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c2c

The commuter railway from London Fenchurch Street through east London and south Essex to Southend and Shoeburyness, on the lines built by the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway from 1854. It runs 74 Class 357 Electrostars and 12 Class 720 Aventras, and has been publicly owned since July 2025.

2025Current operator since
78.3 miles (126 km)Route miles operated
28Stations served
39.6 millionJourneys a year, ORR (2025–26)

Facts

Current operator since
20 July 2025
London terminals
London Fenchurch Street
Type
Suburban and commuter train operator
Depots
East Ham (Alstom, for the Class 357s)
Main routes
London Fenchurch Street to Southend and Shoeburyness, either direct through Upminster and Basildon or round the loop through Rainham, Purfleet, Grays and Tilbury; trains also run from Upminster to Grays via Ockendon, and a few run from London Liverpool Street via Stratford.
Stations managed
25
Operating company
c2c Railway Limited, owned by DfT Operator, the government's company for publicly run train operators. It took over on 20 July 2025 from Trenitalia c2c, and since May 2026 has been run with Greater Anglia and Network Rail Anglia by one leadership team, GBR Anglia.
Class 720 Aventra, schematic side elevation, 2 cars
Class 720 Aventra · Bombardier Transportation (now Alstom), Derby

Routes 4 routes · 28 stations

London Fenchurch Street – Shoeburyness via Laindon 17
London Fenchurch Street – Shoeburyness via Laindon: schematic, not to scale London Fenchurch StreetLondon Fenchurch Street Limehouse — change for DLRLimehouse West Ham — change for District, Hammersmith & City, Jubilee, DLRWest Ham Barking — change for District, Hammersmith & City, Overground (Suffragette)Barking Upminster — change for District, Overground (Liberty)Upminster West HorndonWest Horndon LaindonLaindon BasildonBasildon PitseaPitsea BenfleetBenfleet Leigh-on-SeaLeigh-on-Sea ChalkwellChalkwell WestcliffWestcliff Southend CentralSouthend Central Southend EastSouthend East Thorpe BayThorpe Bay ShoeburynessShoeburyness
London Fenchurch Street – Shoeburyness via Grays 20
London Fenchurch Street – Shoeburyness via Grays: schematic, not to scale London Fenchurch StreetLondon Fenchurch Street Limehouse — change for DLRLimehouse West Ham — change for District, Hammersmith & City, Jubilee, DLRWest Ham Barking — change for District, Hammersmith & City, Overground (Suffragette)Barking Dagenham DockDagenham Dock RainhamRainham PurfleetPurfleet GraysGrays Tilbury TownTilbury Town East TilburyEast Tilbury Stanford-le-HopeStanford-le-Hope PitseaPitsea BenfleetBenfleet Leigh-on-SeaLeigh-on-Sea ChalkwellChalkwell WestcliffWestcliff Southend CentralSouthend Central Southend EastSouthend East Thorpe BayThorpe Bay ShoeburynessShoeburyness
London Liverpool Street – Shoeburyness 19
London Liverpool Street – Shoeburyness: schematic, not to scale London Liverpool Street — change for Central, Circle, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan, Elizabeth line, Overground (Weaver)London Liverpool Street Stratford — change for Central, Jubilee, Elizabeth line, Overground (Mildmay), DLRStratford Barking — change for District, Hammersmith & City, Overground (Suffragette)Barking Dagenham DockDagenham Dock RainhamRainham PurfleetPurfleet GraysGrays Tilbury TownTilbury Town East TilburyEast Tilbury Stanford-le-HopeStanford-le-Hope PitseaPitsea BenfleetBenfleet Leigh-on-SeaLeigh-on-Sea ChalkwellChalkwell WestcliffWestcliff Southend CentralSouthend Central Southend EastSouthend East Thorpe BayThorpe Bay ShoeburynessShoeburyness
Grays – Shoeburyness 16
Grays – Shoeburyness: schematic, not to scale GraysGrays Chafford HundredChafford Hundred OckendonOckendon Upminster — change for District, Overground (Liberty)Upminster West HorndonWest Horndon LaindonLaindon BasildonBasildon PitseaPitsea BenfleetBenfleet Leigh-on-SeaLeigh-on-Sea ChalkwellChalkwell WestcliffWestcliff Southend CentralSouthend Central Southend EastSouthend East Thorpe BayThorpe Bay ShoeburynessShoeburyness

Schematic, not to scale. Ringed stations are interchanges. Each strip is one service route with its stops in order. Where fast and stopping trains share a route, the strip shows the one with most stops, and a route whose stops all lie on a longer one is left out. Station order from TfL open data.

StationZoneInterchanges
London Fenchurch Street1
Limehouse2DLR
West Ham2/3District, Hammersmith & City, Jubilee, DLR
Barking4District, Hammersmith & City, Overground (Suffragette)
Upminster6District, Overground (Liberty)
West HorndonNA
LaindonNA
BasildonNA
PitseaNA
BenfleetNA
Leigh-on-SeaNA
ChalkwellNA
WestcliffNA
Southend CentralNA
Southend EastNA
Thorpe BayNA
ShoeburynessNA
Dagenham Dock5
Rainham6
Purfleet
Grays
Tilbury TownNA
East TilburyNA
Stanford-le-HopeNA
London Liverpool Street1Central, Circle, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan, Elizabeth line, Overground (Weaver)
Stratford2/3Central, Jubilee, Elizabeth line, Overground (Mildmay), DLR
Chafford Hundred
Ockendon

Stations, zones and interchanges from TfL open data (2026-10-06). National Rail interchanges are listed where TfL groups the stations together.

Fleet

ClassUnitsFormation and notes
Class 720 Aventra125-car Class 720/6, often coupled in pairs as ten cars; leased from Porterbrook
Class 357 Electrostar744-car: 46 Class 357/0 (Porterbrook) and 28 Class 357/2 and 357/3 (Angel Trains), built at Derby in 1999–2002

History 10

  1. The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway, set up by the London and Blackwall and Eastern Counties railways, opens its first section, from Forest Gate to Tilbury. The line reaches Southend in 1856.
  2. The line is extended from Southend to Shoeburyness, mainly to serve the army's gunnery school and barracks there.
  3. The Midland Railway takes over the London, Tilbury and Southend. It passes to the LMS in 1923 and to British Railways in 1948.
  4. The first electric train enters service on the newly electrified line. Steam ends in June 1962, when an all-electric timetable starts on 18 June.
  5. At privatisation the franchise goes to Prism Rail, which runs the trains as LTS Rail.
  6. National Express completes its purchase of Prism Rail, taking over the line's operator, by then named c2c.
  7. Trenitalia, the Italian state rail operator, buys c2c from National Express for about £72.6 million.
  8. The first of 12 five-car Class 720 Aventras, leased from Porterbrook, enters passenger service; c2c marks it at Fenchurch Street on 27 September.
  9. c2c passes into public ownership, run by c2c Railway Limited under DfT Operator.
  10. The first two Class 357s in Great British Railways livery are shown at Liverpool Street, two months after c2c, Greater Anglia and Network Rail Anglia came under one leadership team as GBR Anglia; Greater Anglia's Class 720s are now cleared to run on c2c.

Sources 22

How we source figures →

unverified depots: only East Ham, where Alstom maintains the Class 357s, is named in the sources; where the Class 720s are maintained is not stated, first Class 720 in service: c2c and Porterbrook describe the launch at Fenchurch Street on 27 September 2023 but give no exact date for the first passenger train, the route strip from Fenchurch Street through Upminster and Basildon: TfL's route data has no single route for it, so it is drawn from TfL's stations in the order of c2c's own route description; whether every train calls at each isn't shown