Harold Wood railway station

Harold Wood
Station entrance seen in May 2022
Harold Wood Location of Harold Wood in Greater London
Location	Harold Wood
Local authority	London Borough of Havering
Managed by	Elizabeth line
Owner	Network Rail
Station code(s)	HRO
DfT category	C2
Number of platforms	4
Accessible	Yes[1]
Fare zone	6
National Rail annual entry and exit
2019–20	3.064 million[2]
2020–21	0.964 million[2]
2021–22	1.998 million[2]
2022–23	3.269 million[2]
2023–24	4.224 million[2]
Key dates
1 December 1868	Opened
Other information
External links	Departures Facilities
Coordinates	51°35′34″N 0°14′03″E / 51.5928°N 0.2343°E / 51.5928; 0.2343
London transport portal

Harold Wood railway station is on the Great Eastern Main Line in east London, serving Harold Wood in the London Borough of Havering. It is 14 miles 76 chains (24.1 km) down the line from London Liverpool Street and is situated between Gidea Park and Brentwood. Its three-letter station code is HRO and it is in Travelcard zone 6.

The station is currently managed and served by the Elizabeth line.

Harold Wood station was opened on 1 December 1868 by the Great Eastern Railway in the north of the parish of Hornchurch.^[3] It was located on its main line from Bishopsgate in London to the east of England and consisted of two staggered platforms of wooden construction, the down platform accessed from Station Road and the up platform from Oak Road. Goods facilities consisted of two sidings on the north side of the line opposite the up platform, and there was also a long siding serving a brickworks. A signal box was provided at the up end of the down platform controlling the signals, access to the goods facilities, and a trailing crossover.^[4]

Two additional tracks were built to the north of the original lines in 1934 under London and North Eastern Railway ownership. The original tracks are normally used today by express services which do not call at Harold Wood. At this time the current station building was constructed on the overbridge at Gubbins Lane, and new platforms of precast concrete construction located slightly further east nearer to the new station building. The signal box was removed as part of these works, with control of the new colour light signals shared between Gidea Park and Brentwood.^[4]

All services at Harold Wood are operated by the Elizabeth line using Class 345 EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:^[5][6]

• 8 tph to London Paddington of which 2 continue to Heathrow Terminal 5
• 8 tph to Shenfield

On Sundays, the service is reduced to 4 tph in each direction between Shenfield and London Paddington with 2 tph continuing to run to and from Heathrow Terminal 5.

Preceding station		Elizabeth line		Following station
Gidea Park towards Heathrow Terminal 5		Elizabeth line		Brentwood towards Shenfield

London Buses routes 256, 294, 346, 347 and 496 serve the station.^[7]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Harold Wood railway station.

• Train times and station information for Harold Wood railway station from National Rail
• Excel file displaying National Rail station usage information for 2005/06 Archived 22 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine