The UK’s longest train platform is a whopping 620 metres long – but there’s one big catch

The railway station with the in the UK stretches for a whopping 620 metres – the length of around 32 train carriages.

railway station, in Essex, holds the proud title and it sees an average of around 10,500 passengers every day passing through.

Located on the Great Eastern Main Line the station connects with areas in east and the east of England.

But while this fact is incredible, there is a big catch: the station’s lengthy platform is not unbroken. 

The longest unbroken platform is actually located at Gloucester railway station – which is 168 miles away from Colchester and has a platform that spans 602 metres long. 

While Colchester’s station’s 620-metre platform is longer than Gloucester’s, it is a combination of two platforms joined end to end.

Platforms 3 and 4 at the station, which usually serve London-bound trains, make up the long platform that was created following the reconstruction of the station in 1962.

Gloucester railway station first opened in 1840, originally as a terminus. But the current buildings go back to 1977 after the railway station underwent a major revamp.

Its incredible platform was extended as part of the 1977 rebuilding by British Rail with the intention of handling two InterCity 125 trains at the same time.

Now, the railway station is mainly served by Great Western Railway, Cross Country and Transport for Wales, which cover journeys between Gloucester and Cheltenham, Gloucester and London, Gloucester and Westbury and Gloucester and Cardiff.

It is also currently at stage 3 of a multi-million project to revamp the station and encourage more people to use sustainable transport. It includes a new road junction for its South Car Park and improvements to the existing junction, forecourt, underpass and station building.

With the longest platforms measure over 600 metres, you might wonder what the country’s shortest platform is. The answer to that question is Beauly station in Scotland which is 15 metres long, around 41 times smaller than Colchester’s platform.

The station is on the Far North Line and the platform is shorter than any of the train carriages that pass through it – but there is always an announcement to let passengers know they are in the correct place when required to get off.