Southend Airport railway station officially opened

The new railway station at Southend Airport in Essex has been officially opened by the transport minister Theresa Villiers.

The £16m station, on the Southend Victoria to London line, has been operational since mid-July and is run by airport operator The Stobart Group.

As well as performing the opening ceremony, Mrs Villiers named one of the trains "London Southend Airport".

The station is the latest step in the airport's expansion plans.

A new control tower opened earlier this year, work to extend the runway by 300m is under way and a new terminal building is due to be completed by this autumn.

A new link road to the airport also opened at the beginning of the month.

The airport's operator aims to boost passenger numbers to two million a year by 2020 and last month signed a deal with low-cost airline Easyjet to operate 70 flights a week from the site from next April.