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This UK city will be transformed by a £252 million mega-project

Plans for Beaulieu Park include building 14,000 new homes and a brand new train station

Annie McNamee
Written by
Annie McNamee
Contributor, Time Out London and UK
Beaulieu Park station near Chelmsford in Essex, England
Image: Network Rail
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It isn’t everyday that we get good news about the state of our railways, so when we do it’s always a cause for celebration. Today, the party is headed to Chelmsford, where a brand new £252 million train station is set to be the first of its kind this century.

The new station, which will be part of a wider regeneration project for the Beaulieu Park estate, could open as early as winter 2025 if all goes to plan. It will be made up of three platforms, and help ease the pressure on the main Chelmsford station. 

It will provide easy access to London, being only a 40 minute journey into Liverpool Street station and, excitingly, it will be the first station built on the Great Eastern mainline in more than a century. 

Surrounding the station there are also plans to build up to 14,000 homes, as well as brand new road infrastructure including a dedicated bus service to and from. In terms of amenities, the terminus will have accessible toilets, baby change facilities, waiting area, space for retail/catering, parking for over 700 cars, and 500 spaces for cycle parking and storage. They really have thought of everything.

Funding was recently secured, so all that’s left now is just to build the thing. Work started last year, so hopefully it all remains on track (ba-dum-tsss) and this time next year we’re nearing completion. You can keep up to date with progress here.

Congrats on your cool new regenerated area Chelmsford. We’re not jealous at all.

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