Audley End railway station serves the village of Wendens Ambo and the market town of Saffron Walden, in Essex, England. It lies on the West Anglia Main Line, down the line from ; it is situated between and . The station is managed by Greater Anglia, which also operates the large majority of services that call here.

History The station was opened in 1845 by the Eastern Counties Railway, which was absorbed into the Great Eastern Railway, and became part of the London and North Eastern Railway during the Grouping of 1923. The station passed on to the Eastern Region of British Railways upon nationalisation in 1948.

From 1865, the station also served as a junction with the branch line to Saffron Walden that began here and extended as far as Bartlow station where it met the Stour Valley Railway. As a cost-cutting measure, diesel railbuses were introduced on the branch line in 1958; despite their success, the line was recommended for closure in the 1963 Beeching Report. It was closed in 1964. There used to be a platform at the eastern end of the station for terminating trains to and from .

The station was served by Network SouthEast when BR sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, until the privatisation of British Rail.

Audley End station's name was changed on signs to Audley End for Saffron Walden in 2012. Sir Alan Haselhurst, MP for Saffron Walden, unveiled the rebranded signs on 25 May.

Services The large majority of services at Audley End are operated by Greater Anglia, using electric multiple units and bi-mode trains.

The typical off-peak service pattern in trains per hour (tph) is: 2 tph to (1 semi-fast, 1 stopping) 1 tph to 2 tph to 1 tph to , via .

During the peak hours, the station is served by an additional 2tph between Liverpool Street and Cambridge/Ely, in addition to a small number of early morning and late evening CrossCountry-operated services between Stansted Airport and .

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External links

Disused Stations website about the Saffron Walden platform The station on a navigable O.S. map