March railway station

March
265px
Location
Place	March
Local authority	Fenland
Coordinates
Grid reference	TL418978
Operations
Station code	MCH
Managed by	Abellio Greater Anglia
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	E
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	266,164
2005/06	276,938
2006/07	296,607
2007/08	293,434
2008/09	305,256
2009/10	301,832
2010/11	316,292
2011/12	335,232
2012/13	350,246
2013/14	357,864
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at March from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

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.

The station was once a major railway junction with a confluence of lines radiating from the town. The station has been reduced in importance in recent years with several railway lines being dismantled or mothballed. The important cross-country regional route between Ely and Peterborough still runs through the station and an increasing number of freight trains pass through the town.

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 recently 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 Whitemoor marshalling yard has now been returned to use in 2004 having been disused since the early 1990s.

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" by some) 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. As part of these plans during 2006 the level crossing over the A47 was re-laid, having been removed following one complaint about the rails being loose, so supposedly dangerous, in 2004.

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 & evening peak trains do call.

On Sundays the service frequency is similar, without CrossCountry services to Whittlesea and Manea.

Image gallery

• March Locomotive Depot geograph-2351030-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg

  An ex-Great Eastern J15 0-6-0 in 1946

• March 2 Locomotive Depot geograph-2343463-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg

  March Locomotive Depot in 1951

• March railway station geograph-2344010-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg

  Leeds/Bradford - Yarmouth (Vauxhall) express in 1958

• March 1 68316 1 copy 2.jpg

  The now filled-in bay platforms in January 1968

• Class 37 at March station.jpg

  Class 37 at March station, autumn 1972

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Peterborough		CrossCountry Birmingham-Stansted Airport		Ely
Whittlesea Limited Service				Manea Limited Service
Whittlesea		Abellio Greater Anglia Ely to Peterborough Line		Manea
Peterborough		East Midlands Trains Liverpool-Norwich Limited Service		Ely
Whittlesea Limited Service
	Proposed Heritage railways
Terminus		Wisbech and March Bramleyline		March Elm Road
	Historical railways
Eastrea Line open, station closed		Great Eastern Railway Peterborough to Ely		Stonea Line open, station closed
	Disused railways
Terminus		Great Eastern Railway March to King's Lynn		Coldham Line and station closed
Guyhirne Line and station closed		Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway Doncaster to March		Terminus
Terminus		Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway March to St Ives		Wimblington Line and station closed

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons

• Friends Of March Railway Station