Harwich International railway station

The station has two entrances. One is located on the ground floor of the passenger terminal building which houses a ticket machine, and provides step free direct access to platform 1 and indirect access to platforms 2 and 3 via a footbridge. The second entrance is from a car-park via the footbridge, with step free access being provided by a lift which is in service until the evening ferry sailing to Hook of Holland has departed. The platforms can also be accessed via a level crossing at the eastern end of the platforms.

Generally platform 1 is used as the terminus of Dutchflyer trains towards London. Platform 2 is bi-directional and is served by local Mayflower Line services between Manningtree and Harwich Town, while platform 3 is used by services for Lowestoft, Norwich and Cambridge. The platforms have an operational length for thirteen-coach trains.[2]

Early postcard of the platform

The port and station owe their origins to the Great Eastern Railway (GER) which opened them on a new track alignment built over reclaimed land in 1883 and named them after its chairman, Charles Henry Parkes. The original combined station building and hotel is still in existence although the hotel is now converted for office use and is part of the port terminal.[3]

Prior to the station's re-development, and its revised layout, it consisted of two through-platforms serving the then double-track line to Harwich Town. This was supplemented by a bay platform at the eastern end of the main platform (the present-day platform 1) which handled Harwich to Parkeston local services, which in the days of steam generally consisted of a J15 and later N2 or N7 tank engines and up to four carriages.[4] This service was timed to suit shift times both on the quay and in adjoining offices, the majority of workers being railway employees. The bay also had a loop allowing the running round of the locomotive. The main platform was and still is of sufficient length to accommodate a boat train of 10 or 11 coaches. The "up" (westbound) through-platform was shorter but this did not prevent it being used by the North Country boat train in the morning, which consisted of 11 or 12 carriages and would overhang the end of the platform considerably, but in those days there was no level crossing at the eastern end of the station.

The Manningtree to Harwich local service used the last one-third of the main platform using a third central access line, which joined the platform at that point allowing a ticket barrier to be used for that part of the platform exclusively.[5] This arrangement allowed a five- or six-coach train to sit at the western end of that platform without the need for any shifting, whereas a full boat train would have to move temporarily towards the west to allow the local train access.

During the peak years of foot passenger movements through the quay, before the introduction of the roll-on/roll-off ferries and the rationalisation of the ferry services that followed, another station operated at the western end of Parkeston Quay, known as Parkeston Quay West. It consisted of a single platform[6] and was capable of handling a 10- or 11-coach boat train. It serviced the day service to the Hoek van Holland Haven (Hook of Holland Harbour) and was also used by troop trains during the period when trooping was still a major operation through the port. Its position afforded exactly the same close proximity to the ferry as the main station.

Parkeston Quay was the base port for three troop ships serving the British Army of the Rhine operation in Germany via the Hook of Holland. The vessels employed were the Vienna, Empire Parkeston and Empire Wansbeck.

The extensive marshalling yard to the west of the main station provided stabling for the carriage sets which were used on the boat trains and local services, the large numbers of lorries used for servicing Parkeston Quay, and the huge throughput of export and import wagons which were shipped over the train ferry service from Harwich Town. Cargoes were assembled at Parkeston and brought to Harwich for a specific sailing, as there was no long-term storage capacity at the ferry terminal. Import wagons were subject to customs clearance at Parkeston and delays could at times be considerable on individual wagons, cargoes having arrived from various European origins.

The type of unit passing through the marshalling yard changed towards the end of the century as container or freightliner flats and car flats replaced ferry wagons. The boat trains also declined as passenger trends changed and today there are no dedicated boat trains except for specials servicing cruise vessels.

Harwich Parkeston Quay in 1982

Boat trains commenced running to Harwich Parkeston Quay in 1882 and were timed 1 hour 45 minutes from London Liverpool Street. By 1895 this was down to 1 hour 30 minutes. In 1897 the 8:30 pm train was run as two separate trains - 8:30 pm for the Hook of Holland Harbour and 8:35 pm for Antwerp. With the introduction of corridor restaurant cars in 1904, the time was eased to 1 hour 27 minutes, but the introduction of the large Great Eastern 1500 class 4-6-0 engines in 1912 saw a running time of 1 hour 22 minutes.[11]

As well as through-boat train services to Liverpool Street and local services to Manningtree and Ipswich the most interesting working was the North Country Continental boat train which operated between Parkeston Quay and various destinations in the north and Midlands. Prior to 1923 the train consisted of various carriages which were detached en route with the main portion going to York.

This train included the first restaurant car on the Great Eastern line (in 1891) and this was also the first service in the country to allow third-class passengers to dine. A new train set was built for this service in 1906 and generally operated in the following formation:

ENGINE+THIRD CLASS BRAKE+CORRIDOR THIRD+OPEN THIRD+KITCHEN AND OPEN FIRST+SEMI-OPEN FIRST+SIX WHEEL BRAKE (this constituted the York section). Then followed various corridor composite brakes followed each detached from the rear of the northbound train en route. These were for LIVERPOOL (detached Doncaster on the outward journey)+ LIVERPOOL + MANCHESTER (detached at Lincoln and routed via the Great Central routes) + BIRMINGHAM (via Midland Railway routes) + BIRMINGHAM (via London and North Western routes)(both of which were detached at March).[12]

As of December 2019 the typical daily service on the line is one train per hour in each direction, although some additional services run at weekday peak times. Trains operate between Harwich Town and Manningtree calling at all stations, although some are extended to or from Colchester and/or London Liverpool Street. There are two trains per day which run direct to Ipswich, which utilise the curve avoiding the station at Manningtree. These are operated by bi-mode multiple units (0750 to Cambridge and 2147 to Lowestoft) as the lines to Cambridge via Bury St Edmunds and Lowestoft are not electrified.[13]

Additionally, there is the Stena Line integrated ticketing service Dutchflyer with Greater Anglia operating trains from Cambridge, Norwich and London to Harwich International and Stena Line providing the ferry onwards to Hook of Holland Harbour.[14]