What are the choices for getting to Stansted Airport by train?

If you’re travelling to and from London, then you’ll be taking the Stansted Express. There’s just the one operator here!

When it comes to getting to Stansted Airport by train from other destinations, there are a couple of choices:

Greater Anglia run roughly every hour between Norwich, Cambridge and Stansted Airport. They operate Class 755 Stadler ‘FLIRT’ trains which have either three or four carriages. These modern trains also have power sockets at every seat and free WiFi:

CrossCountry operate trains every two hours (with some extras in the morning peak) between Stansted Airport, Peterborough, Leicester and Birmingham New Street. If you have a lot of luggage and don’t want the hassle of travelling via London, then they’re a good option for getting across to the Midlands without needing to change.

On this route, you’ll find Class 170 ‘Turbostar’ units, which have either two or three carriages. Unfortunately, they don’t have any power sockets for charging devices in Standard Class:

What’s the Stansted Express?

As we mentioned before, your main option for getting to Stansted Airport by train is the Stansted Express. It runs every half hour during Off-Peak hours, and from May 21, 2023, it’ll run every 15 minutes between 06:00 and 09:15, and 16:45 and 20:15.

All services typically take between 45 and 50 minutes to complete their trip. During Off-Peak hours, all trains stop at Bishops Stortford, Harlow Town and Tottenham Hale, with one per hour stopping at Stansted Mountfitchet. When trains are more frequent, they’ll stop at either Bishops Stortford or Harlow Town (all trains still call at Tottenham Hale). One train per hour still calls at Stansted Mountfitchet, too.

Let’s take a look at what you can expect on your trip.

The cost

Before any Railcard discounts, an Anytime Return between London Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport is £36.30. It’s £23 if you’re just making a one-way trip.

The return ticket is valid to return within one month.

The trains themselves

All Stansted Express services are operated by Class 745 Stadler ‘FLIRT’ trains. They have 12 carriages and were introduced during 2020.

They’re good-looking trains and we’re definitely a fan of them:

Storing luggage

Getting to Stansted Airport by train is pretty simple when it comes to storing your luggage. The overhead racks are good for keeping large backpacks and other items while you’ll find plenty of bigger racks near the doors:

The trains are also fully walk-through. This means that you can move between carriages without needing to pass through any doors, so moving around with a suitcase doesn’t have to be difficult.

The seat experience

Getting to Stansted Airport by train doesn’t have to be uncomfortable! The seats used on these trains are actually soft and well-padded, with a decent amount of legroom.

They’re all in a 2+2 layout. Just be mindful that there aren’t any full-sized tables, though the ‘airline’ style seats have a small table on the seatbacks.

Personally, we’d recommend seating on the ‘raised’ seats towards the carriage ends. It feels a bit more open and airy being sat a little higher! There aren’t any steps up either, so they’re easily accessed.

You’ll find power sockets between every pair of seats:

Onboard service

There aren’t any on-board staff on these trains. Regular automated announcements keep you informed about where you are during the trip.

Fancy an upgrade?

First Class was actually abolished when these new trains were introduced. However, it’s possible to sometimes get an ad-hoc upgrade!

Greater Anglia operates two almost-identical fleets of these trains. There’s this fleet, and there’s one for the Norwich route. The trains that go to Norwich have First Class, a buffet area and tables at seats.

While they usually stick to their own routes, occasionally a train with First Class ends up on the Stansted route. When this happens, First Class is open to all ticket-holders. It’s a bit more spacious and in a 2+1 layout.

How do you know if your train has First Class? You can do one of two things:

• Check the number on the front of the train. Trains with First Class will start with a 0, eg. 003. As you’ll see in the picture above, the normal Stansted Express trains start with a 1, eg. 109
• See if the outside of the train has carriage letters. Trains with First Class have carriage letters marked by the doors.

Is there anything else I should know about getting to Stansted Airport by train?

If you’re travelling towards Stansted Airport, head to the front of the train. Stansted Express trains are huge and tend to be much emptier at the front, even when the rear is quite crowded. You should have your ticket ready when you exit, too. There aren’t any ticket barriers but staff will regularly check tickets at the station exit. Leave some extra time to allow for this, as queues can form.

Travelling from Stansted and need a ticket? Don’t queue up at the machines in the baggage claim area if they’re busy. The station itself has many more machines for you to use. We found this out ourselves when we missed a train due to waiting so long!

Travelling on a CrossCountry train? The platform can be difficult to find. These trains leave from Platform 2:

It’s a small platform which is almost fully outside. To get to it, just keep heading forwards once you enter the station. Leave some extra time if you can, as it can take a couple of minutes to do this if you have heavy luggage.

Finally, why not book your tickets before you travel? You can skip the queues by booking an eTicket and head straight for your train. When you do it with SmartSplit, you can refund or change your ticket without fees if you need to.

We’ve even produced guides for getting to Gatwick and Heathrow.

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What are the options for getting to Southend by train?

When it comes to getting to Southend by train, you have two options. You can either take c2c from London Fenchurch Street, or Greater Anglia from London Liverpool Street.

When we compare the two options, we’ll be looking at the quality of the train, the journey time and how much it costs. Neither train has First Class, any sort of catering nor does it have a conductor on board. Both lines use commuter-style trains, so we aren’t expecting any luxury!

c2c

During Off-Peak hours, you’ll find four trains per hour between London Fenchurch Street and Southend Central. You have a choice of two different routes:

• Two trains per hour running via Grays. These trains take around 75 minutes to complete the trip
• Four trains per hour operate via Basildon and go further to Shoeburyness. They take just over an hour, so this is the fastest option.

On a frequency basis, this is the best way to Southend by train.

The cost

A day return to Southend is £23.20 (before any Railcard discounts). This reduces a little to £20.20 if you travel after 09:30, before 16:00 or after 19:00 on weekdays. If you’re after the cheapest train, then this is the best way to Southend by train, too.

The train itself

For the moment, most services on the c2c route are operated by Class 357 ‘Electrostar‘ trains. Built between 1999 and 2002, they’ve been running on the route for just over 20 years.

They have four carriages and usually run in pairs to form an eight-coach train. Some peak trains also run as 12 carriages.

Storing your luggage

As you’re most likely to be taking a day trip to Southend, storing heavy luggage probably won’t be an issue. There aren’t any bigger luggage stacks, but you’ll find space for small items and backpacks above the seats.

The seat experience

The layout of the carriage will depend on the ‘type’ of train that you catch. Most trains operated by c2c have a 3+2 seating layout throughout most of the train. If you’re travelling with family or you’d like a table though, head for the ends of each ‘unit’. This is because the areas behind the driver’s cab have seats in a 2+2 layout with a full-sized table. On an eight-coach train, this means that you should aim for the outer ends of coaches 1, 4, 5 and 8:

The exception is on trains that have ‘Metro’ written on the doors. These have a 2+2 seating layout throughout so there’s more standing space.

There aren’t any power sockets on c2c trains. So, you’ll want to make sure that you bring a powerbank or that your devices have enough charge before you travel.

The journey

One of the positives about the journey between London and Southend on this route is that it does actually get quite scenic!

Once you get through the urban sprawl of London, you’ll be running alongside the Thames Estuary:

Final thoughts

c2c are certainly the most affordable way to get to Southend by train, and the route is actually quite pleasant once you get alongside the Thames Estuary!

The lack of power sockets is a shame though, and we found the train in general to be extremely dirty and not all that well cared-for. If all you’re after is a cheap train from A to B, then this is likely to be the best option for you.

Our train was also bang on time. c2c trains tend to be fairly reliable as they run on a small and mostly self-contained section of lines.

Greater Anglia

Greater Anglia run three trains per hour for most of the day on their route between London Liverpool Street and Southend Victoria.

Two of these trains run fast between Stratford and Shenfield, while the other train stops at Romford as well. In any event, all trains on the route take roughly an hour to travel between London and Southend. Time-wise, this means that Greater Anglia is very slightly the better way to get to Southend by train.

The cost

Greater Anglia is a little more expensive, with a day return being £32.00. This goes down to £27.70 if you travel after 09:30 and £22.90 if you travel after 12:00 (or all day on weekends and Bank Holidays).

Don’t forget that you can’t buy a ticket from London that’s valid on both routes (c2c and Greater Anglia), so even if you buy a ticket for this route you can’t return on the cheaper c2c trains.

The train itself

All of the services on the Greater Anglia route are operated by brand-new Class 720 ‘Aventra‘ trains. They’ve been gradually introduced to the route since 2020, so they’re about as modern as you can get:

They’re all formed of five carriages, but they often run together to form a 10-carriage train. If you’re after a newer (and longer!) train then this will be the best way to Southend by train.

Storing your luggage

These trains were designed to have as many seats as possible, so you won’t find any luggage stacks. Any luggage storage will be above your seat.

As we said earlier though, it’s unlikely that you’ll be taking lots of heavy luggage on a day trip. So, the racks above the seats will suit backpacks and smaller items just fine.

The seat experience

Well, these trains certainly have a lot of seats. They’re pretty firm though, but should be fine for the hour’s trip between London and Southend.

The main issue is that the aisles are very narrow, so we wouldn’t recommend walking down them with any big bags if you’re trying to get down the train. You’ll probably end up hitting yourself on the sides of the seats:

Every seat comes with a three-pin socket and two USB ports. If you want to stay connected, then this is definitely the train for you:

The journey

There certainly isn’t any seaside scenery on this route, as it stays inland. However, you should keep an eye out for the London Stadium and Olympic Park shortly after leaving Liverpool Street.

Final thoughts

If we were looking at train quality alone, then Greater Anglia would be the best way to Southend by train. We found the trains to be clean and well looked after, with them being given a thorough run-through by multiple staff at Southend Victoria.

The very narrow aisles pose a bit of a problem though. We’d recommend walking down the platform to look for a seat rather than squashing through the train itself.

The main issue is that the station at Southend Victoria isn’t as convenient for the beach. It’s a lot more inland and better located for shopping and bus connections rather than a day by the seaside.

Final thoughts – What’s the best way to get to Southend by train?

Based on what the typical daytripper to Southend is after, c2c has to be the best way to get to Southend by train.

The trains are cheaper, run more frequently and arrive at a more convenient station for the seafront. They certainly aren’t the best in terms of the trains themselves, but they do just fine for a journey of just over an hour. c2c have also ordered a small fleet of new trains (the same as you’ll find on Greater Anglia) to supplement the existing trains.

If you’re coming from Stratford, then Greater Anglia is likely to be the better option. But, for people coming from Central London, you’re best sticking with c2c.

Looking for more tips on travelling by train? Take a look at our guide to travelling as a family. We’ve also provided some inspiration for more day trips from London with our very own top 5.

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