Place Syston Station code SYS DfT category F1 Number of platforms 1 | Grid reference SK621111 Managed by East Midlands Trains 2011/12 0.187 million | |
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Address Leicester LE7 1NT, United Kingdom Similar Manton railway station, Swannington railway station, Coalville Town railway st, Saxby railway station, Essendine railway station | ||
Syston railway station (/ˈsaɪstən/ SY-stən) is a railway station serving the town of Syston in Leicestershire, England. The station is on the Midland Main Line from Leicester to Loughborough, 103¾ miles from London St Pancras.
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For journeys beginning at Syston, the full range of tickets for travel for any destination in the country may be purchased from the guard on the train at no extra cost. It is a penalty fare station however, so a permit to travel must be bought from the machine installed on the platform before joining the train.
Early history
The station was opened on 5 May 1840 as a minor intermediate station on the Midland Counties Railway line from Leicester to Nottingham and Derby. Shortly afterwards, the Midland Counties merged with the North Midland Railway and the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway to form the Midland Railway.
Syston became a junction station on 1 September 1846 with the opening of the Syston and Peterborough Railway to Melton Mowbray, which was extended in 1848 to Peterborough. The north to east curve was opened in 1854.
A replacement station was opened in 1874 when the Midland Main Line was increased from two to four tracks.
Closure
The station closed on 4 March 1968. The station building, having been hidden by fencing for many years, was later dismantled and rebuilt at Midland Railway - Butterley with the help of David Wilson Homes, who erected a housing estate over the old station land in 2006.
Reopening
The station reopened on 27 May 1994 as part of phase one of the Ivanhoe Line. It is served hourly in both directions by East Midlands Trains local services, running between Leicester and Lincoln via Loughborough, Nottingham and Newark. There is no Sunday service. Express trains do not stop at Syston, as the single platform is on the bidirectional Leicester to Syston slow line. No Peterborough line trains call at the station, although it is possible for them to do so.
The station is sometimes used by photographers and train spotters, especially when steam specials are expected. The fast lines are those at the left of the picture. The platform line is on the bidirectional slow line.
Network Rail adopted a Route Utilisation Strategy for freight in 2007 which will create a new cross country freight route from Peterborough (East Coast Main Line) to Nuneaton (West Coast Main Line). One of the next stages (around 2013) will create additional lines through Leicester during a re-signalling scheme, during this time Syston station will be rebuilt.
Services
Services are formed using diesel multiple units of class 153, 156 or 158