has been reduced in importance in recent years with several lines being dismantled or mothballed. The cross-country regional route between Ely and Peterborough still runs through the station and an increasing number of freight trains pass through.
The station originally had seven platforms. However, two of these are now filled-in bay platforms and the track has been removed from a further west-facing bay on the southern side of the station. There are now just two operational platforms, although track has been re-laid on two disused platforms on the northern side of the station and it is anticipated that these may be used should proposals to reopen the line to Wisbech come to fruition. The nearby Whitemoor marshalling yard returned to use in 2004 having been disused since the early 1990s.
Br standard class 7 no 70000 britannia at march railway station on 11th september 2012
Spalding, St Ives and Wisbech branches
March was once a junction for lines to Spalding (opened in 1867 by the Great Northern Railway and subsequently vested jointly with the Great Eastern Railway in 1879), St Ives and Watlington via Wisbech. The Spalding line was closed by British Rail in November 1982 and was completely lifted a few years later. The St Ives branch (opened in 1848) was closed completely in March 1967 as a result of the Beeching Axe, whilst the Wisbech line (known as the Bramley Line) closed to all traffic in 2000 having lost its regular passenger services (through to Kings Lynn) in September 1968. The trackwork however remains intact and there are plans to reopen the line as a heritage line run and maintained by enthusiasts.
Service
On weekdays, Abellio Greater Anglia operate a two hourly service eastbound to Ipswich and westbound to Peterborough. CrossCountry operate an hourly service eastbound to Cambridge and Stansted Airport, westbound services serve Peterborough, Leicester and Birmingham New Street. The hourly East Midland Trains service between Norwich and Liverpool Lime Street via Peterborough, Nottingham and Manchester Piccadilly normally runs through without stopping, though a few morning and evening peak trains do call.
On Sundays the service frequency is similar, without CrossCountry services to Whittlesea and Manea.