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Seaside train station will shut for over a month as new platform rolls in
Sheringham Railway Station will be closed for more than a month as a new platform is built there to accommodate the new bi-mode trains. Picture: MARK BULLIMORE
Sheringham Railway Station will shut for over a month so a new platform can be installed.
One of Greater Anglias new bi-mode trains. Picture: Greater Anglia - Credit: Greater Anglia
Greater Anglia is closing the station from Sunday 31 March to Sunday 5 May for the £1m+ project, which will see a new 80 metre platform put in to accommodate the next generation of trains, which are arriving this year.
The new platform will be twice the length of the current 40-metre structure, allowing the longer, three or four-carriage 'bi-mode' trains to fit in there.
During that closure, Bittern Line services from Norwich to Sheringham will terminate at Cromer. Passengers travelling to and from West Runton and Sheringham will be able to continue their journey by rail replacement bus.
Andrew Goodrum, the train firm's business readiness director, said: 'We apologise to customers affected by the upgrade works, but by completing them by early May, the new station will be ready ahead of the new trains' entry into service and the busy summer season.
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'People may already have spotted our new trains around the network, as we have been carrying out safety and performance tests day and night, as part of our preparations for bring them into service.'
MORE: Greater Anglia's new trains on test across the regionGreater Anglia said the new platform would also be wider, with improved lighting and a new shelter.
Andrew Munden, general manager of the North Norfolk Railway, which runs heritage steam and diesel trains between Sheringham and Holt, said their service would not be affected by the closure.
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Mr Munden said despite the disruption the work would cause to passengers and Sheringham's traders over the Easter period, the new platform would benefit the town.
He said: 'The platform we've got now we were saddled with in 1967 and it was only meant to be temporary.'
The new trains are 'bi-mode' because they can switch between electric and diesel power.
They are made by Swiss company Stadler and have already been running between Norwich and Great Yarmouth and Norwich and Diss.
Greater Anglia said passenger numbers on the Bittern Line had grown from 200,000 in the mid-1990s to more than 680,000 in 2017/18 – an increase of 290pc.
