Hythe railway station is on the Sunshine Coast Line and serves the eastern areas of Colchester

Colchester

Colchester is an historic town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001, it had a population of 104,390. However, the population is rapidly increasing, and has been named as one of Britain's fastest growing towns. As the...

 in Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. To the west of the station there is a triangle of lines with three junctions. The two lines lead to Colchester Town

Colchester Town railway station

Colchester Town railway station serves the town centre of Colchester in Essex, England. It is located on the Colchester to Clacton line and is one of only a small number of drive in/reverse out stations on the British network. It was formerly known as St Botolph's...

 and Colchester

Colchester railway station

Colchester or Colchester North is the main railway station for Colchester in Essex, England. It is on the former Great Eastern Railway main line from London Liverpool Street to Norwich and is a junction for the line to Walton-on-the-Naze and Clacton-on-Sea, which diverges southwards from the main...

. The three junctions are known as Hythe Junction, East Gates Junction (at the northern extremity of the triangle), and Colne Junction (at the western extremity). East Gates Junction has a busy level crossing

Level crossing

A level crossing occurs where a railway line is intersected by a road or path onone level, without recourse to a bridge or tunnel. It is a type of at-grade intersection. The term also applies when a light rail line with separate right-of-way or reserved track crosses a road in the same fashion...

 over a major road into the town of Colchester.

Station

There are still sidings present at Hythe, although these are not in use, and there was once a short branch to Hythe quay which crossed the River Colne adjacent to the station by a small girder bridge, which is still in situ. There is no evidence today of the former quayside tracks, although aerial photo sites clearly show the exact alignments.

There was also a spur from the railway station to Colchester Gas Works, which ran along the street to Hythe Quay. This became redundant in 1973, when the UK switched from town gas to natural gas. Little trace now remains of this, apart from a small section of trackbed at Hythe, and the piers of a bridge (removed c2007), over the River Colne.

Hythe underwent major rebuilding in 2008 and 2009, which included extension of the platforms to accommodate 12-car train sets, and demolition of the original station building, plus dismantling of the disused coal depot. As part of this work the north side siding was removed, and the pointwork and a short section of track leading to the south side sidings was also removed. The station building remained until its demolition in June 2009 but had not been used for many years, having been targeted by vandals and graffiti artists.

The station has a bright new image and clean modern facilities incorporating a PERTIS (permit-to-travel) ticket machine on northbound platform 1.

The station now also accommodates trains direct through to/from London Liverpool St during peak times with no need to change at Colchester main station through which the new longer trains travel.

The station now benefits from new parking facilities owned and operated by Essex County Parking Ltd under license from Network Rail. The new facilities offer secure short and long-term parking for commuters and the wider public and are adjacent to the London-bound platform with easy access to the station. Short and long-term parking options are available via onsite, online or pay-by-phone payment options. Other facilities include a café and carwash.

Train Services

The following services currently call at Hythe:

Operator	Route	Material	Frequency	Notes
NXEA	Colchester Colchester railway station Colchester or Colchester North is the main railway station for Colchester in Essex, England. It is on the former Great Eastern Railway main line from London Liverpool Street to Norwich and is a junction for the line to Walton-on-the-Naze and Clacton-on-Sea, which diverges southwards from the main...  - Colchester Town Colchester Town railway station Colchester Town railway station serves the town centre of Colchester in Essex, England. It is located on the Colchester to Clacton line and is one of only a small number of drive in/reverse out stations on the British network. It was formerly known as St Botolph's...  - Hythe - Wivenhoe Wivenhoe railway station Wivenhoe railway station is on the Tendring Hundred Railway and serves the small town of Wivenhoe in Essex, England. It is operated by National Express East Anglia. The station has two platforms and a footbridge, and a manned ticket office and waiting room...  - Alresford - Great Bentley Great Bentley railway station Great Bentley railway station is a staffed railway station serving Great Bentley in Essex, England. The station is located north east of London Liverpool Street on the Sunshine Coast Line, a branch of the Great Eastern Main Line. The station is located at street level on Station Road in the...  - Weeley Weeley railway station Weeley railway station serves the village of Weeley in Essex, England. It is located on the Sunshine Coast Line, a railway operated by National Express East Anglia that links Colchester to Clacton-on-Sea....  - Thorpe-le-Soken Thorpe-le-Soken railway station Thorpe-le-Soken railway station serves the village of Thorpe-le-Soken in Essex, England. The station is 1 mile from the village centre.- History :...  - Kirby Cross Kirby Cross railway station Kirby Cross railway station serves the village of Kirby Cross in Essex, England.It was opened on 27 July 1866 as part of the Tendring Hundred line which was to link Colchester with Walton-on-the-Naze....  - Frinton-on-Sea - Walton-on-the-Naze	Class 321 British Rail Class 321 The British Rail Class 321 alternating current electric multiple units were built by BREL York in three batches from 1988-91. The design was successful and led to the development of the similar Class 320 and Class 322 units for use by Strathclyde PTE and Stansted Express respectively...	1x per hour	Not Sundays