Harling Road  | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||
| General information | |||||
| Location | East Harling,Breckland England | ||||
| Grid reference | TL978879 | ||||
| Managed by | Greater Anglia | ||||
| Platforms | 2 | ||||
| Other information | |||||
| Station code | HRD | ||||
| Classification | DfT category F2 | ||||
| Key dates | |||||
| 30 July 1845 | Opened asHarling | ||||
| September 1849 | RenamedHarling Road | ||||
| 28 December 1964 | Closed to freight | ||||
| Passengers | |||||
| 2019/20 |  3,794 | ||||
| 2020/21 |  646 | ||||
| 2021/22 | 978 | ||||
| 2022/23 | 2,104 | ||||
| 2023/24 | 3,364 | ||||
| |||||
Harling Road railway station is on theBreckland line in theeast of England, serving the villages ofLarling,Roudham andEast Harling, Norfolk. The line runs betweenCambridge in the west andNorwich in the east.
Harling Road is situated betweenThetford andEccles Road, 101 miles 35 chains (163.2 km) fromLondon Liverpool Street viaEly. The station is managed byGreater Anglia, which also operates most of the services calling at the station. SomeEast Midlands Railway also stop at Harling Road.
The Bill for theNorwich & Brandon Railway (N&BR) received Royal Assent on 10 May 1844. Work started on the line in 1844 and the line and its stations were opened on 30 July 1845. The line ran from Ely to Trowse, in Norwich. The link into Norwich was delayed due to the need to build a bridge over the River Wensum that kept the river navigable. One month before the N&BR opened a Bill authorising the amalgamation of theYarmouth & Norwich Railway with the N&BR came into effect and so Harling station became a Norfolk Railway asset.[1]
The station is situated approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north-west ofEast Harling, the village from which it takes its name. A footpath links the station to the village.
Harling Road is a small station and until recently had remained largely outdated. The woodenlevel crossing gates adjacent to the station used to be opened and closed manually by a signaller in the Harling Roadsignal box. In December 2012 the signal box was closed and the crossing was renewed with automatic barriers with warning lights.
Passenger facilities are basic, with a car-park and seating in a shelter on the eastbound (Norwich) platform only. There is a bicycle shelter on the westbound (Cambridge) platform. There is no ticket office, and tickets may be bought from the conductor on the train.
Harling Road is located in a rural area, and is ideally placed to provide access to the countryside for those who can not, or do not wish to, make use of a car for transportation. There is easy access to several long-distance footpaths, including thePeddars Way,Angles Way,Icknield Way,Iceni Way and theHereward Way. There are a number of other opportunities withKnettishall Heath, West Harling Heath andWayland Wood (where the events that inspired theBabes in the Wood took place) all being within walking distance.
As of December 2019[update], from Monday to Saturday there are two trains per day eastbound toNorwich, both timed to arrive in Norwich before 09:00 and operated byGreater Anglia.
Westbound, there are two trains per day on weekday afternoons, one operated byEast Midlands Railway which calls atThetford andEly before reversing and continuing toLiverpool Lime Street; and the other toCambridge, operated by Greater Anglia. On Saturday afternoons there are two westbound services toStansted Airport via Cambridge, both operated by Greater Anglia.[2]
There is no Sunday service.
| Preceding station |  National Rail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Anglia | ||||
| East Midlands Railway Limited services | ||||
| Historical railways | ||||
| Roudham Junction Line open, station closed | Great Eastern Railway Norfolk Railway | Eccles Road Line and station open | ||
52°27′12″N0°54′29″E / 52.45326°N 0.90808°E /52.45326; 0.90808
