It’s now looking as though the completion of the Thurrock Council sponsored re-building of the railway station at Stanford-le-Hope will be pushed beyond what was the expected deadline of the end of 2023. Why this is the case is explained in this piece from Thurrock Nub News: More delays for Stanford rail station project but demolition of adjacent site is nearly complete. Rather than us paraphrasing it and losing the will to live in the process, we recommend that you read the Thurrock Nub News article.

The ticket hall on the up platform and the sheltered gateline on the down platform were demolished in February 2019. That’s almost three years ago. Since then, staff and passengers have had to use a temporary ticket office on the other side of a busy main road from the station! It now looks as though we won’t be getting a replacement station until the early part 0f 2024 – if we’re lucky… That will be five years that staff and passengers have had to tolerate operating in and using sub standard facilities. This is the last post we wrote about this debacle: Still waiting for answers and a new railway station at Stanford-le-Hope:( – October 1, 2021.

Yet again, we ask these two STILL unanswered questions:

Why the f**k was the main station building demolished without properly worked out plans for a replacement?

When are the c2c staff who work at the station and the passengers using it going to get a full apology for this debacle?

The fact that Thurrock Council have yet to answer the above questions and offer an apology speaks volumes. It’s a classic example of their tenuous relationship with the concepts of transparency and accountability. Also, it’s yet another classic example of their arrogance combined with some pretty spectacular ineptitude. How much longer can this be allowed to go on?