A new railway station for Chelmsford could be open in two years – but passengers face severe disruption over the Christmas period next year as part of construction works.

With GB Rail Freight having dropped an objection to the development and with Network Change – the planning approval required for Beaulieu Park Railway Station now established – the project is progressing with all permissions in place to develop the station as planned.

Gary MacDonnell, a programme manager for Essex County Council’s highways and infrastructure capital programme, said the constructor is to start on site imminently once an implementation agreement has been signed with Network Rail – initially progressing with site set up.

Construction activity is set to start in March 2023. Mr MacDonnell said construction could be completed by December 2024.

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He added: “If everything goes well and if everything breaks our way we could have that station open in December 2024 but with various caveats an early 2025 date is probably more likely.”

However the project has not had full approval of the elements it needs to construct the station – including importantly a line closure around the work site.

He added: “Essentially we want to do most of the on-site work over the Christmas New Year period 23/24. So anybody traveling on the line at that point in time might be blaming us for rail replacement services. But we haven’t had them confirmed as yet.

“We have requested, and we do need them obviously to keep on the current program. That’s a vital part of getting this complete within the program.

“It would have budget implications if we don’t successfully get them. I’m quite confident that we will but it’s not been confirmed so it remains a risk obviously.”

The transformational rail upgrade at Beaulieu which is being delivered through a share of £218million in funding from the Government’s Housing Infrastructure Fund, together with £34million of other funding from the South-East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP) and the Beaulieu developer, Countryside Zest.

The new Beaulieu railway station which is being designed to support the wider economic development of Chelmsford will comprise of a three-platform station arrangement as well as cycleways, pathways bike storage and car parking.

As part of the new station at Beaulieu, there will be a surface level ‘premium’ car park for 243 cars and disabled parking for 35 spaces. New tracks will enable stopping services to call at Beaulieu Station while allowing fast trains to pass through unimpeded. London will be around 40 minutes away.

Mr MacDonnell told a SELEP meeting last week: “It’s certainly all going ahead with the station. It’s a station that’s required to support the housing developments in Chelmsford as you can see from the Housing Infrastructure Fund grant. But it also does an awful lot for the Great Eastern Main Line.

“There’s a passing loop – it’ll add resilience to that line. It will allow faster freight trains to overtake slower passenger services. Anybody who’s travelled in and around Chelmsford will know that we need to do some more to try and keep traffic out of Chelmsford city centre and this station will certainly help with all of that.”