Chelmsford railway station is on the Great Eastern Main Line in the East of England, serving the city of Chelmsford, Essex. It is 29 miles 60 chains (47.9 km) down-line from London Liverpool Street and is situated between Ingatestone to the west and Hatfield Peverel and to the east. Its three-letter station code is CHM.
The station was opened in 1842. It is currently operated by Abellio Greater Anglia, which also runs all trains serving the station. Trains at Chelmsford run to a number of destinations including Liverpool Street in the London-bound direction, and Braintree, Clacton-on-Sea, Colchester, Harwich Town, Ipswich, Norwich and Witham in the eastbound direction.
The Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) arrived in Chelmsford in 1842 but due to the geography of the town an 18-arch viaduct had to be built across what is now the town park. The first Chelmsford station was built slightly to the north of the current station. A three-storey building on today's site was constructed in 1885 by the Great Eastern Railway (GER), into which the ECR had been merged. The present station building dates from a rebuild in 1985. Since the railway is elevated on a viaduct the platforms are above street-level.
On 2 March 1907 there was a collision between an up passenger express and a wagon left on the running line during shunting operations. There were no injuries and although the wagon was destroyed the locomotive stayed on the tracks suffering minor damage.
In 1923 the London & North Eastern Railway took over operation of Chelmsford station.
Following the nationalization of the railways in 1948 Chelmsford became the responsibility of British Railways Eastern Region.
There were originally three lines through the station: two platform lines and an avoiding line between them. An unusual signal box (being some five storeys high at the rear) on the London-bound platform controlled the station including, at the eastern end, a set of sidings that served the goods yard and Hoffman ball bearing factory. The signal box ceased to be used in 1994 but the structure has remained in situ since. The avoiding line has been removed and the sidings were reduced to serve only a mail sorting office and building materials yard. The mail platform has been out of use for many years but the sidings saw some intermittent use until 2014 when they were closed for relaying. Lines to the north of the station are used by limited early-morning services that start from Chelmsford running to London and limited late-evening trains from London that terminate at Chelmsford.