The railway through the site was opened on 1884 when the London Tilbury and Southend Railway was extended eastwards from Southend to Shoeburyness. Increasing traffic levels saw the need for an intermediate block signal box called Southend East to be provided in order that more trains could run and this was provided in 1896 on the down side east of Southend station. As central Southend developed and the resort expanded it became clear that better goods facilities would be required and a new goods yard was provided on the down side just to the east of the signal box in 1907. Southend was a popular seaside resort for Londoners and additional trains were run in the summer and bank holidays. To cater for these new carriage sidings were laid on the down side west of the site in 1910. In 1912 the LT&SR was taken over by the Midland Railway and after World War 1 following the Railways Act 1921 the line and station became part of the London Midland and Scottish Railway
London Midland and Scottish Railway (1923-1947)
The station was opened by the London Midland and Scottish Railway on 28 March 1932 for excursion traffic only with three platforms supplied on the Up Main and two platforms on a loop to the south also on the up side of the layout. A new signal box named Southend East was provided with the 1896 signal box being renamed Southend Sidings. The opening day was marred by a minor derailment and according to local newspaper reports usage was fairly low. In early 1933 a fourth platform was supplied on the Down Main to better cater for down stopping trains. The stations use as an excursion station seems to have been limited and the excursion platforms were used for a few originating/terminating trains during the weekday peaks.
British Railways (1948-1994)
After nationalisation on 1 January 1948 the line became part of British Railways London Midland Region but on 20 February 1949 the whole LTS line was transferred to the Eastern Region, yet despite the organisational changes, the old LTSR still was a distinctive system operated by former LTS and LMS locomotives until electrification. On 1 May of the same year the station was named to Southend-on-Sea East. The area was re-signalled in 1960 prior to electrification in 1961. From re-signalling the signal box was only operational when platforms 1 and 2 were in use. The goods yard was taken out of use on 5 December 1967. The station was renamed Southend East in 1969. From 1969 to 1981 platform 1 was used as the Southend Area parcels concentration depot. Once this traffic ceased there was no operational reason for platforms 1 and 2 to be retained and all connections were removed on 10 January 1982 and the signal box was never operated again. The main booking office and station building closed in 1969 being replaced by a smaller office on the former platform 4. In 1986 the route was transferred to the Network SouthEast sector of British Rail. During this period, it was known as Network SouthEast's "misery line".
Privatisation Era (1994-present day)
On privatisation in 1996, infrastructure ownership passed to Railtrack and Prism Rail took over operations of the franchise, marketing the route as LTS Rail. Ownership passed to Network Rail in 2002. Prism Rail were bought out by National Express in 2000 and in 2002 the line was rebranded as c2c. National Express sold the operation of the franchise to Trenitalia in 2017. The main building was demolished in 2003. The station and all trains serving it are currently operated by c2c.
Description
Southend East has two through platforms. Platform 1 is typically for westbound trains towards London Fenchurch Street and platform 2 is for eastbound trains towards ; there is one disused platform. In April 2006, signs were erected with the label "Southend East for Southchurch Village" to better reflect its geographical location in the Southchurch area of Southend. During 2006, a £425,000 refurbishment programme was completed at the station, providing level access to the London-bound platform, as well as new toilets, baby-changing facilities, a redecorated waiting room with CCTV, and a self-service ticket machine. The former parcels depot, which handled mainly credit-card post from the nearby Access site, was demolished and replaced with housing, the relevant platforms being infilled and paved over to provide a larger 'up' platform area. A ticket office is located adjacent to platform 1. It was completed in 2011 replacing the previous ticket office located adjacent to platform 2. It has two serving positions and uses the TRIBUTE ticket issuing system.
Services
The typical off-peak service frequency is:
4 tph westbound to London Fenchurch Street, of which:
